Is there something that makes you angry, that gets under your skin, that makes you hot under the collar? It may be the senseless way hooligans destroy other people's property. It may be the sight of someone trafficking in drugs. It may be the political situation in some foreign country, or some political policy which we feel is not right. It may be some injustice which is allowed to happen, where nobody steps in to say, "Stop. This is wrong."
Righteous indignation is a feeling which has stirred people to action down the centuries - think of the stand people have taken against slavery, against apartheid, against the exploitation of child labour, against unequal treatment on grounds of sex, race, religion or attitude. And it is best if we as Christians do not get too smug. We may have taken the lead in many of these fields, but there have been other times when the church as an institution has condoned injustice. Martin Luther was not the only critic, and the Catholic hierarchy of the 16th century not the only instance where the poor have been put under pressure to give to the rich, and where the rich lived in luxury off the unrewarded hard work of the poor.
In the Old Testament, both the Law and the Prophets took the side of the weak and vulnerable. The Law sought to protect the widows, the landless, the poor, the foreigners. The Prophets spoke out against injustice, against exploitation, oppression, the misuse of power and wealth - they were the radical press of their day, with the difference that they spoke in God's name, and offered a positive solution: give up your injustice and walk in God's way, and all will be well.
If we look in the Gospels for signs of this attitude of indignation, we will find very few examples. This is not because Jesus turned a blind eye to injustice, but because he himself stood at the side of the weak and felt their suffering with them. He let himself be subjected to the greatest injustice of all time - a sentence of death for a life of innocence. Yet he never condemned or passed judgement on his persecutors, but asked God's forgiveness, "for they know not what they do."
Indignation in the Gospels is nearly always shown in a bad light. The disciples were indignant when James and John had been asking Jesus for the best places in heaven (even though James and John had got nowhere with their request). They were indignant when the woman broke the alabaster jar of ointment over Jesus' head (Mark 14:4). The chief priests were indignant with Jesus for his behaviour on Palm Sunday (Matt 21:15). The leader of the synagogue was indignant with him for healing on the Sabbath (Luke 13:14). Jesus' only indignation with his disciples is when they themselves had turned away little children whose parents had wanted Jesus to touch them.
There is a lesson to be drawn from this. Prophecy did not die with the Old Testament. Some of us are called to be prophets and to cry out against the wrongs in the world. But all of us are called to be like Jesus, to stand on the side of the oppressed and the suffering, to bear their burdens and to feel their pain.
In Capernaum, Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath. A man with a withered hand was there. Jesus asked those present if it was lawful to do good on that day. They were silent. Jesus' reaction was of anger, but then Mark 3:5 explains "He was grieved by their hardness of heart." Not condemnation, but sorrow. And then Jesus turned to the suffering man, and healed him.
We are right to feel indignation at the wrongs of the world. But our indignation must be tempered with grief that these wrongs can happen. And above all with a deep sympathy for those who have been wronged. For it is not their oppressors, but these suffering folk who are "our neighbours".
HD