Do You Have a Right to Be Angry? - June 13, 2021

In chapter 5 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus states that one of the common beliefs of his day was that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But Jesus teaches that we should love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us. This was considered to be a “new” teaching. Yet, for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, God was already teaching this principle in the time of the prophet Jonah. Jonah became angry when God had compassion on the people of Nineveh, and he became angry again when a vine that provided him with shade from the hot sun suddenly died. Twice God asks Jonah the question, “Do you have a right to be angry?” As always when God asks a question, the purpose was not to provide God with information he didn’t already know, the purpose in this case was to make Jonah think about his attitudes and his anger. Let’s take a closer look at the story of Jonah.

Here are the Bible passages that were used in the preparation of this message:
Jonah 3:10 - 4:11
Matthew 5:43-48; 12:33-35
Luke 6:44-45
James 1:19-22

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