Turning Anger into Grace -- Powerful Words from the Bible About That Address Our TImes

Scholar expounds on the cost and value of converting anger to grace and love

Written by Leslie Scanlon, Outlook national reporter
Friday, 26 August 2011 20:42
MINNEAPOLIS – Hearty applause greeted biblical scholar Ken Bailey when he was introduced at morning worship at the Fellowship of Presbyterians meeting Aug. 26. Bailey recently completed decades of study by publishing his new book, “Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in I Corinthians." His teaching, writing and biblical interpretation have nurtured many Presbyterians. And his message to participants at this gathering – some of whom are angry with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – dealt with reprocessing anger into grace. Bailey pulled together lessons from a number of scriptural passages – stories of fathers and those in power turning aside from an angry response, and instead showing grace. He said he has tried for years to come up with a theological formula – one as significant as Einstein’s E = mc2 has been for scientists. The closest he has come has been to see the grace of God in Christ as a costly demonstration of God’s love. Many Americans are angry these days, Bailey said – angry at job losses and a sluggish economy, at political gridlock, at a decade of war and its fallout. Presbyterians, he said, are angry at a “diminished sense of belonging in our own spiritual home.” What is to be done with anger generated by a sense of betrayal? Bailey looked for the answer in Scripture – in, for example, the story of the great banquet from the 14th chapter of Luke. A nobleman prepares a lavish banquet, but the guests rebuff the invitations, making weak and insulting excuses. “He does not retaliate, he becomes missional,” Bailey said. He sends his servant out to the streets to invite in the poor, the blind and the lame. Another example is the parable from Luke 20 of the vineyard owner who sent his servant to collect rent from the tenants. When the tenants beat the servant, the owner sent another servant and then a third. When the violence continued, the owner sent his beloved son, hoping the tenants would feel shame. Instead, they killed the son. In sending his son, the owner opted for total vulnerability, Bailey said – for grace instead of anger. In a third parable, that of the prodigal son, from Luke 15, the father gives an early inheritance to the younger son who insists on it, then squanders it all in a distant land. When he returns, hungry, his father runs to greet him with open arms. Bailey gave other examples, intertwining from history and Scripture examples of strength and love shown by turning anger into unexpected grace. “May we be granted fresh energy to demonstrate costly love to one another and to a needy world,” he said.