12  Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

13  "It is written," he said to them, "`My house will be called a house of prayer,'[5] but you are making it a `den of robbers.'[6] "

14  The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.

15  But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.

16  "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "`From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'[7] ?"

17  And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

We're living in an angry age.  The morning newspaper and the nightly news are grisly reminders to the fact that ugliness, random anger, short tempers, and bad manners are as much a part of our life in our world as are traffic jams and telephone calls.  Hardly an hour goes by without a reminder of the seething rage that exist in our society.

As this emotion is so prevalent and so surrounded by negativity in our world, it's easy for us to make the assumption that all anger is wrong.  But the problem isn't with anger.  It's with anger that's inappropriately expressed.  I this passage we see that Jesus felt anger that was justified.  He then expressed it appropriately.  In the process, the Lord gave us a model we are to follow.  The next time your angry, think about where that anger comes from.  Ask yourself, "Is my anger justified in God's eyes?"  Next, determine to express you anger in a way that addresses what's wrong and honors God.

How we express anger varies according to our temperament.  Some of us need to walk away when we're mad.  We need time to work through our anger before we express it.  Others need to talk to a friend.  Regardless of your unique temperament, ask God for grace to deal with your anger in a way that pleases him.