Jesus's anger is His mercy

St Ambrose is here today in A Year with the Church Fathers to tell us about Jesus's anger. And he says some profound things!

He says that God is angry with us now because He is showing us His mercy and forgiveness. It reminded me of that moment when the son comes home and the mom has been worried for hours that he might have been in an accident. She is both irate and incredibly relieved that he is OK... and all of those feelings are because she loves him so much.

But Ambrose goes beyond that. He says something I've never thought of before. That God humbles us so that "we are found worthy of pity rather than of punishment." Let that sink in. That makes sense of God "resisting the proud". He humbles us, so that He can show us mercy and pity and forgiveness. As long as we are proud and "stiff-necked", we can't receive the love and mercy that He has for us.

Of course, we can avoid this anger and being humbled by Him, if we just humble ourselves. "Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

God, please teach us how to humble ourselves, so that You never have to be angry with us.