I was listening to a sermon on this the other day, and it was talking about the line Jesus wept. The preacher said that wept isn't necessarily the best translation -- it's more akin to the stamping of a bull in rage. Jesus was moved with anger at what death had done, and he was enraged out of his love. He saw what death did to those he loved, and he saw what it did to the community, and he was moved to action.
On a bigger picture, this is what God does for us. God sees the way sin is destroying our community, and God is moved to action -- God enters into creation in the person of Jesus Christ, and dies for our sin so that death might no longer determine our fate, so that sin might no longer separate us from God's presence. Such is God's love for us.
The question for us, then, is what makes us angry in the world? Maybe it's the way poverty leaves children hungry. Maybe it's the way war displaces innocent civilians. Maybe it's the way emotional stress chews people up. Maybe it's the loneliness of children. Maybe it's the way people are victimized by emotional and physical violence in relationships. It could be any number of things. But when we pay attention to the hurt in the world around us, it should make us angry, and it should move us to intervene, to use our resources to communicate our love for the world and the people in it.
What are you paying attention to, and what makes you angry? That's your mission.
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