Temper

The word for today is temper.

Do you have a temper?  Do you think of it as something bad - something that isn't in your control?  Do you lose your temper?

Did Jesus have a temper?  There are so many, I think, who think of Jesus as meek and mild.  That is the Jesus who welcomes children, who has a patient conversation with the woman at the well, who invites Peter to a fish fry on the edge of the water.  It's hard to imagine that Jesus has a temper.

But then there is the Jesus of the marketplace and the Jesus who becomes impatient with his disciples.  Did Jesus have a temper?

What is temper?  There are many definitions at www.m-w.com.  I think we often think of "heat of mind or emotion: proneness to anger." 

I'm not sure that Jesus had a temper, but I think there were times when he became angry, so maybe that's OK for us, too.  (As long as you understand that when I say that, I'm not saying that all anger-motivated behaviors are OK -- they are not).