Yona's Righteous Anger
From Anger to Strength and Love
Happy Friday, my fellow anime lovers!
I hope you all are having a fantastic week. It’s a new month, and a new season is about to start. Easter is just around the corner as well, and for today’s topic, we’re looking at a scene in the Bible during the week leading to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Unexpectedly, it focuses on the topic of anger. Let's kick things off with today’s passage:
Jesus entered the temple courts 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. “It is written,” he said to them, “My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.”
~ Matthew 21:12-13
Before reading this passage, I never knew that Jesus became angry, for I always thought that anger was a sin. Of course, Jesus is without sin. So how do we explain this passage? Theologian and pastor John Piper equates Jesus’ anger here with grieving. He adds:
I assume the reason Jesus was grieved was because he felt, "These are my people! These are Jewish kinsmen of mine who knew their Old Testament, and they didn't know God! They don't know grace. They don't understand that I don't want sacrifice: I want mercy…” And it's breaking his heart and making him angry.
Jesus’ clearing of the temple shows how serious the peoples’ sin is and speaks to us about sin many generations later as well. It teaches us that a proper anger is a powerful tool if we manage it constructively and avoid allowing the emotion to fester into destructive behaviors.
We see this call to action in Yona of the Dawn. A spoiled princess loses all she has, watches her father’s murder, and is chased from her home. Is she angry? You bet she is! But Yona learns from her feelings and hones them into strength. And she doesn’t turn toward bitterness and vengeance; although still hurt by the actions of her enemies, Yona puts aside her own problems and makes it her mission to repair a kingdom that was on the verge of ruin. A possible—and understandable—spiral into bitterness turns instead toward a remarkable journey.
If our anger is from the right heart, we can take it to God—not only to ask him to release us from bitterness and unforgiveness, but to even use these feelings for his glory.
Weekly Mission: Take the time this new season to motivate yourself. Angry with the results of your work or homework? Redirect that rage to put in more effort. Angry that chores weren’t done around the house? Utilize that to make it a teaching opportunity for your children.
Memory Verse: “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” ~ Ephesians 4:26-27
BtT in Review
First impressions for spring 2025 have begun! Check out these reviews of the first episodes for new and returning series below or hit our master post for snippets of those reviews, screencaps, additional thoughts, and streaming links!
The Beginning After the End • The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows • Catch Me at the Ballpark! • I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! • Once Upon a Witch’s Death • Rock is a Lady’s Modesty • Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō • The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom • The Unaware Atelier Meister • Witch Watch • Your Forma
The Power of God and Anime podcast just hit its 20th episode! Join Mike as he turns to the classic shonen series Bleach to talk about how salvation really is a gift.
We completed our look at Zenshu with Claire’s post on the final episode and the power of creating!
Meanwhile, we’re hitting the streaming waves hard today and on Monday! Twwk joins Relateable Anime today to talk about Beneath the Tangles and state of “Christian anime ministry”—follow Eli’s channel and tune in later for the full video!
Do the same for our YouTube channel and come back Monday to see an interview with James Arnold Taylor, whom you may know from his roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Clone Wars and Tidus in Final Fantasy X, as he talks about The King of Kings, Gabriel and the Guardians, The Animatrix, and being a Christian in the voiceover field. Here’s a sample!
On Reader’s Corner this week, Twwk covers a variety of series ranging from GL (Pink Candy Kiss) to shonen (Dandadan), and seinen (Friday at the Atelier) to an artbook (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Art Works)!
Finally, a week ago, we posted a cool but heartbreaking piece of fanart from Re:Zero and announced the winner of AniMarch Madness 2025: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End! Thank you to all who voted.
Have a great week, all, and God bless!