Jesus was angry because they misunderstood the nature of God. They viewed God as a legalist who was more concerned about observing a religious law than relieving suffering and Satanic oppression. We still have our Pharasitical doctrines today. They teach that the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit, healing, and miracles were only needed to establish the church and get things going; now that we know the truth, poof! No more need of supernatural help.
It's easy to imagine Jesus looking upon these wolves in sheep's clothing with anger in his heart. This may sound like strong language, but Jesus was not easy on the teachers and religious traditions of man that robbed his children. He was not polite at all. Among the many woes that he pronounces upon them is this: "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
How do they "shut up the kingdom of heaven against men?" Many ways, but one of the saddest is inducing the church to accept unbelief; to peddle a powerless gospel. The Pharisees lacked a revelation of God. Their hearts were self-righteous and hard. They placed laws, rules, and knowledge above the righteousness that God desires, but Jesus came to reveal the truth of God the Father to us.
There is a passage that captures this tension beautifully. Jesus was once again being questioned by a religious teacher for healing a man with a withered hand on the sabbath day. Jesus exposes both the heart of God, as well as the condition of their hearts in his response.
"And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore is it lawful to do well on the sabbath days. Then he said to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other."
Jesus likens healing the man to removing a helpless sheep from a ditch. A sheep stuck in a ditch will either die there, or be consumed by predators. Just as they would not think of allowing a helpless sheep to die in a ditch, neither will Jesus let one of his own perish in the ditch of physical malformity.
Here is another picture of Jesus's compassion-and the heart of the Father.
"Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier; and they that bare him stood still. And he said , Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." Luke 7:13-15.
Jesus was drawn to this woman because her only son had just died. His compassion motivated him to raise him from the dead, and he still has compassion on the sick, hungry, blind, and infirm today. He changes not.
Of these false doctrines and teachings Jesus spoke when he said that the thief comes into the sheepfold to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus distinquishes himself from these thieves and robbers by explaining that he is the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep. The theives come into the fold through another way, and their doctrines are designed by the enemy to rob the sheep of their inheritance. You cannot steal something that does not exist. Apart from Christ, we have nothing. So what is the thief stealing? What Jesus died to give to us. If a doctrine does not come through the door of Jesus's laid down life, -it is robbing the church. We must be on guard against these doctrines.
This is why Jesus came, and what he desires today:
"...And when he (Jesus) had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised..." Luke 4:17-18.
Acts 10:38
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." God considers it good to heal those who are oppressed by the devil!
And Jesus said, "And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen ears, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" Luke 13:16
Hear his righteous indignation! Hear his passion and compassion to see people released from demonic oppression! And modern day "teachers of the law" claim healing and gifts have ceased. I think to these teachers, he might say,
"You hypocrites! So you don't do everything in your power to heal your loved ones suffering with pain? With cancer? You don't go to bat for your children when a bully pushes them around on the playground? And yet you claim that God the Father is not interested in loosing his own children from pain and suffering? You claim to have the knowledge to help others enter the kingdom. You sell your books, and preach your sermons, but you shut the people out from heaven- and you yourselves are not entering in."
And again, we see God's heart when he commissions the disciples: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils; freely ye have received, freely give." Give what? The kingdom. Jesus sends them out to destroy the works of Satan, and to participate in his mission on this earth.
What about the miracle of multiplying the fish and loaves to feel the people? Would these same teachers suggest that Jesus only fed the 5,0000 to prove his divinity? After all, miracles were just to establish the gospel-or so they say. But think about this for a minute. Let's imagine that you have all power. You can create food out of nothing. If you were standing in the midst of a starving village in Africa would you not create food for them to eat? Of course you would...because you would feel deep compassion for them. Imagine that after everyone accepts you...no more miracles! That would be hard hearted and twisted. But that is what the doctrine of cessasationism is claiming of God. Jesus's beautiful miracles were just a means to an end.
Jesus was grieved by the hard hearts of the religious experts because their view of God was all wrong- and it kept people shut out from the kingdom that he came to restore to us! God is a healer. He made a public spectacle of Satan by Christ's work on the cross and he longs, longs for us to enter into his finished work. Only Believe!