April 21, 2002 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
1 Peter 2:19-25
Title: “Christ’s example can empower all of us to endure injustice.”
Although the author is speaking specifically to Christian slaves in this section, what he says applies to all Christians. More correctly, what applies to all Christians, that is, doctrine, applies to slaves and freemen. This is so because there is really only one standard, one truth, that applies to all, even though it might appear to be different because of differing circumstances. Because slaves would have pagan masters they would be inclined to suffer not only the usual beatings, insults, humiliations and even torture at the hands of their “superiors,” but they would also suffer because they were, or should be, different from their non-Christian enslaved counterparts. This would make them targets even more. Knowing they were saved and had a God-given, unearned dignity, would only add to their suffering. Hence, the author singles them out along with Christian wives married to non-Christians (3:1-6), another group particularly vulnerable to excessive abuse and encourages them to become examples, paragons of virtue in imitation of Christ, who himself voluntarily took “the form of a slave Philippians 2: 7.”
Like American slaves in the south who sang Christian hymns of freedom, of victory through humiliation, and of the dignity of the human person, so these ancient Christian slaves sang songs from their Liturgy to encourage one another. This section is based on just such a hymn, a hymn itself based on Isaiah 53: 4-12, the Suffering Servant, who suffers innocently for the sake and salvation of others. Verse twenty-two quotes
Isaiah 53:9; v. 23 alludes to
Isaiah 53: 7; v. 25 echoes Isaiah 53:6; v. 24 draws its imagery from Isaiah 53:5, 12; and verse twenty-five uses Isaiah 53:6. It was not uncommon, then or now, to recite words from a great hymn or song as exhortations to behave accordingly. Just as we can, in the words of the old song, “see those darkies singin’,” so can we imagine these slaves singing these words even while being unjustly beaten by their masters, thereby giving their oppressors good example of how powerful Christian faith is and can be.
Verse nineteen, “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.” The Spirit-filled person is enabled to meet demands unreasonable, yes, quite impossible on any other basis. “Love your enemies,” “turn the other cheek”-these are encompassed only through the complete mastery of him who prayed for his crucifiers, “Father, forgive them.” This is thankworthy. Reward begins where the reasonable ends. He who serves God without transcendent divine love builds wood, hay, and stubble. What glory is it . . .? Compare Jesus’ questions in Luke 6:32-36. Acceptable with God. The word acceptable is the Greek charis, which has a beautiful double force of “grace” and “favor.” It can give the sense, “When ye do well, and suffer . . . patiently, this is grace with God” or “this is favor with God.”
In verse twenty, if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good: The immediate reference would be to slaves beaten or otherwise punished or humiliated for no good reason. What is said here, of course, would apply to all Christians in similar situations. There is no specific “theology,” for slaves. Both slave and free are bound or loosed by the same principles. The suffering in question here is not just any suffering, but unjust suffering, suffering because of doing right. One can only “take it patiently,” if one is “conscious of God as in verse nineteen,” aware of the divine presence, the eternal perspective.
this is a grace before God: When someone suffers because of something he or she has deliberately done, we think it justice, but when someone suffers because of doing good or, at least, doing no wrong, we think it a “disgrace,” not a grace. Yet, God interprets reality differently. He experiences his faithful servants who suffer for the sake of right the same way we experience him- as a “grace,” something good and profitable. Though trusting in God at such times goes against one’s natural inclinations, such patient endurance, graceful endurance, grace under pressure, shows the genuineness of one’s faith, gives good example even to the bad people who are being unjust, and is generally, that is, in the broad sense, redemptive.
In verse twenty-one, for this you have been called. The Christian status is not a self-appointed one. Since it is God’s invitation, once accepted, it means Christians do his bidding, do things his way.
Because Christ also suffered for you. Christ was the very embodiment of good, of God, and, because of that, evil was always out to get him. This was true in every situation of his life and not only at the end of it. If Christ is in the Christian that same battle goes on. Evil is just as repulsed by the Christian as by Christ, even if it has more of a chance to defeat the Christian, where it had no chance of defeating Christ. What Christ suffered, he did so innocently and thereby redeemed us with the price he paid. Only he could do that. How Christ suffered is another matter. We can imitate that. We look to Christ for clues as to how to respond to injustice.
In verse twenty-two, he committed no sin…no deceit: The author quotes
Isaiah 53:9 to explain further the “pattern of life,” Christ left us. One would think because he was sinless, that his life would be a cakewalk. In fact, he was tempted more severely by evil precisely because he was such a challenge to evil’s pride. Evil wanted him to crack and so he-it attacked him even more.
In verse twenty-three when he was insulted, he returned no insult: Christ refused to let the behavior of others determine his. He refused to stoop to their level, adopt their way of behaving. And he actually had it in his power to crush his oppressors, but chose not to. Non-retaliation must have been very high on his list of values. We can imagine a slave being unjustly beaten reciting these words, singing them even, as he or she tries to get through a particularly rough time and come out of it with dignity intact. Christ went through it and so could he or she, if he or she stayed “conscious of God as stated in verse nineteen.” As Christ “handed himself over to the one who judges justly,” the unjustly suffering one would concentrate of Christ’s example and derive the power hidden in that example, apply it to that situation, get through it with patience, and really, in the final analysis, rise above it. No need for revenge, retaliation, rebuttal, only forgiveness “for they know not what they do,”. Humans thought they had “handed over,” Christ to the human and unjust authorities, but the faith-vision revealed that Christ “handed himself over,” to none other than God himself, the just judge. The justice would come later, preceded by injustice and humiliation, seeming defeat, but finally victory. This “consciousness of God,” gives hope and endurance, grace under pressure.
In verse twenty-four: so that we might live for righteousness: Christ did what he did- suffered all he suffered unjustly and died- so that we might live in a right relationship with God through him. It was that important. Now that he did that and opened friendship with God, he does not want us to close it by behaving in a way that would shut us off from God again. So, to keep the relationship with God, we, under the power of Christ, his grace, rule out certain behaviors and attitudes. We do this by being “conscious of God,” and of all Christ did and by reliving and repeating in our lives what Christ did in his earthly life. This means not so much doing what he did, but how he did it.
In verse twenty-five, gone astray like sheep: The author, using the imagery of Isaiah 53: 6, describes the former status of Christians as one of erring sheep. That’s over now. Christians have been returned to the fold and now are under the Shepherd, Christ, who cares for, protects and defends, but as Christ defines these terms, not as the world does. This verse provides a typical and beautiful example of how the Old Testament serves the New Testament, how the New Testament Shepherd fulfills the Old Testament stray sheep. Christians no longer need follow the example of the sheep who stray, but now the Shepherd who stays with the flock, following his lead.
Sermon
Many of the first Christians were slaves. Most were owned by pagan masters. However, Onesimus, Paul’s friend, was owned by a Christian master, Philemon. So, there were even Christians who owned slaves. That was wrong, but so much a part of the socio-economic structure of the ancient world, and Christians thought they had so little time before Christ returned, that they spent all their time and energy converting as many as they could. They left the reform of political structures to a later age, an age that had the time to, come to terms with the long delay of Christ’s triumphal and final return. But within the Christian community the slave’s dignity was recognized. Although there were instances of freemen making distinctions, they were really seen for what they were- wrong. Still, the slave suffered not only the consequences of his or her wrongful status in relating to the world, but also the consequences of that status even within the Church. It was easy for freemen to forget and treat the fellow Christian more as a slave than a fellow Christian.
Although the specific focus is on slaves or servants, the general principles regarding suffering apply to all others under “higher authority,” whether in business, in marriage or family, in education, or in respect to government. Everyone is an “underling” in life. Everyone is treated as “inferior,” at times. Everyone is shamed by some “superior,” person. So, what is said in this text applies to all. When we are treated like a tool, a thing, a commodity, a servant, as one at the mercy of or at the beck and call of another, we are a “slave,” as the world understands the term. That may or may not involve physical abuse. It certainly involves emotional abuse. One does not have to be a “slave,” in the legal sense to have to endure abuse at the hands of capricious, arbitrary and vindictive people who delight in lording over others, controlling them, inflicting pain.
The argument progresses from how the example of Christ empowers the slave to endure injustice at the hands of the more powerful to how the examples of Christian slaves following Christ’s example can empower all of us to endure injustice at the hands of those more worldly powerful than we and still keep our true dignity as Christians. Not only do we keep our dignity but we show to our oppressors that we have a better way of dealing with injustice than by retaliation.
This is certainly the case in North America with those many Christian slaves and their children maybe not slaves any more, but still victims of discrimination. While we can concentrate on the injustice and condemn it, we should not neglect to recognize how many beautiful human beings emerged from all that suffering and humiliation. It is undeniable that many black people have emerged from all that suffering as outstanding human beings, models to be imitated as they imitated Christ. It is undeniable that they witness to a vibrant and strong Christianity that often puts “vanilla,” Christianity to shame. Suffering with grace and humor conquers the “conqueror,” maybe not in the short term, but certainly in the long run. Oppressors always lose eventually. The same is true of bullies, lords, overbearing bosses, family tyrants, etc. The long-term outcome of such injustice has been revealed and justice will eventually be done.
It is in the short term, the space and time in between, that Christians must have patience. Returning injustice with injustice is just not the solution. It only adds to the problem, no matter how temporarily satisfying it might be to “get even,” or “see justice done.” Justice cannot really be done by more injustice, no matter how “justified.” It must simply be forgiven. That is the only power, grace, really, that really works. Does one really get one’s dignity back, a dignity robbed and even raped by these “undignified,” bullies, by engaging in indignity as well? Is stooping to the level of an oppressor really an advance or is it a retreat? As verse twenty-five warns: we once were straying sheep, but do not go back there. Keeping “conscious of God,” keeping the eternal vision and version of reality, enables the Christian to endure any and all onslaughts, knowing full well that the time will come when justice will be done by God, the only one who can do it right. In the meantime, we use the injustice itself to teach by example that there is a better way.
Patience is a grace that must be prayed for.
Patience results when one is conscious of God at the same time one is provoked. Patience allows on to refrain from returning injustice with injustice.
Christ’s patient suffering of injustice accomplished our redemption and our imitating that patience advances the redemption of others, even the causes of injustice.
Conscious of God: When we align our consciousness with the reality of God we become connected to his power and can withstand anything, rise above anything, be victorious over anything. This is so because the Christian’s consciousness of God includes both the crucifixion and the resurrection. This means we experience victory by going through seeming or temporary defeat with the attitude of Christ, conscious and alive in our beings. Such consciousness begins with the mind, extends to the spirit and heart and even permeates the body. As the song “The Path of Life,” paraphrasing Psalm 16, puts it: “Even my body trusts in you.” Being conscious of God in Christ means that we are already raised from heaven’s point of view, that we have already ascended to the Father’s presence. When we look at and evaluate our earthly situations in that light, they pale in significance. They also become lit with and by the real and lasting truth and we frequently see a way out that we would never have seen without that consciousness.
Progress in consciousness: Awareness of God’s presence, of Christ’s risen presence within us, is a gift, a grace, but it must be cultivated. God is always and everywhere present, whether we recognize him or not. However, God gives us the ability to be conscious of him in seed form. We must cultivate this seed, plant it within our beings and attend to its growth and protection. That means discipline on our part, disciplining our consciousness to be aware of what we decide to be aware of, rather than letting the mind be like a spoiled child or a wild plant. Instead of allowing our mind to wander and ramble, like a straying sheep, we learn to listen to the voice, the very “voice,” of God, not really a physical voice but a choice. God is always offering us a choice, a choice between listening to and following him wherever he leads or listening to our feelings and following them. If we follow his lead, we will be in harmony with his Son and so grow in his likeness. If we do not, we really advance the cause of evil, inserting more evil in a world that has already been ruined by it. Our feelings would tell is that it is right to return injustice with injustice, that what someone does to us justifies our doing it back to them, frequently doing it worse. However, if we are conscious of God, we learn that that is wrong, accomplishes nothing but more injustice and gives extended life to something that should die on the spot. We must learn to discipline our consciousness by constantly bringing it back into the realm and atmosphere of God, of Christ. This is not only a daily challenge; it is a moment-by-moment challenge. Growing in consciousness of God should be the top priority on our daily agendas and the first thing we discuss with God when we examine our consciences. Nothing is easier than to lose the consciousness of God. We can have it one moment and lose it the next. When we lose it we can easily sin, for sin requires that we not be conscious of God.
Grace Under Pressure: Christians are not immune from the pressures of life. Christians experience everything and every feeling non-Christians do. We are just as impelled to react rather than respond as non-Christians are. The difference is that we have an alternative, a choice. If we have disciplined our minds to be aware of God’s presence in the calmer moments of the day, we are much more likely to either not lose, or if we have lost, to recall, the presence of God when the pressure is heating up. Indeed, we are much more likely to even notice the pressure, and notice it when it’s on first base, long before it gets to second, third or home. We can cut off our impulse to react, usually poorly, long before it even becomes difficult. That is what patience is. That is what cultivated patience does. It is too late, impossible really, to pray for patience when our lower brain has turned off our higher brain. Praying for patience and consciousness of God flow back and forth.
So many people desire to control others to require others, to do as they desire them to do, and then to punish those who do not obey.
The Christian knows that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So we do the best we can do without trying to punish others or control them in any fashion. Amen.
