As
I read this passage, I can hear tumbling down out of it, all the ways it can
and has been misused. “Slaves obey your
masters,” it says. It calls for us to
accept suffering. I can hear their
voices; the voices of slavery past and present.
I can hear the voices of oppressors down through the centuries preaching
this passage, which calls for deference and submission, which makes accepting
the lash, accepting the injustice with humility a saintly action and I want to
run away. I want to hide this passage
back in its little read place in my Bible and faithfully ignore it. There are
better passages from which I can preach.
In fact we read two very nice passages this morning. Having everything in common, that will
preach. Sheep, I can preach about sheep.
Sheep preach. Let’s learn about how God knows our name and what it means to
hear God’s voice. THAT would be so much
easier.
It
is not really in my nature to walk away from something because it is hard or
difficult. And so I spent extra time in research
and worked to delve a little deeper to come to a better understanding of what Peter’s
intention and meaning where when he penned these words. I could not simply accept
that this passage said what it seemed to be saying at first glance. I know too much about God, about the rest of
scripture to believe the intention of this passage was for us to accept
slavery, to accept injustice, to believe that it is saintly to passively allow the
cruel systems of an unjust society to continue.
I do
not believe God ever calls for passivity in the face of cruelty and
injustice. I am unable to look at any
other human being and tell, her that yes I know that her husband beat her,
screams at her, rains all kinds of abuse down upon her, but God wants her to
stay. It is not a part of the Christian faith that we are to submit ourselves
to abusive authority with humility simply because in doing so we are suffering
as Christ suffers. I cannot tell any
person enslaved anywhere, in any place in our world, currently or at any point
in history that it is their Christian duty to accept their slavery and reflect
Christ by gently accepting their lot in life.
Wherever
there is oppression, wherever lives are being stamped out, wherever freedom is
being shackled hand and foot, wherever there is cruelty against others, I see
no reason either within my own moral compass or within the Bible, which gives
me that moral compass, for us as Christians to accept this kind of cruelty, as
a part of what it means to follow the example of Christ. And nor do I believe that we can look at the
entirety of scripture and come to any kind of belief that says God accepts the cruelty
of servitude or the abuse of another, much less calls for us as Christians to
endure it with humility. I am sure that turning
a blind eye whenever we are made aware of these kinds of things happening that
we are to work against them. And when we are made aware of our part of in perpetrating
systems which support and uphold these kinds of sins of our society, that
Christians living in pursuit of holiness seeking to live lives of Christ-likeness,
we are to do our very best to extricate ourselves and seek to bring an end to
these systems and practices.
What
I know is that scripture says God is a just and good God. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God
speaks justice and peace into a cruel and unjust world. Micah calls for us to, “Love mercy, do
justice and walk humbly with our God.” The heart of Israelite identity, the
foundation narrative of the Old Testament is a story about slaves NOT accepting
the cruelty of their masters. The scriptures say that God heard the cries of
the people and remembered the covenant made with Abraham and God sent Moses to them. Moses, with the help of God, basically led a
slave rebellion which resulted in Moses leading the people up out of Egypt, up
out of the land of slavery. God heard
the cries of these slaves as they suffered beneath the whips of cruel masters
and God did not praise them for their endurance, God did not saint them for
their suffering, which reflected that of the Messiah who was yet to come. No, God gave them a leader who sought justice
on their behalf. God brought justice to
them and set them free.
The
exodus story, is one of the foundational narratives for us as followers of
Christ. In the Exodus story and
throughout Holy Scriptures, we read what it means for us as Christians to be the
people of God. Our scriptural
foundations are in justice and mercy and freeing the enslaved.
The Minor Prophets are all about lifting up
the abused, about not accepting a society and a societal order which lifting up
some while crushing others. Time and
time again throughout scripture, God calls for us to speak for those who have
no voice, to lift up those who are cast down.
Jesus tells us the first are last, the poor are rich, and the lowly are
mighty. Scriptures are full of calls for
us as followers of God to DO God’s goodness in this world, to live God’s
righteousness in this world, for us to be agents of justice in the face of this
world’s overwhelming injustice.
Over and over again, throughout the Old
Testament we are told God is a God of justice, a God who requires justice, who
expects those who are God’s people to live just lives, which promote justice
not only for themselves but the least of these. Jesus raises up the poor, the
weak, and the sick the needy. Jesus sets
the captives free. Revelation is in
essence the ultimate story of justice and freedom not only being brought to
individuals, but to all the world as in the end God’s justice, God’s mercy,
God’s freedom and righteous will come to reign in the New Heaven and the New
Earth. All will live as they are were meant to live. The created order will be
restored, which is embedded in God’s righteousness, God’s goodness, and God’s
justice.
From
beginning to end, the Scriptures are the story of God restoring the rightness,
the goodness and the justice of creation to this world. So, NO, unless this passage stands in
contradiction to the whole of Scripture, this passage here in 1 Peter cannot be
calling for slaves to accept their unjust lot in life, it does not and cannot
be a call to accept any kind of injustice or cruelty as a Christian virtue.
So
the key to this passage is the part which causes the most confusion. The key is in that 1 Peter compares the
unjust suffering here to the suffering of Christ. Sure we can see an easy tie. The slaves are suffering unjustly in that
they are being beaten by cruel masters, and Christ was beaten and killed
unjustly. But the tie is not found
simply in the cruelty each must endure, but in WHY they are enduring the
suffering and cruelty.
The
suffering of a slave who is simply being beaten because the slave’s master is
cruel, simply being beaten because that is what masters do to slaves, then that
is not only unjust but it is meaningless suffering. To suffer for the sake of suffering is
meaningless. It holds no value and no
honor. Christ did not suffer simply for
sufferings sake. Christ did not die
simply to show us as his followers that we too should accept unjust suffering
even death when it comes our way, just because.
Christ did not die to give us an example of what it looks like to accept
abuse and cruelty. Christ’s sufferings and death were not meaningless acceptances
of injustice.
Christ’s
suffering and death had a purpose. Christ
suffered to bring salvation, to save, to bring life, to bring freedom to the
people of this world. Christ died to,
“bring good news to the poor, . . . to proclaim release to the captives, and
recovery of the sight of the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.” (Luke
4:18-19). Christ died as a part of God’s
overarching plan to restore the justice, righteousness and goodness of Heaven,
to the created order, to all things.
Christ suffered in humility and died for us, to bring us salvation, as a
part of God’s plan to bring justice and righteousness to all creation.
So
if we are to live reflecting Christ’s goodness, righteousness and justice in
this world, we are to suffer as Christ suffered, that is in the pursuit of
goodness, righteousness and justice in this world. So when Peter addresses slaves (which many of
the Christians in the Churches to which this letter was written were) and they
are suffering beneath the cruelty of those in authority over them, and they do
so in the pursuit of Christian goodness, righteousness and justice, then accept they were to accept suffering
with humility knowing that just as Christ suffered in the pursuit of justice they
too were suffering.
Jesus’
example continually showed us that we are to give voice to the voiceless, strength
to the weak and to bring the marginalized to the center. In Christ’s kingdom,
the first are last. As Christians in pursuit of holiness, it is our job to do live
in pursuit of bringing the values of Christ’s kingdom into reality in our world.
As we work to bring justice, mercy and God’s goodness and righteousness to
everyone, and as we seek to dismantle systems which work to marginalize, and dehumanize
those around us, there will be times when those in authority over us will cause
us harm. That is what it looks like to suffer for the sake of our faith, to
suffer as Christ suffered.
As
you pursue justice, show deference to those who have authority over you,
whether that authority be shown to be kind or cruel. But in all things do justice, love mercy and
walk humbly with your God. As we work to
bring justice and to the cruel places of this world, this sometimes means that we
must lay aside our own comforts, our own desires, our own rights. When we are
speaking up for the voiceless, the marginalized, the least of our society, this
at time means doing things which are difficult, and uncomfortable for
ourselves.
Right
now this means, for the sake of others we are laying aside our right to move
freely, to shop as we please, to see a movie in a theater, to go to a baseball
game, to gather here together, for the sake of the more venerable among us. It
means when we do begin to come together again, we must, like Christ, raise up
the weak, the sick, the vulnerable, the least among us and think first of what
is best for them as make the decisions that will need to be made in how we
choose to come together as the people of God. As brothers and sisters in Christ
we are to speak up for those who might not feel empowered to speak up for themselves,
to put the needs of others above our wants and our desires and in these times
it may be necessary to even lay aside our own rights to support and empower those
around us.
We
are to be people who call for justice, call for mercy, not so much for ourselves
but for others and in doing so, we will walk humbly with God. This is a part of
what it means to be called to be holy as God is holy, to live God’s goodness, to
act out God’s love. By living out this kind of holiness we are showing this
world what God’s righteousness looks like in these worst of times. And in times
like this Godly pursuit of seeking the good of others, may mean walking away
from the desires we have for ourselves, it may mean putting our wants below
those of others and it may even mean setting aside our own rights. This may cause
our own suffering and may invoke the ire of others who see things differently,
but this is what holy living looks like right now, what it looks like today and
what it may continue to look like for some time.
In
all things at all times we are to continue to love justice, show mercy and
walking humbly with our God, as we work to reflect God’s character in our own
lives. And do so knowing, Christ also suffered in his love for us. As we live
out Christ-likeness, many times this means people will respond to us with kindness
and appreciation and we do not balk at being treating kindly. Most of the time people
do not mind seeing us live out a life of goodness, righteousness and holiness,
but sometimes that pursuit calls for us to fight for the sake of others as we
pursue justice and mercy in this world. But there will be times when we may suffer in
pursuit of living out the gospel, when that happens, bear up under the
suffering knowing that Christ also suffered.
Suffering happens but it should not be a deterrent to living the way we
are called to live and it should not be a deterrent as we join God in God’s
holy pursuit of supporting the weak, setting the captives free, and bringing
justice to the places where only injustice is found.
No comments:
Post a Comment