A Big Enough Reason
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Readings
Series II, Cycle A
Object:
Peter writes to Christian slaves. In the late first century AD, when the Christian church spread from Palestine into the larger Roman Empire, a greater and greater percentage of the church was slaves. In the ancient world slaves were any color. Masters thought up excuses why it was allowable to enslave another, but at least they didn't create the most laughable and tragic excuses, reasoning that it was okay to enslave a person of a different color.
Slaves were a legal commodity, bought and sold. Some were born into slavery, others were captured in war, and some sold themselves into slavery to pay their debts. In the first century AD, when Peter writes, about a quarter of the people in the Roman Empire were slaves.
Another difference between ancient Roman slavery and what the US so recently practiced is that, whereas in the southern US it was illegal for a slave to learn to read, in the Roman Empire slaves were valued for their learning. They could be doctors, building contractors, or business managers, having great responsibilities but receiving little money and almost no rights.
In the early Christian church, Callistus, who became bishop of Rome in 217, was a former slave. At that time, the church was still encountering problems of how Christian slaves were to live. Also, the entire church was beginning to face the more difficult problem of sporadic persecutions.
Peter's instruction to slaves this morning is in the middle of his guidance in how groups of Christians are to conduct themselves. In the ancient world, people often wrote instructions to individuals or groups. Peter here advises Christians, like husbands and wives, of their duties. His instruction is different than the contemporary secular instruction in that Peter also tells slaves how to conduct themselves. That's unique. Philosophers and moralists didn't bother writing to slaves, even if the slaves could read. Paul the apostle took another step. He wrote instructions to masters as well.
Knowing the giant institution of slavery in the Roman Empire and how long it had operated, it shouldn't shock us that no one in the New Testament says it's wrong. Paul went further than Peter in this, but he wrote to different people, some of whom must have owned slaves. Yet a Christian slave revolt at that time would have gotten many killed and probably would have doomed the church to extinction within the Roman Empire. So Peter advises slaves to something less than revolt. He tells slaves the attitudes and behaviors to practice; and when you're a slave, just having something you can do in your circumstances gives you hope.
We listen to Peter and we also receive guidance; because we always live within limitations that we can't control, not quite slavery, but never complete freedom either. Peter's advice centers us on Jesus. Jesus lived as a servant and died a slave's death. Peter writes, "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example." The word "example" in the original language was either an outline that a student would fill in or a wax tablet a teacher inscribed with letters on which children traced their ABCs. No matter our circumstances of slavery or semi-slavery, Jesus is an example carefully sketched out for us. Peter says, "follow in his steps."
Christians don't live in any random, hurly-burly way. No matter the millennium, century, or decade, Jesus is our model. We have someone to follow. Big shoes to fill, but we follow his steps. Peter explains Jesus' pattern by quoting the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, chapter 53, "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." Isaiah chapter 53 is about a suffering servant. Jesus, the suffering servant, didn't retaliate. Peter says that we shouldn't. In verse 20 he instructs slaves to endure unjust beating, and the word for "beating" is the word used about Jesus' torture during his trial. This is Jesus' pattern that shows us God. God doesn't just yell things at us or push us around. God suffered for us.
Jesus died, Peter writes, "so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness." We've been freed so that we'll live the right way. Jesus freed us from the slavery to our sins, though we're not always free from the tyranny in this world.
So that we understand how God helps us live even in slavery Peter holds Jesus before us, saying, "Christ ... suffered for you." Verse 25 states, "you were going astray like sheep." Jesus brought us into the fold at the cost of his life and included us in the family by suffering. Jesus now gives us the unusual ability to choose our attitude toward suffering, as Peter instructs the Christian slaves, and to accomplish something with our suffering. Peter expects the Christians by blessing their masters instead of by retaliating to win people to faith. He allows Christian slaves to make some meaning and progress with their suffering, to put it to good purpose as did their Lord Jesus.
We can always expend our time and energy asking, "Why do people suffer? Why do I suffer?" They're natural questions. At one time or the other we all throw them toward the sky. Such questions, however, seldom accomplish much. The better question is, "What can I do now? What can I make with this suffering, especially the suffering experienced at the hands of others?"
Here's a creative edge of the Christian faith. Jesus helps us break the patterns of retaliating when we're wronged. He teaches us to forgive, to bless the wrong-doer, and to love our enemies. Jesus snaps us out of the pattern of getting people back for what they've done to us, and most of us are thoroughly infected with the germ if not with the gene for vengeance. If you were beaten as a child, Jesus will help you to not beat your children. If in your family problems escalated from screaming, to threatening, to violence, you don't have to repeat that pattern. It's not easy to break such patterns, but following Jesus we can change our knee-jerk reactions even when we feel anxious or threatened. Even when you feel like a helpless slave to your anger, you can break such patterns. You just need a reason strong enough to do it.
The psychologist, Rollo May, said that all the genuine atheists he treated had neurotic tendencies because they lacked a sense of purpose and direction that would integrate their lives -- an insight confirmed during World War II by the Jewish psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl. Frankl was imprisoned in the Nazi work camps Auschwitz and Dachau. There he pondered why a person in abject slavery continued to live, as so many prisoners definitely struggled to do. He found by talking and listening to fellow inmates that one needed a reason to live, whether it was to care for a child or to reunite with a spouse, or whether their reason was a Christian, Jewish, or Marxist faith. They needed a framework of meaning in which to fit their suffering. People must have a purpose beyond themselves in order to keep striving to survive through terrible pain. We need a goal before us that pulls us onward as we struggle.
Frankl recorded that those who lost hope died quickly. He said that if you have a why, a purpose, a reason, to live for, you'll figure out the how. From his personal investigation and his own experience he concluded that you need an overarching reason to live, even if all details aren't clear to you.
In 96 AD, Clement, the bishop of Rome, wrote to Christians in Corinth, Greece. He reported that many Christians in Rome had sold themselves into slavery to ransom others and to provide food for others at the cost of their own selves. Christians exercised a profound freedom of spirit that others couldn't come anywhere near to matching. These Christians possessed a big enough reason to live, a strong enough reason even to suffer.
In Peter's time for slaves not to fight back was a way to follow Christ. Soon after that for people to sell themselves into slavery for others was a way to follow Christ. At other times and places throughout the centuries followers have been summoned to other creative ways of serving Christ. The Nobel Committee granted the 1976 Peace Prize to two women from Northern Ireland: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. Their action for peace started in Belfast Northern Ireland when British soldiers shot and killed an IRA gunman who was driving a car. The car smashed into a family out for a walk. Three children were killed and the mother injured. Betty Williams was a housewife who ran to the scene when she heard the shooting. Mairead Corrigan was the sister of the injured mother and aunt of the children killed. Williams and Corrigan set out to stop the escalating violence between the Catholic IRA and the Protestant extremists. They led marches for peace to disrupt the pattern of violence and to lay a groundwork for genuine and lasting peace. The organization they started continues to organize summer camps in Europe where young Catholics and Protestants get to know one another as individual human beings, not as stereotypical bad people. Williams and Corrigan did something with their suffering that helped others.
Jesus gives us a reason large enough to deal with suffering, and he still helps us to follow in his steps toward peace. Peter says in verse 25, "you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." We return to Jesus for the reason and the power to live. We get mixed up, like confused sheep, and think that our social class, political party, or nation instructs us in the perfectly right ways to live. We are wiser to return to Jesus the Lord who is our shepherd, who leads us to the supplies of the Spirit that we need in order to live creatively for him. Peter calls him the "guardian of your souls." Jesus, who suffered for us, guards our lives as we serve him in peaceful ways that our circumstances call for. He grants us a reason big enough to live for and strong enough to give us hope, even when we suffer. Amen.
Slaves were a legal commodity, bought and sold. Some were born into slavery, others were captured in war, and some sold themselves into slavery to pay their debts. In the first century AD, when Peter writes, about a quarter of the people in the Roman Empire were slaves.
Another difference between ancient Roman slavery and what the US so recently practiced is that, whereas in the southern US it was illegal for a slave to learn to read, in the Roman Empire slaves were valued for their learning. They could be doctors, building contractors, or business managers, having great responsibilities but receiving little money and almost no rights.
In the early Christian church, Callistus, who became bishop of Rome in 217, was a former slave. At that time, the church was still encountering problems of how Christian slaves were to live. Also, the entire church was beginning to face the more difficult problem of sporadic persecutions.
Peter's instruction to slaves this morning is in the middle of his guidance in how groups of Christians are to conduct themselves. In the ancient world, people often wrote instructions to individuals or groups. Peter here advises Christians, like husbands and wives, of their duties. His instruction is different than the contemporary secular instruction in that Peter also tells slaves how to conduct themselves. That's unique. Philosophers and moralists didn't bother writing to slaves, even if the slaves could read. Paul the apostle took another step. He wrote instructions to masters as well.
Knowing the giant institution of slavery in the Roman Empire and how long it had operated, it shouldn't shock us that no one in the New Testament says it's wrong. Paul went further than Peter in this, but he wrote to different people, some of whom must have owned slaves. Yet a Christian slave revolt at that time would have gotten many killed and probably would have doomed the church to extinction within the Roman Empire. So Peter advises slaves to something less than revolt. He tells slaves the attitudes and behaviors to practice; and when you're a slave, just having something you can do in your circumstances gives you hope.
We listen to Peter and we also receive guidance; because we always live within limitations that we can't control, not quite slavery, but never complete freedom either. Peter's advice centers us on Jesus. Jesus lived as a servant and died a slave's death. Peter writes, "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example." The word "example" in the original language was either an outline that a student would fill in or a wax tablet a teacher inscribed with letters on which children traced their ABCs. No matter our circumstances of slavery or semi-slavery, Jesus is an example carefully sketched out for us. Peter says, "follow in his steps."
Christians don't live in any random, hurly-burly way. No matter the millennium, century, or decade, Jesus is our model. We have someone to follow. Big shoes to fill, but we follow his steps. Peter explains Jesus' pattern by quoting the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, chapter 53, "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." Isaiah chapter 53 is about a suffering servant. Jesus, the suffering servant, didn't retaliate. Peter says that we shouldn't. In verse 20 he instructs slaves to endure unjust beating, and the word for "beating" is the word used about Jesus' torture during his trial. This is Jesus' pattern that shows us God. God doesn't just yell things at us or push us around. God suffered for us.
Jesus died, Peter writes, "so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness." We've been freed so that we'll live the right way. Jesus freed us from the slavery to our sins, though we're not always free from the tyranny in this world.
So that we understand how God helps us live even in slavery Peter holds Jesus before us, saying, "Christ ... suffered for you." Verse 25 states, "you were going astray like sheep." Jesus brought us into the fold at the cost of his life and included us in the family by suffering. Jesus now gives us the unusual ability to choose our attitude toward suffering, as Peter instructs the Christian slaves, and to accomplish something with our suffering. Peter expects the Christians by blessing their masters instead of by retaliating to win people to faith. He allows Christian slaves to make some meaning and progress with their suffering, to put it to good purpose as did their Lord Jesus.
We can always expend our time and energy asking, "Why do people suffer? Why do I suffer?" They're natural questions. At one time or the other we all throw them toward the sky. Such questions, however, seldom accomplish much. The better question is, "What can I do now? What can I make with this suffering, especially the suffering experienced at the hands of others?"
Here's a creative edge of the Christian faith. Jesus helps us break the patterns of retaliating when we're wronged. He teaches us to forgive, to bless the wrong-doer, and to love our enemies. Jesus snaps us out of the pattern of getting people back for what they've done to us, and most of us are thoroughly infected with the germ if not with the gene for vengeance. If you were beaten as a child, Jesus will help you to not beat your children. If in your family problems escalated from screaming, to threatening, to violence, you don't have to repeat that pattern. It's not easy to break such patterns, but following Jesus we can change our knee-jerk reactions even when we feel anxious or threatened. Even when you feel like a helpless slave to your anger, you can break such patterns. You just need a reason strong enough to do it.
The psychologist, Rollo May, said that all the genuine atheists he treated had neurotic tendencies because they lacked a sense of purpose and direction that would integrate their lives -- an insight confirmed during World War II by the Jewish psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl. Frankl was imprisoned in the Nazi work camps Auschwitz and Dachau. There he pondered why a person in abject slavery continued to live, as so many prisoners definitely struggled to do. He found by talking and listening to fellow inmates that one needed a reason to live, whether it was to care for a child or to reunite with a spouse, or whether their reason was a Christian, Jewish, or Marxist faith. They needed a framework of meaning in which to fit their suffering. People must have a purpose beyond themselves in order to keep striving to survive through terrible pain. We need a goal before us that pulls us onward as we struggle.
Frankl recorded that those who lost hope died quickly. He said that if you have a why, a purpose, a reason, to live for, you'll figure out the how. From his personal investigation and his own experience he concluded that you need an overarching reason to live, even if all details aren't clear to you.
In 96 AD, Clement, the bishop of Rome, wrote to Christians in Corinth, Greece. He reported that many Christians in Rome had sold themselves into slavery to ransom others and to provide food for others at the cost of their own selves. Christians exercised a profound freedom of spirit that others couldn't come anywhere near to matching. These Christians possessed a big enough reason to live, a strong enough reason even to suffer.
In Peter's time for slaves not to fight back was a way to follow Christ. Soon after that for people to sell themselves into slavery for others was a way to follow Christ. At other times and places throughout the centuries followers have been summoned to other creative ways of serving Christ. The Nobel Committee granted the 1976 Peace Prize to two women from Northern Ireland: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. Their action for peace started in Belfast Northern Ireland when British soldiers shot and killed an IRA gunman who was driving a car. The car smashed into a family out for a walk. Three children were killed and the mother injured. Betty Williams was a housewife who ran to the scene when she heard the shooting. Mairead Corrigan was the sister of the injured mother and aunt of the children killed. Williams and Corrigan set out to stop the escalating violence between the Catholic IRA and the Protestant extremists. They led marches for peace to disrupt the pattern of violence and to lay a groundwork for genuine and lasting peace. The organization they started continues to organize summer camps in Europe where young Catholics and Protestants get to know one another as individual human beings, not as stereotypical bad people. Williams and Corrigan did something with their suffering that helped others.
Jesus gives us a reason large enough to deal with suffering, and he still helps us to follow in his steps toward peace. Peter says in verse 25, "you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." We return to Jesus for the reason and the power to live. We get mixed up, like confused sheep, and think that our social class, political party, or nation instructs us in the perfectly right ways to live. We are wiser to return to Jesus the Lord who is our shepherd, who leads us to the supplies of the Spirit that we need in order to live creatively for him. Peter calls him the "guardian of your souls." Jesus, who suffered for us, guards our lives as we serve him in peaceful ways that our circumstances call for. He grants us a reason big enough to live for and strong enough to give us hope, even when we suffer. Amen.
