“Holy Priests,” 1 Peter 2.2-10, Easter 5A, May ‘20

1.      Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word on this 5^th Sunday of Easter is taken from 1 Peter 2:2-10, it’s entitled, “Holy Priests,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      On this 5^th Sunday of Easter, the good news of Christ’s resurrection still echoes in our ears. We hear Jesus say to the women, “Go and tell… ” (Mt 28:10), and to the apostles, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (Jn 20:21). These missionary thoughts are repeated by Peter in our text. Every Christian is reminded of his high calling as a priest of God to proclaim his “praises.”

3.      Living in a society hostile to the message of Christ crucified and risen again, we all need repeated encouragement to do this. Such encouragement is offered and given by the reminder of what God in his mercy has made of us and the purpose for it. Peter says that God has “built us into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood” to offer “spiritual sacrifices.” What holy lives we will want to live! How zealously we will declare his “praises” by word and deed!

4.      And yet, what happens to us Christians when we forget what our identity is in Christ?  Take this illustration as an example.  “Can anyone there tell me who I am?” This question was asked by a weary, unshaven man at a convention of the American Legion. He was in uniform—at least of a sort—wearing an old navy jacket but with trousers of army or marine vintage. There was no “dog tag” around his neck, nor were there any name tags on his clothes. His pockets contained a few dollars but no wallet.

5.      So, who are the priests the Apostle Peter is talking about?  There must have been many converts in the early church with their own identity crisis. They heard and wondered about the several names read in Peter’s letter “to God’s elect, strangers in the world . . . a chosen people, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” Each had its special meaning, but one name stood out because it was given twice: “a holy priesthood” and “a royal priesthood.” To men and women who had lived in “debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry,” such a high title made a deep impression.

6.      In every age some have regarded people as little more than animals. Karl Marx, the founder of communism, said that man is a hungry animal. What he wants most, claimed Marx, are three meals a day. If he doesn’t get enough to eat, he’ll be troublesome. He must be assured that he won’t get hungry; ultimately this is the way to world peace.

7.      Charles Darwin, who proposed the theory of evolution, thought otherwise. To him man is an animal, but a fighting animal. He has to struggle and gain power if he is to be satisfied. Just having enough to eat isn’t enough; he must dominate. Make him boss so he can give orders and bask in the praise of others and he’ll be content. Sigmund Freud, an early proponent of psychology, disagreed. Man is a lusting animal. He must have freedom in sexual matters, or he’ll be unhappy. Let his biology have free rein and all will be well. The Ancient philosopher, Aristotle, also said that man is an animal. His greatest need is knowledge. Educate him about the consequences of right and wrong and he’ll choose the right. He misbehaves because he doesn’t know any better.

8.      Jesus and his disciples didn’t argue about differences between man and animals, but they had no doubts about the enormity of man’s, sinfulness. By nature we are all, “dead in transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1), “hostile to God” (Rom 8:7). Because of this condition it is necessary to be “born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring Word of God.” Our Lord said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:5). In the waters of Baptism, bonded with the Word, the Holy Spirit works saving faith in Jesus Christ and a person is truly reborn.  This alone qualifies God’s people to be holy and royal priests.

9.      1 Peter 2:9–10 says,  “⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  This section on the believers’ relationship with Christ concludes with two verses that must rank among the most important in the entire New Testament. In poetic phrases, Peter proclaims the new identity of reborn Christian men, women, and children, and then in just 14 words (in Greek), tells us the new meaning of our whole existence.

10.   Peter wants us as Christians to remember who we are! In verse 10, Peter quotes Isaiah’s contemporary, the prophet Hosea, whose whole message could be summed up by those few words: “Not my people … but now you are my people.” Disconnected from God, sinful from birth, hostile to God’s Word and will, all humanity bears this horrible stencil: “Not the people of God.” God was so angry with unbelieving Israelites that he commanded Hosea to take a prostitute as a wife as a visual aid for rebuking the unfaithfulness of the nation. Hosea was to call their son Lo-Ammi (Hebrew: “not my people”); “for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” “I am not your God” is the most catastrophic utterance any human being will ever hear.  By birth no one lives under the mercy of God. We are born under the curse of sin, death, and hell. The horrible name that Hosea was instructed to give his daughter, Lo-Ruhamah (“not loved”), is the name we also were assigned at birth (Hosea 1:6). 

11.   “But now you have received mercy,” says Peter. “Now you are the people of God.” When Word and sacrament work the incredible change in a human being that we call conversion, things change. When a human being is connected to Jesus Christ in faith, things change. Our status before God changes: God sees us clothed in the righteous robes of his Son and proclaims, “Not guilty!” Our attitude also changes. Instead of hating God’s Word and ways, we come to love them. We see God as Father instead of judge and jailer.  Peter says that as Christians you are, “a royal priesthood.” You are both adopted into the royal family of heaven and anointed into the holy priesthood of God.

12.   But, what are the priests to do?  While the major task of the Old Testament priests was to offer sacrifices to God, another kind of sacrifice is the responsibility of the new priests. Peter urges us to declare the, praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.  The immediate sacrifice is one of “praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Heb 13:15). This obviously is our worship, especially with other Christians. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing” (Heb 10:25). In our day of individualism (“I’ll do my own thing”) one often hears “I don’t get anything out of going to church.” What we “get out of it” is the privilege of glorifying our God. We remember Mary of Bethany, who chose “what is better” when her irritated sister Martha reprimanded Jesus for not directing Mary to help her with preparations that had to be made. Jesus gently informed her that listening to the Word has priority (Lk 10:39–42).  This is where genuine worship begins: “Our Lord speaks and we listen… Saying back to him what he has said to us, we repeat what is most true and sure” (Lutheran Worship, 6).

13.   But worship doesn’t stop there. We declare his praise when we “do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifice God is pleased” (Heb 13:16). What keeps us from doing good? There are many excuses but one not often recognized—is just plain laziness. The ancients called it “sloth,” suggesting the three-toed creature that hangs by his claws for days without a care in the world.

14.   In a parable closing the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus compares two builders. The wise builder built his house on a rock, and the house stood firm in a storm. The foolish man built his house on sand, and it fell with a great crash as the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew (Mt 7:24–27). Was he warning against laziness? Or, was it like sewing a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old garment, which makes the tear worse under stress (Mt 9:16). He upbraids the lazy servant who hid the talent entrusted to him in the ground rather than putting it to work (Mt 25:14–30).

15.   Our Lord and his disciples were anything but lazy, going “around, doing good” (Acts 10:38), so busy with ministering to the needs of others that “they did not even have a chance to eat” (Mk 6:31).  The 28th chapter of the Old Testament book of Exodus describes in great detail the priestly garments God ordered Aaron and his sons to wear: breastpiece, ephod, robe, a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. They were colorful—gold, blue, purple, scarlet—and adorned with precious stones. God’s New Testament priests don’t wear such garments. Instead our vestments are the prayers we offer on behalf of others, the kindnesses, the cup of cold water, the hands that reach out to heal and help. That is how we live, as the royal priests of God, as we offer our sacrifices of praise and live in the sure hope of our inheritance that awaits all the “chosen people” who have been “called out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  Amen.  Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.

“Suffering for the Sake of Christ” 1 Peter 2.19-25, Easter 4A, May ‘20

“Suffering for the Sake of Christ” 1 Peter 2.19-25, Easter 4A, May ‘20

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The message from God’s Word this 4^th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, is taken from 1 Peter 2:19-25 and is entitled, “Suffering for the Sake of Christ,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Most every Sunday School child sooner or later hears about Daniel and his life-threatening experience in the lions’ den. What may have been missed is why the king ordered Daniel to be treated in this way. Out of jealousy, Daniel’s fellow rulers persuaded King Darius to issue a decree forbidding prayers to anyone except the king. Violators would be thrown into the lions’ den. In spite of this, Daniel continued to pray to the Lord three times a day. Reluctantly, Darius had to carry out the punishment. Of course, Daniel was saved from harm, but for doing a good thing—praying—he suffered.

3.                So, St. Peter writes in his epistle today for Good Shepherd Sunday about suffering for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord.  1 Peter 2:19–25 says, “19For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

4.                “But if you suffer for doing good. . . . this is commendable before God.” Peter’s words to the Christian slaves must have upset them. Several times in his epistle he states that painful treatment is bound to happen not only at the hands of their masters, but by others as well.  In all fairness it just doesn’t seem right, even to us today. Being good and doing good should result in blessing and reward. The historian H. G. Wells complained that Christians were basically selfish, forever looking for God’s favor. They serve him, but not for nothing.

5.                Living a decent life in word and deed has its consequences, and many are desirable. Just as a person can’t separate the wetness from water or the softness from feathers. Psalm chapter 1 specifically states, “Blessed is the man . . . [whose] delight is in the law of the Lord. . . . Whatever he does prospers.” But not always. Job, for example, “was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). But Satan was permitted to unhitch the goodness of Job to the prosperity that resulted from it, only to show the Devil to be wrong, even though Job lost family, property, and his own health.

6.                “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. . . . When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate” (2:21, 23).  Certainly, the abuse suffered by the Christian slaves must have not been taken lightly. The temptation to lie in wait and plot revenge could hardly be absent. Peter knew all about that. The scene in the Garden Gethsemane where he drew his sword in order to defend Jesus was all too familiar to him (John 18:10 & Matt. 26:51-52).

7.                Nor did the other disciples find it easy to turn the other cheek (Lk 6:29). When they went to a Samaritan village to ready things for their Master, they were not welcomed. So, James and John asked Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” For this vengeful spirit Jesus found it necessary to rebuke them (Lk 9:51–55). Even Joseph’s brothers, who had sold him into slavery, were expecting the worst when they recognized him as the powerful prime minister of Egypt. His forgiveness and later actions to take care of them and their families stand out as one of the most magnificent accounts of undeserved mercy in the Old Testament.

8.                So, Peter introduces the mistreated slaves to the example of Jesus Christ, who was merciful and forgiving toward those who abused him—a most striking demonstration of love. Not only are they to stifle threats of retaliation, they are to take positive steps in dealing with their tormentors (read 3:9–12).  Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:9-12, “⁹Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; ¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”   

9.                It’s not the way of the world. There are daily instances of refusals to forgive, much less to forget. For more than 15 years a drunk driver who killed a 16-year-old girl has been sending a check for $1 every week to her parents, who requested it. The judge had so ordered it. At first the driver wanted to write all the checks at once, but they refused to settle for that. Then he tried to send a dollar bill each week, but this also was unacceptable to the parents. The daughter’s name appears on each check. “At least once a week for 18 years he’ll remember what he did,” they said.

10.             We as Christians in America are seeing some threats to our own religious freedoms in the midst of our Covid-19 Pandemic.  Unclear restrictions make inconsistent enforcement by government nearly inevitable. This is especially true when local officials have an agenda and see an opportunity to take advantage of a crisis to crack down on groups they don’t like, including religious ones. For instance, during the month of April in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina, Christians were arrested for praying outside abortion clinics, even though they were obeying local distancing orders.

11.             Also, in the month of April, the mayor of Louisville, KY, attempted to bar a church from holding a drive-in service, where congregation members were socially distancing themselves. A federal judge sided with the church, writing in his opinion that, “On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter.”  Kristen Waggoner, vice-president of the Alliance Defending Freedom, has said that her organization is receiving about 100 calls a day from churches and other ministries about COVID-19 related issues, asking for help in understanding and complying with federal, state, county, and municipal orders.  The most important thing to remember, as Waggoner stated is that First Amendment rights can’t be suspended permanently. This is why the threat from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to permanently close some churches even after the crisis is ridiculous.

12.             “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.”  During World War I, German citizens living in England were directed by their Kaiser to join the German army in Paris. While one of the citizens was wondering what to do, he spoke about the situation with an acquaintance. One thing led to another until he came out with an offer of a large sum of money if the acquaintance would take his place. He accepted the offer, went to Paris, and joined the German troops. Only a few days after his arrival he was killed by a French shell. Back in England the man who paid him to take his place reasoned, “In the eyes of the law, I am dead. Germany has no further claim on me.”

13.             So too, Jesus became our Substitute and, as we heard last Sunday, paid the full price for our sins, his precious blood, his very life. We are no longer slaves to sin, no longer slaves by fear of death, no longer held captive by the devil (Heb 2:14–15). They have no claim on us.  The full significance of Christ taking our place as our substitute could hardly be better expressed than in the words of Martin Luther: “He sent His Son into the world, heaped all the sins of all men upon Him, and said to Him: ‘Be Peter the denier; Paul the persecutor, blasphemer, and assaulter; David the adulterer; the sinner who ate the apple in Paradise; the thief on the cross. In short, be the person of all men, the one who has committed the sins of all men. And see to it that You pay and make satisfaction for them’” (Luther’s Works, 26:280).

14.             Christ’s willing self-submission was the way in which he redeemed the human race. Peter refers three times to Isaiah chapter 53, the great story of the Suffering Servant of the Lord, whose humble self-sacrifice brought life and healing to all who believe in him. He bore our sins in his body on the tree—and this not only to give us forgiveness but so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. This is the mystery of the process of sanctification—as we grow in faith and understanding, our lives become more Christlike. Our own troubles and sufferings are transformed from misery into ministry.

15.             Peter’s final words in chapter 2 comfort suffering Christians who might think that their sufferings prove they have been abandoned. When we come to faith, Jesus accepts a solemn responsibility toward us. He commits himself to be our Good Shepherd, that is, the one who takes responsibility to guide, protect, and feed his sheep. He is also our overseer, the one who watches over Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps, the one who will bring us from this sad world to a better one of his own making.

16.             Having been released from the guilt and burden of sin and all its consequences, we are still living in a world hostile toward God’s people. Because of the inheritance for which we wait, we will, having been raised with Christ, set our “minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2). “Since Christ suffered in his body, [we] arm [ourselves] with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, [we do] not live the rest of [our] earthly [lives] for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God” (4:1–2).  Amen.  Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.