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6 Easter A 05
By the late 400’s invading barbarian Goths, Huns, and Vandals
had swept through western Europe, plundered Rome in 410 (Goths) and 455
(Vandals), and settled in France, Spain, northern Africa and the western
Mediterranean islands to rule as nominal vassals of the far away emperor.
In 476 the Goths deposed the last of the western Roman emperors. Every
spring the barbarians raided the Roman countryside. In Gaul and in Rome
the church offered special prayers just before Ascension Day that God
would protect from the raiders the newly planted crops and those who
cared for them. On Rogation Day service at my father’s country church we
used to pray in the fields next to the church. So after the last hymn
this Rogation Day I ask you to join me on the front lawn to pray for the
crops and those who care for them. Three prayers are in the bulletin.
Please take them home, put them where you will see them, and use them.
This is the next to last sermon in a series on the first
Epistle of St. Peter to the young churches of Asia Minor. In this chapter
St. Peter continues his advice on living as a new person in Jesus Christ,
relates that advice to Jesus’ death and resurrection, and concludes with
a reference to the importance of Christian baptism.
Remember: Peter was a married man. One of Jesus’ early miracles
was to heal Peter’s mother in law. We don’t read anything about Peter’s
wife or family; the early church assumed he was a widower. But he knew
something of married life, and he knew that it could be peaceful and
happy – or not.
The idea that all women should be educated as well as men is a
fairly recent idea. In most societies women’s education was home
education. There have always been some exceptions. Queen Elizabeth was a
notable scholar. The Christian teaching that men and women are equally
loved and valued by God supports women’s education. But for the first
generation Christians to whom Peter wrote obedience to one another for
Christ’s sake was a new idea. So Peter encourages women to avoid
contention at home. Do what is right, and don’t be afraid. You have the
victory in Christ Jesus. Don’t worry about the outward appearance, pay
attention to the life of Christ within.
“Husbands show consideration for your wives.” In an economy where human
muscle is the primary energy source, Christian men needed to honor and
help wives. Our friends Ken and Judy Hollingsworth translating the bible
in West Africa tell how Christians are prospering because Mofu Christian
men help their wives in the fields. The obedience of husband and wife is
obedience to Christ, to the will of the God who made us and loves us and
wants what is best for us.
“Have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart,
and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on
the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were
called—that you might inherit a blessing.” Someone said our home lives
would be much better if we could treat each other with the same concern
we show for total strangers. We are given by God’s grace the Holy Spirit
of God, the spirit of unity in love, the spirit of sympathy, the spirit
of love for one another, of a tender heart, and of a humble mind. Jesus
both commanded and demonstrated in his passion, “do not repay evil for
evil or abuse for abuse.” The temptation to revenge is very strong. We
learn it in the playground. Give as good as you get; stand up to bullies.
And that’s true – when we’re children. “But when I became a man I put
aside childish things. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face
to face.” Peter says, “when they curse you, ask God to bless them – so we
can receive with open hands the blessing God offers us.
Peter gives a long quotation (Psalm 34:12-16) about the good
life and then returns to his theme - do good even if we suffer for it. He
goes on, “Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated.”
Remember, the early churches were small, and the new Christians were not
wealthy or powerful in ways the world could see. But they, and we, have
the power of God, the power of truth, the power of the Holy Spirit. We
are not called to be timid about our hope in God, about the new life in
holiness that is God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ. We are called to give
God first place in our lives and in our affections, in our hearts to make
holy Jesus Christ as Lord of all.
We are always to be ready to make our defense to anyone who demands an
accounting for the hope that is in us - with gentleness and reverence. Be
able to say in a few sentences what the gospel means to you. Prepare what
someone called “an elevator testimony” – an effective witness to say
between floors. I had occasion to do that this week in response to a
college student who said, “Christianity is so negative, full of so many
don’ts.” I said what I have said to you is sermons, “The God who made me
loves me; he wants what is best for me. I’d be really dumb not to do what
he wants – because it is best.” Be always be ready to make your defense
to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you
- with gentleness and reverence.
Peter goes on to urge us to keep our conscience clear so those who abuse
us for good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. He reminds us of the
example of Jesus, “Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put
to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”
Peter concludes the chapter with the biblical authority for the phrase
“he descended to hell” in the creeds. Jesus “made a proclamation to the
spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited
patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a
few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.”
The mention of Noah and water reminds Peter of baptism. Baptism is not
only to wash dirt from the body, but it is a witness to God’s love for us
and our love for God. In baptism God the Holy Spirit comes to us to
witness through conscience to what is good and what is evil. In baptism
we receive new life, “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has
gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels,
authorities, and powers made subject to him.”
Throughout today’s reading faith and action, belief and behavior, are
closely linked. What we believe affects what we do and what we do affects
what we believe. So because we believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
“Have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart,
and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on
the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were
called—that you might inherit a blessing.” Amen.
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