Hello All,
Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy Spirit bring you His wisdom and His understanding.
Love, hank
[1 Peter 2:18-25] – Suffering as the Messiah Did – Not many decades ago, before elec-tricity and mechanization, the work done then, by those advancements of today, was per-formed by slaves. That is not an advocacy statement for the dehumanizing institution of slavery. A slave was property meaning it could be bought/sold, singly/in units, physically or sexually abused and all the owner needed to supply was minimal housing and enough food to guarantee one more day of work. We may sneer at the people of past centuries for being barbaric, but - for all we have done in the modern world millions still exist as highly marginalized societies. Peter was more creative because many Christians were slaves and because the Gospel of Jesus gives dignity and self-worth to all those who believe. He refrains from encouraging them to revolt. He tells them to respect and obey their masters. He includes all Christian slaves regarding their attitude toward their masters whether kind or unjust. Are we correct to agree it is proper to urge a slave to be cooperative with an unjust master? Are we colluding with the master? Many abusive, intolerant situations exist because of fear of speaking. Being a whistleblower could be costly, in many ways. How-ever, Peter may have glimpsed a deeper truth within the moral quicksand. He wants us to follow him through this process based on the fulfilment in the messianic moments. Is there a thought process we ourselves are able to adopt into our own lives? We start by recognizing that Jesus' crucifixion was the most unjust, evil act ever seen. Jesus deserved only praise and gratitude, but they rejected Him, they beat Him, and they killed Him. We must go back to [Isa. 53] where the ‘servant’ is called to carry out God’s worldwide saving pur-poses. Here [Isa. 42:1-9; 49:1-7; 51:4-9] the ‘servant’ serves because he is treated unjustly; insulted, but not replying in kind; suffers, but does not curse his tormentors. Peter says, He bore our sins in His body on the cross. [Isa. 53:4] We were going astray, like lost sheep, but the wound gave ushealing. [Isa. 53:5-6] This is one of the clearest statements in the entire NT that Jesus, the Messiah, took upon Himself the punishment the people deserved. As Israel’s Messiah, the world’s True Lord, He could represent all the people. He alone could represent them all. Now consider what Peter is saying about slaves and masters; as well as other examples. Peter is not saying people should remain passive when on the receiving end of violence. He is urging people to see that the suffering of the Messiah is not the only means by which we ourselves are rescued from our own sin. Just perhaps when suffering is extended through the lives of Jesus’ followers that then it may be a way by which the world may be brought to a new place. Is this a clever way of not confronting the real issue? Peter teaches that the death and resurrection of Jesus was, remains and always will be the point around which all else in the world revolves. He is trying to get us to accept that all the unjust suffering of God’s people are caught up in the suffering of God’s son. A powerful perspective, but those of us who read [1 Peter] in freedom have a deep responsibility to help our brothers and sisters for whom the above noted persecution is a daily happenstance. AMEN
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