How Hope Comes
Dr. James Mayfield
May 16, 2004
Text: I Peter 2:2-10 (read 2:2-5, 9-10) My childhood was protected, and the uglier aspects of this world were censored so they did not reach my eyes and ears. So, it was a rude awakening when I was confronted by the inescapable realities of cruelty and injustice. For a while I lived in the naive illusion that what caused all the pain and problems was basically a failure to communicate. But unfortunately, the problems we are facing on this planet are more complex and difficult than problems related to inadequate communication skills. The profound wisdom of the Bible has identified the problem as sin and evil. What is wrong with the world is we humans live disconnected from God and from God's will. The problem is not merely that of our ears and our tongue. The basic problem is with our hearts -- what we give our hearts to, what we center our living around, what we believe gives meaning to our lives, how we define "success" in life. And we are not exempt just because we call ourselves Christians. Signs of sin and evil that are evident in others are also evident in us -- for example: when our civil discourse breaks down, we hurl words at one another designed to hurt or when our mercy evaporates we understand justice only in terms of revenge or when we allow negotiation to deteriorate into haggling for the best deal for ourselves rather than working with others to discover what is best for all or when what we say and do reveals more about the bad we are afraid of than about the good we believe in or when our fear of being taken advantage of neutralizes our desire to be compassionate or when our faith in God fails and we explode in anger trying to defend God or …… The list can go on and on. These are just some of the symptoms of disorder and chaos caused by sin and evil at work in the world and in our lives. What is missing is the kind of love revealed in Jesus. This is all too often missing in our lives even though we who call ourselves Christians know the only hope for the world is for people to love one another as God in Christ has loved us. The hope to which we cling is the hope someday we humans will be converted from living the way we live to living as God intends. And there is some support for this hope. For 2,000 years, the lives of countless men and women have been transformed by God's grace so that they committed themselves to loving others as God in Christ had loved them. God's love revealed in Jesus, is what finally changes lives, and it is changed lives that transform the world. Our hope is in God and in God's redeeming, transforming love. But as long as our words and deeds are primarily shaped by self-interest, life will be a constant collision of egos and a collision of selfish desires, leading to hostilities intensified by greed or fear or both. Jesus was aware self-centered living creates havoc. This is why he declared that for the world to be as God intends, those who are first in the eyes of the world must be happily willing to be last and each of us must see ourselves as servants. In a variety of ways, Jesus told us and showed us that it is in losing our lives, our egos, in service of others that our lives have eternal meaning and purpose. But living such a life seems foolish in the midst of a world addicted to a dog eat dog approach to life. In fact the life of self-giving love appears to men and women of the world as naïve and stupid. The ways of the world declare that reality is the cut throat, stab-in-the-back-world glamorized by some so-called "reality TV shows." The men and women of the world are convinced that in this world, nice guys finish last, and giving of ourselves for the good of others as Jesus did only results in others taking advantage of us. Of course, Jesus was aware of sin at work among us. Why else do you think he described discipleship as our picking up our cross and following him to some sort of Golgatha? But who of us wants to do this? Picking up the cross of self-giving love is scary. Will we ever be able to love others as God in Christ has loved us? Our answer to this question is the key to whether or not we are able to have hope for the world. If there is no hope we who call ourselves Christians will be able to live as God intends, then we have no hope to offer the world. If we will not live lives of loving God and neighbor, how can we hope anyone else will? The passage we read today is a reflection of Peter's teaching written by one of his disciples. It is a statement of hope that flowed from mature faith. But Peter's faith was not always mature, and it did not mature in a flash, or even in a long week-end retreat. Peter's growth in grace and faith took time and committed persistence -- a persistent commitment to Christ that covered the span of several years. I think we can learn a lot about the way God's grace transforms lives, by remembering the story of Peter. And perhaps, in remembering his journey toward maturity of faith, we can discover hope for ourselves and thus, hope for the world. When his brother Andrew first introduced Peter to Jesus, Peter was a fisherman living with his family in a remote little village by the Sea of Galilee. Peter was so impressed by Jesus, his message and vision of the world, that when Jesus invited him, Peter left his old life behind and followed Jesus. To some extent we can understand because we too are aware of the attractiveness Jesus' vision of life. But just as our first declarations of faith are a not sign that we fully understand, Peter did not fully understand when he made his initial commitment. Even though Peter was the first to recognize Jesus was the Messiah, he misunderstood what that meant. So, when Jesus talked about being crucified, well intentioned Peter rebuked Jesus, telling him that was no way for the Messiah to talk. We can understand. We have trouble believing the cost love must pay in the redemption of the world. We have trouble embracing the costly grace of discipleship -- just as Peter did. Jesus was so upset by Peter's response he rebuked Peter saying: "Get behind me, Satan." The rebuke stung and left Peter somewhat confused, but he stayed with Jesus and continued to learn and mature. Any of us who have been called into account for our distortions of the Gospel, know something of what Peter experienced. Yet Peter remained committed to Jesus and to what he was teaching -- so much so Peter declared he was willing to follow Jesus to prison, and even death if necessary. Some of us may know what it is to be so caught up in the power of a moment we make declarations more bold that we are able to carry out. Jesus knew Peter's faith was not that strong -- at least not yet. He told Peter that Peter would deny even knowing him and he would do that more than once. As we know, Peter did, and then he experienced bitter shame. And when any of us are painfully aware of our failures of faith, we can understand something of what Peter felt. But Peter's failure of faith, was not an abandonment of faith. That first Easter morning, when Peter was told the tomb was empty and that Jesus had been raised from the dead, he was among the first to run to the tomb in both fear and hope. Many of us know something about the kind of fear and hope that comes when we begin to sense the presence of Christ and Christ's claim on our lives. But even after Peter's experience of Easter, he was not yet mature in faith. Who among us does not know what it is to believe and yet be immature in faith? Then at Pentecost, the Spirit of God came among the people and led Peter to speak as never before because, by the power of God's Spirit, Peter understood as never before that Jesus was the Messiah and that God really does win. Sin and evil are still at war with us, but the truth is, they have been defeated. From time to time we too have profound insights into the Gospel and its meaning for the world and our lives, and what we say and do is in harmony with God's truth. Yet even after Pentecost, Peter needed to continue to grow in grace as well as faith. Peter's challenge was embracing non-Jews as his brothers and sisters in Christ. Most of us know what it is to have the Gospel call into account familiar and comfortable attitudes and behaviors that need to be changed. And once again, when confronted with the Truth of God, Peter faced his sin and changed his behavior. The story of Peter, is in many ways a paradigm revealing how lives are transformed -- how we humans grow in grace. When Peter failed, he was able to grow in grace because he was persistent in his commitment even though that meant he was from time to time confronted by the tough love of God. And Peter was willing to face his sin and admit it; he confessed his sin and did not merely apologize, he changed his behavior. In this his story reveals the process of both growing in grace and maturing in faith. It involves all three of these ingredients: (1) a persistent willingness to receive God's grace (even when it was tough love) (2) a willingness to face and confess his sin (3) a willingness to change his behavior. This is the hope revealed in the story of Peter; and this is the hope for us and the world. that we remain persistent in our willingness to accept God's grace even when it comes as tough love, that we face and confess our sin, and that we change our behavior. God, as Peter grew in grace and faith, so may we. Amen. |