1Peter 1:19-25
19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For 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. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When 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. 24 He 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. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
“No good deed goes unpunished”
Hmm… No one likes suffering. Whether I am suffering justly or not, I don’t like it. I want mercy when I am guilty. I want the opposite of what I am being called to, of what we are all being called to. Like Greg(my pastor) said yesterday, we often hear artifacts of a bad theology when we hear people say things like, “Thank you Jesus for going to the cross so that I don’t have to”. Peter tells us that Jesus going to the cross is an example that we are called to follow.
Jesus was unjustly accused and endured the suffering that was not His to endure. He was innocent but rather than retaliate, He endured it. It is suffering beyond our imagination to endure and in the midst, he cried, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. Intellectually I understand that. But my intellect is no match for my innate sense of fairness, justice and the emotions that fuel that. I am incensed over what was done to Christ unfairly, so when I am treated unfairly, and I want justice and retribution, and I want it now, this passage is calling me to shut up and take it just as Jesus did. This is a hard teaching, who can accept it…(John 6:60)
“Cheap heroism is always easy, and even to sacrifice life is easy too; because it is only a case of hot blood and an overflow of energy, and there is such a longing for what is beautiful! No, take the deed of heroism that is laborious, obscure, without noise or flourish, slandered, in which there is a great deal of sacrifice and not one grain of glory – in which you a splendid man, are made to look like a scoundrel before everyone, though you might be the most honest man in the world – you try that sort of heroism and you’ll soon give it up! ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky – A Gentle Spirit
Growing up American, we live with the mindset of EVERYTHING has to be fair. We are the most litigious society on the planet! If we don’t get our way, we want to sue someone for it. I am still of the generation that grew up with parents that told us when we complained about something not being fair, “Tough”. That was the entire conversation my mom was willing to have with me if I felt like my brother or sister got treated better than me. If I appealed the decision to my dad, he would just say, “Well, what did your mom say?” And I just had to live with whatever injustice my little 7 year old mind felt oppressed by. Not today.
Today, no one thinks its fair to be treated according to their actions. Everyone wants to blame their actions on others: their parents, their teachers, the government, white privilege, the cops, their past, big corporations and whatever they feel they can have a good enough case to get someone else to shoulder the blame for their poor choice and bad behavior. We can’t even take responsibility for our own bad choices and bad behavior and as christians we are called to not defend ourselves or retaliate when we are suffering the consequences of our good behavior!! If our good deeds offend others and we end up being punished for it, we are expected to, called to, endure it in the same way Christ endured the cross.
“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”
It’s clear, we are called to endure the suffering of being falsely accused and not retaliate or take revenge. We are called, like Jesus, to entrust ourselves to God. Going back to the beginning of the chapter, Peter is leading his readers down a path of understanding that how we live our lives and show respect and submit to the authorities, is how we glorify God and how we witness to unbelievers. But instead, because we are forever cursed with thinking we know better than God, we want to invite people to a church service that impresses, entertains and consoles. Yet when we participate with Christ in suffering for His creation, it speaks God’s message more clearly than our worship-tainment church culture we’ve created .
It’s interesting that Peter ends this conversation by reminding them that they re like sheep who kept going astray and Jesus, their shepherd has shown up and they now have a place to come back to and remain. All of what Peter is trying to say is that enduring unjust suffering is just part of being in Jesus flock. He endured it because it was the will of God and He is our shepherd and it is how He shepherds us. We have to trust Him.