Love Will Keep Us Alive
1 Peter 2:19-25
I Peter 2:19-25 (NRSV):
19 For it is a commendable thing if, being aware of God, a person endures pain while suffering unjustly. 20 If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this is a commendable thing before God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
23 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
I’m not in the business of cancelling books of the Bible, but Peter is really testing me, here! When I saw that this was one of the four lectionary text options for this week, and easily the most problematic of the texts, it seemed like an obvious text to dodge. But my reservations–and annoyance?–morphed into curiosity and so, here we are.
Oh, I should probably tell you that right before this, Peter writes: “Slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only those who are good and gentle but also those who are dishonest.” That Peter is writing primarily to people he calls “slaves” is a pretty important contextual detail that the Revised Common Lectionary leaves out by starting today’s reading with verse 19.
Now, I wouldn’t put it past a Biblical writer to defend slavery in some form, even if we believe that back then, enslavers were a little nicer to the people they conquered, kidnapped, and employed without consent. However, I do not believe Peter is defending slavery, here. Anyone who says, “well, slavery is mentioned and not condemned, right there in 1 Peter, so it’s fine if I want to enslave people” is…doing it wrong. That’s not how you listen to the Spirit who inspired the scriptures.
Now why even bother with this? There are lots of good scriptures out there! Couldn’t I have just turned my Song of Songs message into a whole series? That’s a fun book!
One thing I try to remember is that life is process. People are in process. Justice is a process. When someone says “The Bible says, that settles it!” I feel deep suspicion.
Partly because the Bible is not one voice, but multivocal. And also because–and I can’t believe I’m going to use this phrase because I kind of loathe it: you don’t know what you don’t know. Biblical authors are people in process, and I think should be read with suspicion, grace, and curiosity.
So, what is Peter saying here? To whom is he saying it? Why is he saying it? I think at least part of Peter’s message is this: know who you are as a people; don’t lose your distinct, radical identity; find a way to survive your suffering; just stay alive. Peter’s big, underlying question might be: how do we sustain our community, sustain each other, sustain our own lives, and sustain Love, in an imperial or oppressive context?
How does a person survive a seemingly impossible situation? The white ally in me wants to be like, “Peter! How can you talk about slaves so casually without criticizing the institution of slavery?” I’m reminded of womanist theologians–Black women doing theology–and a recurring, core theme of their work: survival. How to find the audacious courage and deep community needed to not just stay alive but maintain your joy, maintain your peace and your dignity amid a situation that, yes, should definitely change, but may not change so easily, now or even in your lifetime.
That’s not to say that Black women are not leading movements of resistance and social change–they are! But they’re not naive or idealistic. Womanist theology is a form of liberation theology that seeks a radical transformation of the world as we know it, but it’s also realistic and recognizes that social change is often a long game. I wonder if it helps to read Peter through that lens, as someone trying to help his community survive Empire, survive exile and occupation, playing the long game, in a way.
One detail I maybe should have led with is that Peter is not writing to a church community where enslaved and enslaver co-exist and are trying to do radical, Jesus-inspired community together. We’re talking about Christians who are slaves in Roman households. Peter is not writing to the Emperor to say “abolish the evil that is slavery at once,” attempting to bring an end to Roman household codes with a heroic and revolutionary letter. There is more resignation to the social reality of the time.
As long as Rome is the dominant force it is, slavery is not going anywhere anytime soon. So then, since some of his peers are slaves, and since resistance in the form of direct and organized confrontation or violence is more likely to be catastrophic to his Christian community than revolutionize the social order—what can he say?
Peter opens his letter with: “To the exiles in Dispersion.” This letter is written to a scattered and genuinely persecuted community. This is not like the perceived persecution of many white American Christians today who interpret the movement toward inclusion and religious pluralism as persecution, but maybe more akin to what is faced, in our time and place, by American Muslims, or immigrants, or trans people.
Peter, in chapter one, tells people in these situations, whether enslaved or free, to have hope and know that God is with them. He talks about suffering as something not good in itself, and certainly not divinely ordained, but something that can be survived, and potentially an opportunity for good. Peter also seems to be telling them: don’t become like your oppressors. Don’t become like those who dehumanize you. Don’t resort to their violence. Live differently, among them.
Peter calls people to “rid yourselves…of all malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander” (2:1) and to instead practice “genuine mutual love” and to “Love one another deeply from the heart” (1:22). This is not an invitation to love the oppressor, in this case, but to love each other, as a survival strategy. Stay grounded in Love, stay connected to each other, don’t pattern yourself after your oppressors but after Christ.
Peter tells them: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people…” (2:9). This is hardly Peter articulating a Calvinist doctrine of election or American doctrine of manifest destiny. This is not about God’s favorites. This is a reminder of who they are, a community capable of extraordinary Love.
“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God...” (2:11-12). In other words, you can be good and they’ll find reason to call it evil. But keep doing good, anyway, and leave a lasting impression of Love.
Peter writes: “Be subject to every human authority, whether to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (2:13-17). Ok, “Honor the emperor?” Don’t love that, especially when I think about the equivalent “ask” today.. But I think Peter is saying: “look, it’s not fair, the whole system stinks, it’s not right. But the world needs you in it, so stay alive.”
And, verse 18: “Slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect…” WHY? Why does Peter not take this opportunity to explicitly say “slavery is bad and shouldn’t exist?” Where’s the call to resist, fight, escape, unite, and speak truth? What use is this to us?
Now, do we really know what “slave” means, contextually? Biblical scholar Wayne Grudem believes we need a word here that is stronger than “servant” but weaker than “slave;” a word that means “semi-permanent employee without legal or economic freedom” (Wayne Grudem, 1 Peter, 124). Ya’ll, that’s…still bad. It’s not good. Slavery is slavery. Peter’s message echoes across time to comparable situations where folks are at risk of cultural erasure, individual suffering, or even genocide. His words are not spoken from the top to the bottom. This is not like a white enslaver speaking to an enslaved Black person but more like one member of an oppressed community trying to help their peers hang on. I wouldn’t blame you for cringing at this passage, but I do think it’s worth a closer look.
Verse 19, It’s commendable to not lose faith in a loving God while suffering unjustly and to endure pain when suffering unjustly. I don’t know that Peter is being prescriptive as much as he’s just impressed. “You’re in this unfair and awful situation, and you still believe in a loving God, you’re still here, you’re still going? Remarkable!”
Verse 20, “if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this is a commendable thing.” Peter, already impressed that his peers are enduring a profoundly challenging reality, adds a moral dimension. “It would make total sense” Peter might say “if you gave up on compassion, generosity, and nonviolence in these fraught situations, so it’s all the more impressive when you persist at doing good, even when punished for it.”
Verse 21, “to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example.” “Is there a precedent in our tradition for suffering for doing good?” a new participant in an early Christian community might ask, setting up an educational moment that would perk up any teacher. “Why yes, there is!” Peter might say. “Christ also suffered for doing good, so you’re in good company!”
Verse 22, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” Imagine someone, indoctrinated by the Empire, saying “But, Peter, Jesus suffered because he did something wrong, right? He defied Roman authorities, and it’s sinful to defy Rome, right? He made the Empire look bad! He was destabilizing to the order of things. He said nasty things about the government! We heard he was antifa! Jesus must have been a liar and a criminal, that’s what the Romans say.” Peter might respond: “I’m saying, he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
Verse 23, “When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.” This could be Peter not fully appreciating why his peers would be thinking about fighting back with violence or shouting threats at their oppressors. We are right to be on high alert for people and communities who coddle abusers. But I think this is part of his effort to remind his community: “we are different, committed to a different way. Don’t become like them, don’t take it on yourself to punish them. Offload that desire to punish, to God, if you need, so that you can stay the course.” This is not a downplaying or glamorizing of abuse and suffering. It’s Peter saying “just don’t become like them.”
Verse 24: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” I encourage us not to read this through the lens of medieval and modern atonement theories. Humans may be good, but we’re also capable of getting swept up by forces like greed, violence, hatred, a will to dominate, and so on, especially in the form of large mob-like groups and movements. There are the kinds of forces that led to the state-sanctioned execution of a good, innocent person. “But we,” Peter might say, “can reject those life-destroying sins and live for righteousness, live to make things right between people. His wounds help us see plainly what awful things otherwise good people are capable of so that the violence in our hearts and systems can be healed.”
Verse 25: “For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” Peter, with a surprising amount of tenderness for someone who was in his younger days a little impulsive and rash, speaks of his peers as sheep, going astray, who have now returned to nonviolent, compassionate Love of the One who shepherds and guards their souls. Peter, after all, once cut someone’s ear off, and probably knows firsthand how fruitless such violence can be.
How do we survive unjust suffering? Peter is not encouraging resignation or becoming a doormat. He’s encouraging affirmation of one’s dignity in the face of those who don’t recognize it. He’s comparing people denied full personhood to the Savior of the world! This is about nonviolent resistance, as opposed to the far worse options of violence, which could only end in disaster, or full acceptance, which would be a defeat, for the community and for the soul.
Interestingly, or annoyingly, later in his letter, Peter also seems hesitant to challenge patriarchy, asking women to submit to their husbands. Except that, when he says “husbands…show consideration to your wives” and “pay honor to the woman as the ‘weaker vessel’” Peter might–he might–be subverting patriarchy more than we realize, doing what he can to ensure the survival of women, who are not “weak” in true strength but in social power, just like he sought to ensure the survival of enslaved Christians, weak in society’s structure and yet, fundamentally, profoundly strong.
Maybe it disappoints you that Peter doesn’t emphatically condemn patriarchy or slavery. Maybe in the long run, his community that I’m sure included powerful women leaders, imagined a new world, just like Jesus did. But for now, Peter’s message seems to be quiet and steady subversion, maybe a bit like the spirituals of the enslaved community, songs containing coded escape strategies and critiques of enslavers.
We don’t have to love what Peter says here but maybe it helps us reflect. What are the best strategies for social change? How can we show empathy for people in impossible situations? How can we practice integrity, consistency in our character and in our commitments to peace and justice, even in stressful and scary situations? How can we humanize oppressors, not simply mocking them but calling them to accountability? Liberation theology centers the oppressed but knows that oppressors aren’t truly free.
How might we receive this text, as a meeting? I don’t want to dismiss that some of you have experienced racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and so on, but I also recognize the relative privilege of this community. What are our survival strategies for surviving a hostile world? But also, who is surviving us and what do we do about that?
Monica Coleman, a womanist theologian, writes: “The quest for health and wholeness in the midst of violence, oppression, and evil is a lifelong cooperative process between God and those of us in the world that occurs in healing-teaching communities for the social transformation of the world” (Monica Coleman, Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology, 169). How do we help people find health and wholeness in a world that doesn’t prioritize this for them, as we also work toward a world that does prioritize this? That’s the twofold focus of womanist theology–survival and social change–and it could, or maybe should, inform our own sense of mission in the world.
Queries:
How am I responding to today’s scripture?
What does it look like to follow Jesus’ example amid unjust suffering?
Where have we lost the way of Love? How can we return to it?
How can people survive impossible situations? How have I survived?
How can we practice nonviolent resistance, today? Why choose this path?