Wednesday of Easter 2

Wednesday of Easter 2 (A)

April 22, 2020

Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            But God never promises you won’t have to suffer.  Did you think you are immune because you are an American, and you have a right not to suffer?  Did you think you are immune because you are a Christian, and therefore God should shield you from all unpleasantness?  Having just walked the road of Lent and Holy Week, hearing again of our Lord’s betrayal, suffering, and death for your sins, surely you know now that God does not work His salvation and glory though any other means than suffering and death.  You cannot arrive at Easter by going around Good Friday and the cross.  There is no resurrection unless there has been death.  Jesus, who died, and who is risen from the dead, bids you now take up your cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24).  Follow Him the way He has gone.  The only way to the other side of suffering and death is through it.  With Jesus, who knows the way and will not abandon you in the valley of the shadow.

            Christians are not immune from suffering.  But in Christ, suffering always has its purpose, and it always has its end.  St. Peter is writing to a people suffering greatly for the sake of the Gospel.  It is the persecuted Church of the diaspora, the dispersion of Christians driven from their homes to leaven the whole world.  Peter begins his discussion of their suffering with praise.  Yes, praise!  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Peter 1:3).  Even in great suffering, the Christian praises God.  Why?  Not because of some pie in the sky hope that everything will turn out alright.  But because Jesus, who died, is risen from the dead!  That is what makes all the difference.  Jesus is risen.  Resurrection is where all this leads.  And through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are born into, baptized into, a living hope.  This is not the kind of hope that is uncertain, as in, “I hope it doesn’t rain,” or “I hope I don’t get sick.”  This is resurrection hope, as in, “I know that Christ is risen, and therefore I know that whatever happens to me now, He will raise me from the dead when He comes again in glory.  I am safe and secure in Him.”  The inheritance… that is heaven, the resurrection, the new creation, eternal life and salvation… this is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.  That is, nothing and no one can take it from you, kill it, spoil it, or diminish it.  You don’t see it now.  But it is awaiting you.  It is coming.  It is being kept in heaven for you.  And you are being kept for it, by God’s power guarded through faith for all of this to be revealed on that Day.

            So that is the end of suffering, as in its goal, its fulfillment, its culmination.  And in this you rejoice.  But what is the purpose of it all?  On the one hand, you have to know that you cannot discern the hidden will of God in suffering or in anything.  Stop trying to guess.  You may not know the why of some particular trial or tribulation until you can ask Jesus face to face.  That doesn’t mean He didn’t accomplish His purpose in it, but it does mean that His thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are His ways your ways. 

            We can also know that all suffering is evidence that we are fallen and sinful people living in a fallen world.  Thus all suffering is a call to repentance.  Not in the sense that a particular individual’s suffering is a result of some particular sin they’ve committed, but in the sense that any suffering of any individual or group is a call for all of us, without exception, to examine ourselves and repent of our sins.  Remember those whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, or those eighteen on whom the Tower in Siloam fell?  Jesus asks whether these were worse sinners than all the others because they suffered in this way.  “No,” He says, “but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).  All suffering, every disaster, every tragedy, is a call to me personally to repent.  And to you personally to repent.  Turn from sin.  Turn from yourself and your own resources.  Turn from your idols.  To the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  To Christ, who alone is your help salvation.

            This is how it is for Christians, Peter says.  It is like gold refined in the fire.  The gold is melted down into liquid, and all that is not gold floats to the top to be skimmed off.  When you suffer, God is melting you down.  As you can imagine, it hurts to be melted into liquid.  But He is doing this so that all that is not faith, all that is not Christ, may come to the surface and be removed. 

            That is to say, your idols are being stripped away.  That is always painful.  As the economy crashes, society disintegrates, and so many we know and love are suffering in so many ways… As we ourselves fear for our health and our livelihoods and wonder about the future… God is ripping the idols out of our hands.  See, when we are brought to the end of ourselves, and all we fear, love, and trust more than God has been exposed as nothing but wood and stone, what are we left with?

            Christ.  Only Christ.  And Christ is all we need.  He is our salvation.  He died for our sins.  He is our life.  He is risen from the dead. 

            So this is what it is to live by faith.  Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.  Though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him, and are filled with joy inexpressible, joy beyond all human comprehension.  Because you know where all this is going.  Christ is risen.  You will rise. 

            I want to say a word about coping in these days of besetting sadness.  First of all, it’s okay to be unsettled.  Christian joy and grief over loss and the state of this world are not mutually exclusive.  Christian joy is not an emotion determined by temporal circumstance.  This joy abides even in the midst of great sadness, because through the cross and suffering the Christian sees Easter, the empty tomb, and the risen Lord. 

            Second, it matters upon what or whom you set your eyes.  When I look at our present situation, the health statistics and those who are suffering, the job losses, my own investments… when I look to the government and politicians, or listen to the media… when I look within myself and go through the endless possible future scenarios and try to formulate a plan B for myself and my family… when I look to these things, I become distressed and despairing.  You know why?  None of them are of any help!  They're all idols! 

            But when I look to Jesus... Jesus who died for me, Jesus who is risen from the dead, Jesus who loves me… when I look to Jesus, I know all is well.  There is suffering to be borne, I know that, and ultimately death.  But in Jesus there is life.  And despair gives way to living hope, the certainty of an inheritance kept in heaven for me that can never perish, spoil, or fade.

            When you are sad or worried or fearful, look to Jesus.  Always Jesus.  Only Jesus.  God never promises you won’t have to suffer.  But He does promise to turn your suffering to good.  He is turning your eyes away from idols to Jesus alone.  And Jesus is the end of your suffering.  He is its termination and its goal.  Now, for a little while, if necessary, you are made to suffer various trials, as the refining fire of faith.  But in the end, what is left to you is Jesus.  And Jesus is life.  For He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.