The first letter of Peter was written in a difficult time, and it contains some difficult instructions; difficult for us to hear, anyway. For example, in chapter two, there are instructions for slaves to accept the authority of their masters, even masters who are violent and harsh; and, at the beginning of chapter three, wives are instructed to accept the authority of their husbands.
If the first letter of Peter were written to me, personally, by someone I knew, I would have some strong reactions, and I would feel compelled to write a letter of my own in return; and it would be hard to remain calm and gentle in the words I use.
However, the First Letter of Peter is not a private letter to one person, but an epistle, written to be read to an entire community; and if the ideas of First Peter were, in fact, to be expressed today, it probably wouldn’t be in the form of a letter, but as a post on social media, or a YouTube video. And can you imagine what the comment section would look like! It would be war zone! And some of us would be tempted to join in, to launch our own verbal assaults, condemning those who might dare to agree with the ideas expressed.
But I have learned that launching verbal assaults are rarely successful. Is anyone ever really convinced by all the bullying and belittling that takes place on social media and cable TV, and elsewhere?
More importantly, is such behavior Christ-like? Is it loving? Does it lead people to life and to wholeness?
I know it’s hard, but a better approach is to actually do what it says in the section of this letter that we heard a few minutes ago: to be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.
In other words, find a way to state your truth, live your truth, but do not do it in a way that belittles or bullies those who disagree with you.
It all starts with love. Focus on love, and let love lead you to understanding.
Here’s how I do that in regards to the First Letter of Peter.
When I read the First Letter of Peter, I’m aware that it was written at a very difficult time for Christians. Christians were being persecuted and oppressed. They were not the ones in power. They had no influence on society, on Rome. The authorities, the leaders, couldn’t care less what Christians thought about anything. They weren’t elected to office by Christians, and Christians were a small minority, so they didn’t need to concern themselves with what Christians thought, what they believed, or what they wanted.
So a Christian who was held as a slave had few good options. Any kind of disobedience or resistance would end badly for them. They weren’t going to start a movement. They weren’t going to gain their freedom. Their best option really was to live as best they could in their circumstances, while holding on to the hope of Christ.
Remember, Jesus taught his followers to turn the other cheek. If a Roman soldier slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek and let him slap that one as well. Or, if the soldier forces you to carry his gear one mile, keep going a second mile with him.
Of course, such behavior would totally take the soldier by surprise. What kind of person would do such a thing? And it might even make the soldier question his own behavior, or to whom he pledged allegiance.
Turning the other cheek, or walking the extra mile, are subversive acts; they challenge the system of oppression, yet do it in a way that respects the humanity of the one committing the offense. And actions like these actually have the best chance of changing the behavior of the one committing the abuse.
In that first-century environment, a slave who accepts the authority of their master, even one who is harsh, is demonstrating the same kind of behavior. They’re not just enduring the abuse; they are maintaining their hope in the face of abuse.
I don’t think 1 Peter is meant to be a defense of slavery, or a defense of husbands who abuse their wives, although these passages have certainly been used that defend those things throughout history. I think it is meant as advice for people who really have no other option but to endure what they are going through.
It’s also remarkable that the letter addresses slaves and wives directly. “Slaves, accept the authority of your masters;… wives, accept the authority of your husbands.” In those days, you didn’t directly address slaves or wives. If you wanted to communicate with a slave, you told the slave’s master, and the master would decide whether or not to pass that information on to the slave. If you wanted to communicate with a woman, you told her husband. You didn’t talk to her directly.
That’s why, when the disciples saw Jesus talking to the woman at the well, they were so astonished: because he did talk directly with a woman.
In the same radical way, 1 Peter addresses women and slaves, directly.
In Galatians, it says that there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all are one in Christ Jesus. In Colossians, it also says that there is no longer slave and free, even though Colossians also instructs wives to obey their husbands and slaves to obey their masters.
Do you see the contradiction here?
Because of these contradictions, some scholars believe that some of these passages instructing women to obey their husbands and slaves to obey their masters were inserted into these books of the Bible by later editors.
Other scholars say that they were accommodations meant to help Christians live peaceably under Roman rule and persecution. There is no definitive answer.
I ramble. The point is that it’s so easy to jump to conclusions, and to use scripture as proof-text to justify one’s point of view; and, it’s so easy to lash out at those who jump to a different conclusion than you do, and to berate and belittle and bully those who disagree with you.
I do have some very strong beliefs, about what is right and what is wrong; beliefs about equality, and justice; beliefs about such hot-button issues such as gun control, and LGBT rights, and the growing gap between the wealthy few, and the declining economic power of everyone else.
And I try to find like-minded people on social media, to learn from them, to connect with them.
Yet I am frustrated that so many people on social media, including those I often agree with, don’t know how to make their defense with gentleness and reverence. They belittle, they berate, they bully,... and their words are without love.
It’s unloving. And it’s really not very effective.
If the author of First Peter really believed that women should be submissive toward men, and that slaves should be submissive toward their masters, and that it was right for husbands and masters to exercise dominant, even abusive power… and if the author of First Peter said so on social media… no one is going to convince him otherwise by getting all dramatic in the comments.
It helps to see how Jesus responded when he witnessed men in power acting in ways that were authoritarian or abusive. He didn’t start arguing with them. He didn’t start a yelling match. He didn’t launch personal attacks against them.
Take the example of the woman caught in adultery. This story appears in John, chapter 8. Some of the authorities brought to Jesus a woman they had caught in the act of adultery, and they had stones in their hands, ready to carry out the punishment they said was commanded by the law of Moses.
Jesus could have picked up a stone himself, since the woman was, in fact, guilty.
Jesus could also have berated the authorities, since their intent wasn’t so much to carry out the law, but to trap Jesus.
But neither of those options was rooted in love.
Instead, Jesus showed love to the woman, and he showed love to the authorities, by responding, gently but firmly, saying, “Let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
He didn’t try to beat the truth into anyone. He didn’t attack anyone, literally or figuratively. He gently demonstrated love, and helped everyone to see what the true, right response would be.
As it says in Proverbs 15: “A soft answer turns away wrath.”
I read a couple of books recently that I thought would be helpful to this week’s sermon. One that I rushed through this past week was only a little helpful, but a few weeks ago I read a book about the progressive theology of Fred Rogers, the Presbyterian minister who created Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood was full of Fred Rogers’ progressive ideas. But he was never forceful in expressing those ideas. He never beat his viewers over the head with his ideas. Even in his public appearances outside of his TV show, he always acted in a kind and gentle way.
In 1975, Fred Rogers wrote: "I'm weary of people who insist on trying to make other people feel bad about themselves. The more I look around me and within me the more I notice that those who feel best about themselves have the greatest capacity to feel good about others."
Fred Rogers always spoke kindly of others, including those he disagreed with. He showed love to his harshest critics.
On another occasion, he was invited to lead his home congregation in prayer. This was at the height of the Cold War, when animosity toward the so-called “Evil Empire” was at its peak.
The prayer Fred Rogers gave ended like this:
“Last of all we pray for those we do not know or those we find it hard to love. The world seems so vast, and some of its people seem so very different from what we understand and like, we find it hard to imagine that they come under Thy care too. And yet we realize that there are those who can't imagine that Thou wouldst ever care for us. Help us all to understand that any blessing which comes to one ultimately blesses everyone.”
See, every person is a unique individual, and in most cases, we really have no idea what it is that they are going through, or what experiences they’ve had that have shaped them and made them who they are. I’m trying to understand the author of First Peter, because it might help me understand a little better why he wrote some of the things he wrote; and once I understand a little better why he wrote some of the things he wrote, I’ll know better how I can respond in a loving manner, and how I can apply (or not apply) his words in a way that will bring healing to my community and my world.
I also try–or, at least, I should try–to understand a little better those who are alive today who I disagree with.
And, most certainly, I should try to love them. Which means I should try really hard to not attack them personally.
People I know and love attacked Donald Trump because he was overweight. Other people I know and love attacked Joe Biden because he stutters. It’s so easy to do, and I’ve done the same.
But Christ calls us to be better than that. Christ calls us to love one another, to even love our enemies.
That doesn’t mean we don’t stand for justice or speak the truth or point out how their actions and their policies are hurting people.
But we do it with gentleness and with reverence. Gentleness, because they are human. Reverence, because they, like us, are created in the image of God.
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