EPISODE NINE: LIGHT IN A DARK PLACE
…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
It is hard for us to imagine what it was like for those early believers to whom Peter is writing this letter. From my understanding of situations like that in Rome, the Jewish Christians were forced to flee the city because of persecution. When some of them returned to Rome, they discovered a church much changed from the one they had left. It was now a Gentile church. Scot McKnight refers to the Gentile believers as the “strong” and the Jewish returnees as the “weak.” The roles were reversed, and Paul’s letter to them, read and explained by Phoebe, was meant to level the field, to encourage both groups to understand that they were one in Christ, that the walls were down between two groups who came from such totally different understandings and backgrounds that coming together as one often seemed impossible.
So many of the letters written and preserved for us in the Scriptures address that and similar challenges. The Christian worldview is different. Christians still have to live in that world. How were scattered and often-persecuted believers to practise a different worldview and still survive in a world that considered them an antisocial and dangerous cult?
I’ll take a few phrases from 1 Peter 2:11-25 to examine Peter’s instructions to his diaspora.
“Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles…”
There it is again. Peter probably doesn’t have to remind these people who they are. But for those of us accustomed to living in the country we were born in, we don’t usually consider ourselves foreigners and exiles. Yet we are. It’s odd, though. Because of who we are as believers, we now have a different worldview from the society around us, with different values, goals, and expectations—at least we should. Sometimes we feel like we don’t belong. Sometimes forces greater than ourselves make us feel as though we don’t belong. Sometimes we have trouble getting along with one another!
Ukraine comes to mind—a small, relatively weak country being bullied by a bigger, stronger country into giving up what belongs to it.
Peter’s audience had literally lost their country, and we were living in territory that was not home to them. From what Peter says, it sounds like these were, like the early Christians in Rome, Jewish converts who were now in Gentile territory. Peter tells them to “Conduct yourselves with such honour among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”
Sounds familiar? The words of Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, came to Peter’s mind: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Doing what they are asked to do exposes them to risk. The persecuted are not asked to hide who they are, what they believe, or their worldview as followers of Jesus. They are asked not to find ways to conform to the society around them so they are no longer persecuted, but to BE who they are openly so that the light of Jesus will shine in them, through them, and change the world around them. They are not to cede territory, but to fight for it, because the world is their territory. The world belongs to its Creator and Redeemer, Jesus. It’s ours as co-heirs with Him.
The believers’ weapons are not the world’s weapons. What Peter is about to say to them likely made some of them cringe.
Peter writes: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, or to governors as those 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 good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
The king and those governors who are supposed to punish evil and reward good are the enemies of those who follow the way of Jesus. Are you mad, Peter, to tell us to submit to them when they pursue us, arrest us, and condemn us? This is the difference in worldview, and this is the difference that will silence the critics. This is not a call to give in to the society around them, but to accept the risk of dying for truth and righteousness. Perhaps it is even a call to stop running.
“Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil.” Most of us have heard (perhaps even used this phrase or something similar), “I’m forgiven, so now I can do what I like, or what I need to do, without consequences.” Would this have tempted these early believers? Does it tempt us? Can we be enough like the rest of the world to avoid the risk of discovery as believers and escape whatever trouble that might bring?
We are free, forgiven. Peter agrees. But we are now called to be that royal priesthood,holy nation, God’s possession and His servants. We are called to a different worldview: to be counterculture, to swim against the current, to repossess His land, and to take whatever risks we need to take to be light in the darkness.
And the weapons of the world are not our weapons. We are, as Peter says, to: “Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.” And since most of those to whom Peter is speaking would have been those who would need to work for others in order to survive, the apostle reminds them that whether their masters are kind or unkind, they are to endure whatever treatment is meted out to them, because this would be commended by God.
Peter’s last word here is the bottom line for them, and for us.
Remember Jesus.
“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His footsteps: ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.”
To this they were called.
Among the early Christian martyrs were two women, Perpetua and Felicity. The story goes that at the end of the second century and into the third, when Christians were being persecuted, Perpetua, a wealthy young woman, converted to Christianity. She was highly educated and would have enjoyed some protection as a member of society’s elite. Felicity, who was arrested with her, was a slave and had no rights at all. Perpetua was a new mother, and Felicity was pregnant when they were arrested and imprisoned. Three men were arrested with them; one was a slave, and the other two were freeborn. While in detention, they studied their faith and were baptized (it is unclear how they did so, as immersion was probably not an option!).
Perpetua began to write a journal in which she recorded her thoughts and experiences. This is considered to be the earliest known Christian writing by a woman.
Just days before her execution was scheduled, Felicity gave birth. The baby was turned over to women in the Christian community for care.
“Among the imprisoned, spiritual preparation remained constant as they encouraged each other and interpreted their suffering as a final trial of faith. In Perpetua’s view, her suffering affirmed her devotion and prepared her soul for what awaited.”
The prisoners were encouraged to recant, to sacrifice to the emperor or die. Perpetua’s family tried to persuade her to recant and save herself for her child’s sake. They all refused.
In March AD 203, the five were taken to the arena in Carthage, where a huge crowd gathered to witness the executions, which were part of the emperor’s birthday celebrations.
“In addition to their personal courage, their difference in social status added a deeper meaning.
A noblewoman and a slave, who came from opposite ends of Roman society, became united in suffering. Christians viewed their friendship and mutual support as an example of the Church’s vision of equality under God. Eventually, the Church declared them saints, assigning them a joint feast day and including their story in collections of early martyrdoms. Their words continued to be read long after the Roman Empire had changed, and St. Augustine later delivered sermons in their honour, which helped preserve their memory across North Africa. Finally, the record of their lives and deaths remains one of the most powerful testimonies of faith in the early Church.”
Peter is calling his people to take the risk, to be the light, to not hide who they are or what they believe, and to repossess the land, even if they are called to water it with their own blood.
What could be my takeaway from this? No one is coming to arrest me for believing in Jesus—at least not yet. Still, taking advantage of the freedom and privilege I have, I am called to be countercultural, to live out a different worldview with good conduct, respect and honour, even for those who may not merit it or who do not “get me”. It’s little enough to give when I think about my Jesus.
