Week of April 26, 2020
Bible Study for Easter 4A
I Peter 2:19-25
This is our third Sunday in I Peter. You may want to take a look at last week’s study for important background information on the context of this epistle. This Sunday’s and next are in curious position one with the other. Today is 2:19-25 and next Sunday is 2:2-10. What is unusual is that they are not proceeding in sequence. There is a reason for this.
The Gospel readings appointed for the Sundays of Easter follow a common theme. The first Sunday is always a Resurrection account. The second is always the story of Thomas. The third Sunday is always one of the Meal Stories, Jesus eating with his followers after the Resurrection. The fourth Sunday is “Shepherd” Sunday. The fifth Sunday is focused on one of Jesus’ “I AM” sayings. The sixth Sunday tells of Jesus eternal presence with us as we abide in him, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And the seventh Sunday is always a reading from Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer.” So this coming Sunday is “Shepherd Sunday.” When you read I Peter 2:19-25, you will see that there is reference in the last verse to Jesus, our Shepherd. This is why the readings do not follow a sequential order in I Peter for this Sunday and next.
There’s something else that we need to talk about before we turn to the specifics of this text and it deals with more of the context and background to our text. The selected verses are part of a larger section in I Peter – 2:11-3:22. This larger section is called a “household code.” These are also found in other epistles – Ephesians 5:21—6:9 and Colossians 3:12—4:6. These “household codes” have been greatly mis-used and mis-interpreted by many. These codes were not unique to Christian scripture; Aristotle wrote of them centuries earlier as did philosophers and historians of Jesus’ time. At the heart of the household code was the understanding that the man’s authority over his household (a much more expansive household than our nuclear family) was critical to his success in society. These households were based upon economics and finances rather than love. These codes were enacted into law as part of ensuring Pax Romana.
These codes can be read like a list of rules to follow and it may be difficult to find the Gospel of Jesus in them, particularly as they have been mis-used over the centuries. I Peter was written to Christians who were described as exiles in dispersion; they were strangers and aliens in a foreign land. As Christians they were learning a new way of being in relationship one with another; a way shaped by the covenantal waters of baptism rather than the rigid hierarchy of social institutions. As Rachel Held Evans put it: how are Christians who are trying to dismantle divides between people supposed to live in a society where these divides are central to society and where doing so may arouse suspicion and persecution.
The writer of I Peter was answering that question. He was addressing how to bring the love and servant-leadership of Jesus into a society that was hostile to it.
So, while our text is 2:19-25, I would encourage you to read 2:11-25 as a whole section of Scripture. And you may also read the codes in Ephesians and Colossians mentioned above. What parts of these codes “rub you the wrong way?”
With the background above and of last week, how do you understand the words of this text about enduring suffering? Who in our society may chafe under them? What words might you offer to them?
What are the divides and hierarchies in our society that run counter to what we experience in the church of Jesus? How can we have some impact upon those divides? What do you think that the writer of I Peter might say to us today? You may want to write that as a portion of a hypothetical letter to the Christian church today.
Please chew on these words of scripture and write one sentence of where you see “good news” in what was written to these Christians living as exiles.
Let us pray: O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son. Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred that infect our hears; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and, through our struggle and confusion, work to accomplish your purposes on earth; so that, in your good time, every people and nation may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus the Risen Christ. Amen.
