The argument here seems to be that while we live in exile on earth and in this life, we should not allow ourselves to live in awe of anything but of the One Who has ransomed us.
There seems to be a connection to 'Lord of the Rings' here. The main characters of 'The Fellowship of the Rings' were charged with ridding their world of a ring which people found alluring and which enslaved. I must confess that I found the movie a crashing bore and haven't read the book. But I know that it's on people's minds. Does this connection seem warranted to those of you who are more steeped in the book and movie?
I love the contribution to the 1999 discussion of this passage, quoting a poem by Stephen Mitchell.
Any other ideas, folks? I am committed to using this passage for my preaching this coming Sunday.
Mark in OH
Why are you committed to this text? You look like the only one! Anyway...
The poem is good and brings out the 1:23 well. But what does that mean? The new person we become when we purified our souls with the truth. This new person will not die, only the old shell?
Obedience to the truth... shown in genuine mutual love. Love of whom? All people? since God is Father to all without impartiality?
I may go with the timeless-ness of our salvation...
or that beautiful phrase 'ransomed from the futile ways.'
Is all this a description of a "change of heart"?
There are so many images in this short passage, I think you have to pick one theme and stick with it.
What does it mean to "purify your souls"?
I am trying to think of a story.. like the change when you suddenly find out that you're going to be a mother or father? Everything changes!
Early thoughts.
JLM in Detroit
I agree, JLM, that this passage is rich with imagery as well as allusions to other passages of Scripture and Biblical ideas. That makes it both promising and daunting. I find that preaching is a process of winnowing, leaving out most to focus intensely on one or two ideas.
I'm committed to preaching it because I want to follow the lectionary exploration of First Peter. It's a wonderful book that deals with the dual realities of suffering and joy that exist side-by-side in the lives of we exiles.
The passage, by the way, reads inductively to me. Everything from verse 16 on seems to lead to the triumphant conclusion in verse 23. We're not really from around here...We're aliens...Heaven is our home...and the stuff of this world cannot be allowed to hold us down...Heaven, including passionate love for others, should be clearly visible in we weird (I mean, holy) people.
These are just rantings. Does it all seem to be moving in the right direction?
Mark in OH
Elliot makes a rather cogent argument that the imagine of aliens (paroikoi) in 1 Peter refers to the current status of the believing community. That is, they truly are strangers in a strange land, and not just because their true home is in heaven. This being the case, we can read Peter's letter as an address to immigrants, refugees, those on the margins.
Furthermore, it is important to read 1 Peter in a way that sees Christ as the hermeneutical key to everything that is written. Christ is central to the text, and so the future hope as presented in Peter is conditioned by this fact, that our hope isn't a place (heaven), but a person (Christ).
So, I wouldn't say "the stuff of this world can't hold us down" but rather "this world cannot condition our hope, nor can our actions be conditioned by hope in this world, but all our actions should be conditioned by the hope of the resurrected Christ."
By the way, I too am trying to preach Peter because of the lectionary's attention to it, and I've been working out a way to read out loud the entire text over a six week period. I've found that the hard part is narrowing each sermon down to a few salient proclamations, rather than reaching too far and becoming too broad.
Clint Schnekloth
St. Paul, MN
"One who judges all people impartially by their deeds" - I'm having trouble with the contrast between this and the ransom being paid by Jesus. Anyon else? RevMOM in IA
Mark -
I'm sooooo glad there's someone else! I didn't bother seeing the movie because I'm not interested. After trying to read Tolkien several different occasions, I concluded it's not for me. Please take this as tongue-in-cheek, but What I want to know is when did naming your pets "Frodo" and "Bilbo" become the bar for inclusion in the egghead "in" crowd?
Sally in GA
Mark -
I'm sooooo glad there's someone else! I didn't bother seeing the movie because I'm not interested. After trying to read Tolkien several different occasions, I concluded it's not for me. Please take this as tongue-in-cheek, but What I want to know is when did naming your pets "Frodo" and "Bilbo" become the bar for inclusion in the egghead "in" crowd?
Sally in GA
As to Lord of the Rings -- chaqu'un a son gout! I've read the Trilogy four times and thought the movie a lot of fun, can't wait for the next one.
On the other hand, I have a hard time preaching this "ransomed with blood" stuff in a way that makes sense to modern ears. How does one do that???
Blessings, Eric in KS
I am preaching on both the Acts passage and the 1 Peter passage. This is about Heart Language - sermon title is "At the Heart of it All" I did a definition search on the Hebraic understanding of the heart. Very interesting stuff.
If you look at the message in Acts when they cried out "what shall we do?" after being "cut to the heart" Peter's response "Repent, be baptized adn recieve the Holy Spirit" leads us into the results found in 1 Peter - A purification of the "soul" which leads followers to "love one another deeply from the heart." (fruit of the spirit)
I too am suprised that more people are not using this text on Sunday. I personally tend to take the wider berth and not preach the same message year after year. Yes, the Road to Emmaus is foundational to our faith - but so is conversion.
The Other PH in Ohio
RevMOM in IA raised a very good question about verse 17, God judging people according to their deeds.
Ok, here's my heretical thought for the day! :-)
It seems to me that vs 17 can be understood as a pointed jab at those who still cling to a "works righteousness" kind of mentality. "If you are clinging to being judged by your action, live in fear."
Then vss 18-19 go on, "However, YOU were ransomed FROM those futile [works- and sacrifice-oriented] ways inherited from your ancestors, with the precious blood of Christ...."
The Good News is that we are NOT judged by our actions or deeds! We are saved FROM them by Christ!
Vs 21 "Through Christ we have come to TRUST in God, NOT as Judge but as the one who raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
Vs 22 "Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience (NOT rules of behavior, but) to the truth (of the grace and undying love of God shown in the death and resurrection) so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart."
Vs. 23 "You have been born anew [a new start!], not of perishable [works and actions] but of imperishable seed (see Acts 2:24, "For it was impossible for [Christ] to be held in [death's] power), through the living and enduring word of God (who is the risen Jesus)."
Thanks, RevMOM! This was a real "A-HA" for me!
Rick in Canada, eh?
Peter reminds us that our Easter lives put us in a time of exile. "I'm but a stranger here, heaven is my home" the old song goes. We need to remember that because of Easter we look at life differently, and although we are in the world we are not of the world (John 17). Where we want to be in with our Lord in our true home, in heaven.
Current news tells of a king of Afghanistan who lives in exile in another country, and is waiting to come back and be with and lead his people in his true homeland.
Do we hold on to that vision of a real life someplace else, which changes the way we look at life here?
JRW in OH
