Printer Friendly VersionIn some ways there is really only one story in the Scriptures
told over and over again in a variety of ways. The story of Exodus is the
foundational story in God’s redemptive history. All of the other saving
activity of God is in one way or another interpreted through the story of
the Israelites’ deliverance from Pharaoh.
The story of God’s people begins when God hears their
cries while they are stuck in bondage in Egypt. Oppressed, enslaved, and broken,
they cry out for deliverance and God hears them. Through Moses and Aaron,
God overcomes the oppressive power that Pharaoh wields over the people and
delivers them from captivity. Those who identify at Passover with the weakness
and vulnerability of the lamb by marking their lives with its blood are rescued
from their slavery. Caught at the banks of the Red Sea, God performs a miracle
and leads the people through the chaotic waters. As they pass through the
waters God forms them into a new people (God’s people). And on the other
side they now live to bring Him praise and glory.
On the other side of the Red sea, however, the challenges are
not over. Although this former group of slaves has now been delivered and
formed into God’s people, they find they are now exiles and wanderers
in a strange new land. They have been redeemed from an oppressive empire,
but they have been redeemed to something that is completely unfamiliar to
the world, even to them. How will these people now live as aliens and strangers
in the world?
In the opening greeting of 1 Peter (which we looked at last
Sunday) and in the text for today, Peter addresses the early believers as
“exiles,” people who have left or lost all of their previous sources
of identity. In the same way the Israelites were redeemed from the bondage
of slavery at the hand of Pharaoh, these early Christians had been “ransomed
from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors” (1:18, NRSV). And
just as the Hebrew children were saved by identifying with the Passover lamb,
so too the Christians addressed in this epistle were redeemed “with
the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish”
(v. 19, NRSV).
Like the Israelites these early Christians have received a new
life by passing through the waters. The sacrament of baptism has its roots
in the Exodus story. In the same way Pharaoh was put to death in the Red Sea
so the people might emerge from the waters free to become all God wants them
to be, Christians enter into the water oppressed and broken by sin, but in
the water and in our identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus
the old life is put to death and the possibility of new life in Christ emerges
from the waters of baptism.
However, also like the Israelites, on the other side of the
waters the new believers Peter is addressing found themselves feeling like
exiles and strangers. They have left the values and the convictions of their
old way of living behind, but where are they going now? What kind of people
is God forming the Church into? How should they live now, when they don’t
seem to fit anywhere?
Peter begins to address the problem by writing, “ . . . live in reverent
fear (of God) during the time of your exile” (v. 17, NRSV). On the one
hand, exile can be understood as a positive term. Those living in exile have
left something behind, and in the case of the Exodus, what was left behind
was damaging and destructive. Like the Israelites who entered exile by leaving
their enslavement to an oppressive Pharaoh behind, the “exiles of the
Dispersion” (v. 1, NRSV) have “left behind the futile way of life
they were living while they were enslaved to sin” (v. 18, NRSV).
On the other hand, exile is a frightening place to be. When
the Israelites left Egypt they found themselves alone in the wilderness without
a homeland, without provisions, and without a set future. The temptation for
the Israelites in their wilderness exile was to abandon their new life with
God and return to the life of bondage in Egypt (see Exodus 16:3).
Like the Israelites, it is apparent that the hearers of this
letter were facing the fears and uncertainties that have come with this new
life in Christ. Although most New Testament scholars argue Peter’s target
audience must have been Gentile because of the way he describes their former
way of life as “futile” (v. 18, NRSV), it is possible the readers
were Jewish and had left the life of Torah obedience for the life of faith
in Christ. Either way, it is clear those who first read this letter had paid
dearly for their faith in Christ. Their trust in Christ had turned many of
the believers into outsiders from their families, outcasts from their communities,
and suspects with the state. Should these new believers go back to their former
secure way of life or should they move forward in the uncertainty of faith
with Christ?
Peter gives to the Church three indicatives, or three bases
for moving forward in faith with Christ.
The first reason believers can move forward in faith is because
of the very holy nature of God (see vv. 16-17, 21, 23). In this text and the
verses that immediately precede this text, God is described again and again
as the holy, faithful, and eternal Father. God’s very nature is holy,
eternal love. He will not give up on us nor allow our lives to be swept away
into meaninglessness.
In the same way God provided manna and quail in the wilderness
when the people were convinced they were going to die, God is faithful to
His children and will not abandon us even though we are often afraid. In the
same way God was faithful in forgiving the people when they often failed,
God will not give up on us until we are formed into His image and character.
Because God is holy and faithful we should fear or reverence
Him (v. 17) rather than give our devotion back over to the forces that previously
held us in sin. The decision to follow the way of Christ is not only a one
time decision. In the wilderness of exile we have to decide if we are going
to continue to fear or reverence God by following Christ or if we are going
to return to the Pharaoh of sin that once enslaved us.
Secondly, Peter reminds the believers they have been changed
and can never really be the same again (vv. 18, 22-23). We have been redeemed,
purified, and born anew. Like the Israelites who had tasted freedom from slavery,
we too have experienced the wonder of new life in Christ Jesus. Peter urges
the reader to realize that once one has experienced this newness, there is
no way one can go back to slavery and be content.
It is probably an important practice for all believers to remember
where they were before Christ redeemed them. For some of us who grew up in
the church surrounded by the grace of God we may have to look at the patterns,
habits, and behaviors that were part of our family system before our ancestors
in faith received Christ. However, when we are honest about where we were,
or where we might be today, without the transforming grace of Christ, there
is no way that we can return to our former way of life.
Finally, we can trust the work of Christ (vv. 19-21). It is
the love of God revealed in Christ that drew us to a new way of living and
has healed us of our broken past. Whenever we begin to doubt God’s goodness
and love, we must look again at the crucified one and remember the grace,
love, and mercy of God.
With Israel, God’s primary goal was to shape the people
who had identified with the Passover lamb to become a reflection of that same
vulnerable and sacrificial love to others. It is not always easy to be unique
and not to conform to the values of the culture around us, but we know God
is working in us to shape the character and nature of the Lamb of God, with
whom we have identified.
For Peter, understanding and having faith in the above actions
of God in Christ creates a new form of life for the believer. As those created
in the image of God, when we see His character of holiness we are drawn, called,
and wooed into reflecting His holy life in us (v. 16).
In the same way the Israelites were redeemed from being Pharaoh’s
slaves to become God’s children, we who believe have been “ransomed”
from the bondage of sin in order to become heirs of the Father. Freedom in
Christ is not license to do whatever we want with our lives, our bodies, and
our resources (that is still bondage to self). Rather, freedom in Christ is
the freedom to serve the Father who loves us and knows what is best for us.
We are also called to a way of life that embodies love to one
another. Those who have been exiled from family, clan, and nation now form
a new people not based on race, language, or nationality, but solely based
on faith as a response to God’s love. God’s newly redeemed people
(His holy nation) bond to one another in “mutual love” (v. 22,
NRSV).
There is no question that the life of genuine faith feels increasingly
strange and different when compared to the highly secularized society in which
we live. Identifying with the Lamb of God may mean separating ourselves from
so many things that previously shaped our identities. For many believers becoming
a genuine disciple will bring tension into their family relationships, it
may bring an end to some significant relationships, or it may even mean a
major change in career plans and priority structures. It is okay to feel like
an exile and stranger from one’s former way of living. The life of faith
is a journey of risk and some uncertainty.
Even for those of us who have been believers for some time, following Christ may mean constantly moving into areas of newness and challenge that stretch us and cause us to be uncomfortable. God’s love is so vast we will never stop growing in our love for Him or for one another. Are we too comfortable where we are? Perhaps God is calling us further into the wilderness of faith with Him.
