Genesis 6:11-22; Psalm 34:11-22; 1 Peter 3:8-4:11
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Tonight, dear Christians, St Peter preaches to you concerning suffering for righteousness’ sake and the blessed Substitute and Example you have in Christ Jesus, into whose suffering and death you have been baptized, drown in the flood of His redeeming Blood, which gives you a good conscience and works in you by His Word and Spirit, the development of godly character, virtue and love.
For you have heard how you are to live according to His Word and will within your vocations in life. Firstly, as His holy people, in purity and righteousness, purchased with the precious Blood of Christ. Then, daily walking in this reality, in your baptismal identity, you live within various holy orders according to your calling. As citizens or rulers. As workers and employers. As husbands and wives. All according to the character and virtue exemplified in Christ Jesus your Lord who is the fulfillment of the Law, its end and goal.
Yet even if you do not find yourself called to those particular vocations, you are still to have unity of mind, in harmony with Christ Jesus and one another, sympathy, brotherly love, that is, philadelphia, an affection as fellow brethren in Christ, humility and eusplanchnoi, that is, true, deep, guttural compassion which moves you to action as it did Christ our Lord. All of these attributes, dear Christians, firstly describe Christ, in whom you have fellowship and communion, and a share in all the treasures of heaven, including a sanctified life as the family of God in Christ Jesus.
“Here [as St Peter exhorts and the Church exudes] you see what true brothers are. They cling to one another much more closely than any friends do. We Christians should do this, for we are all brothers through Baptism. After Baptism even your father and mother are your brother and sister, for through faith you have the same blessing and inheritance from Christ that they have” (AE 30:96).
Learn then from your big brother David, whom St Peter quotes, how to live according to the Word and will of God within your calling, that is, your Baptismal vocation. For even young David, though already anointed King by the prophet Samuel, respected the will of the Lord and the earthly government and would not usurp King Saul. And when Saul sought his life David ran to Ahimelech, the House of the Lord, to retrieve the sword of Goliath and, taking it, fled to Gath. Among Achish, king of Gath, David pretended to be insane; marking the door with strange symbols and drooling all over himself.
Is this any way for the rightful king to behave? David, who slew his tens of thousands? Yet Saul sought his life with evil intent, reviling the anointed king. In return David blessed Saul and trusted in the Lord to hear his prayer and avenge his injustice. By his faith and character he catechizes you in the fear of the Lord. Not to feign insanity, but surely to behave with shrewdness, holding fast to the promise and crying to the Lord for help. For, you see, David and St Peter and Christians of many lands in many times, teach us the fear of the Lord: Many are the afflictions of the righteous.
St Peter’s question is ironically rhetorical: Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? Who?! Plenty of people. The powerful, the rich, the uncircumcised of mind and heart, the enemies and haters of Christ and His Church, the legions of Satan. Take a number. We shall not escape unscathed. But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Is this not how Jesus preached His first sermon? Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Mt 5:11-12).
Thus you are called, dear suffering Christians, to live in poverty of spirit, humility, and gentleness to always be prepared to make a defense, to give an apologetic, to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you.
For the early Christians this may have actually been a legal defense, a true apology before the tribunal or governor or magistrate. It may also have been done simply before the court of public opinion, in view of their own reputation and ethic.
It is no different for you. You may not defend your Christian principles before the Supreme Court, standing by your cakes and baked goods, respectfully answering for your decision to decline making a wedding cake for two men. But you may be called out at work. In the classroom. At the family reunion. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. You have a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and as King David says, you will likely suffer according to the will of God for doing good.
For did not God the Father patiently endure the wickedness of men, with long suffering, while Noah spent 120 years building the Ark?
And did not Christ, who calls you to a better life, who invites you to share in His divine life, also suffer for sins? The Righteous One dying for the unrighteous world? Your suffering, though according to the will of God, needful and catechetical, does not atone for your sins. But Christ’s does! He was made Man and suffered under Pontus Pilate, being put to death in the flesh, and descended into hell - as St Peter here says - to proclaim His victory over death and hell and all the enemies of His Christians in this life.
He was raised again on the third day, that is, the eighth day, the new day, never to die again. This corresponds to the eight souls within the Ark and the eight sided baptismal font in which you were baptized! There you were drowned in that flood that washed away all your sins and ferried across the raging waters in Christ the Ark of Life, who is ascended to the right hand of the Father, from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
Until then, you baptized, you catechumens, you holy people of God, who suffer in the flesh all the slings and arrows of outrageous temptations and vices, you live your lives in godliness and honesty, with Christian virtue and love.
Have we not sinned enough for three life-times? Have we not been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ? Does not the daily return to our baptism deluge again the lawless passions and wicked debauchery that clings to our own bones until we die? For indeed you were once dead, though you thought it life. But now you have died with Christ, died according to your flesh, and are made alive in the spirit by His Spirit.
For you have been sundered from the unbelieving world into the holy Ark of the Christian Church by the saving flood of your baptism to serve the Name of the Lord at all times fervent in spirit and joyful in hope together with all believers in Christ made worthy to attain eternal life.
For the end of all things is at hand. We are living in these gray and latter days, in which love grows cold and faith in Christ is maligned, persecuted, scoured and scourged. You know yourself to be not perfectly pure; evil still lingers and lurks within your body. But in faith you being to slay sin and receive anew the gifts of heaven; that is, mercy and love, compassion and charity, forgiveness and life, salvation and hope.
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Being self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Speaking the word of God in truth and purity, gentleness and respect. Serving not by the strength of your own arms or will (or lack thereof), but in that which God supplies. Above all, keep loving one anther earnestly, that is, loving one another in Christ Jesus, who loved you and gave Himself up for you, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
So you, dear Christians, who have the odor of the resurrection upon you, the baptismal life seeping from your pores, you are hounded by Satan who slinks and sniffs around, looking to devour you, but do not be afraid of him. For the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. The Lord redeems the life of His servants, none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
And here, beloved, in your refuge. The life-giving Ark of His Church. Inside, food for you and your children, as for Noah and his wife and his sons and sons’ wives. Our Lord God kept the bones of His Righteous One, not one of them was broken, as the Psalm said. But here, here His Body is broken for you to eat. This is greater bread than David ate with Ahimelech! Here is His Blood that you may drink and be satisfied. To Him belong glory and dominion, together with Father + and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Tonight, dear Christians, St Peter preaches to you concerning suffering for righteousness’ sake and the blessed Substitute and Example you have in Christ Jesus, into whose suffering and death you have been baptized, drown in the flood of His redeeming Blood, which gives you a good conscience and works in you by His Word and Spirit, the development of godly character, virtue and love.
For you have heard how you are to live according to His Word and will within your vocations in life. Firstly, as His holy people, in purity and righteousness, purchased with the precious Blood of Christ. Then, daily walking in this reality, in your baptismal identity, you live within various holy orders according to your calling. As citizens or rulers. As workers and employers. As husbands and wives. All according to the character and virtue exemplified in Christ Jesus your Lord who is the fulfillment of the Law, its end and goal.
Yet even if you do not find yourself called to those particular vocations, you are still to have unity of mind, in harmony with Christ Jesus and one another, sympathy, brotherly love, that is, philadelphia, an affection as fellow brethren in Christ, humility and eusplanchnoi, that is, true, deep, guttural compassion which moves you to action as it did Christ our Lord. All of these attributes, dear Christians, firstly describe Christ, in whom you have fellowship and communion, and a share in all the treasures of heaven, including a sanctified life as the family of God in Christ Jesus.
“Here [as St Peter exhorts and the Church exudes] you see what true brothers are. They cling to one another much more closely than any friends do. We Christians should do this, for we are all brothers through Baptism. After Baptism even your father and mother are your brother and sister, for through faith you have the same blessing and inheritance from Christ that they have” (AE 30:96).
Learn then from your big brother David, whom St Peter quotes, how to live according to the Word and will of God within your calling, that is, your Baptismal vocation. For even young David, though already anointed King by the prophet Samuel, respected the will of the Lord and the earthly government and would not usurp King Saul. And when Saul sought his life David ran to Ahimelech, the House of the Lord, to retrieve the sword of Goliath and, taking it, fled to Gath. Among Achish, king of Gath, David pretended to be insane; marking the door with strange symbols and drooling all over himself.
Is this any way for the rightful king to behave? David, who slew his tens of thousands? Yet Saul sought his life with evil intent, reviling the anointed king. In return David blessed Saul and trusted in the Lord to hear his prayer and avenge his injustice. By his faith and character he catechizes you in the fear of the Lord. Not to feign insanity, but surely to behave with shrewdness, holding fast to the promise and crying to the Lord for help. For, you see, David and St Peter and Christians of many lands in many times, teach us the fear of the Lord: Many are the afflictions of the righteous.
St Peter’s question is ironically rhetorical: Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? Who?! Plenty of people. The powerful, the rich, the uncircumcised of mind and heart, the enemies and haters of Christ and His Church, the legions of Satan. Take a number. We shall not escape unscathed. But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Is this not how Jesus preached His first sermon? Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Mt 5:11-12).
Thus you are called, dear suffering Christians, to live in poverty of spirit, humility, and gentleness to always be prepared to make a defense, to give an apologetic, to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you.
For the early Christians this may have actually been a legal defense, a true apology before the tribunal or governor or magistrate. It may also have been done simply before the court of public opinion, in view of their own reputation and ethic.
It is no different for you. You may not defend your Christian principles before the Supreme Court, standing by your cakes and baked goods, respectfully answering for your decision to decline making a wedding cake for two men. But you may be called out at work. In the classroom. At the family reunion. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. You have a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and as King David says, you will likely suffer according to the will of God for doing good.
For did not God the Father patiently endure the wickedness of men, with long suffering, while Noah spent 120 years building the Ark?
And did not Christ, who calls you to a better life, who invites you to share in His divine life, also suffer for sins? The Righteous One dying for the unrighteous world? Your suffering, though according to the will of God, needful and catechetical, does not atone for your sins. But Christ’s does! He was made Man and suffered under Pontus Pilate, being put to death in the flesh, and descended into hell - as St Peter here says - to proclaim His victory over death and hell and all the enemies of His Christians in this life.
He was raised again on the third day, that is, the eighth day, the new day, never to die again. This corresponds to the eight souls within the Ark and the eight sided baptismal font in which you were baptized! There you were drowned in that flood that washed away all your sins and ferried across the raging waters in Christ the Ark of Life, who is ascended to the right hand of the Father, from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
Until then, you baptized, you catechumens, you holy people of God, who suffer in the flesh all the slings and arrows of outrageous temptations and vices, you live your lives in godliness and honesty, with Christian virtue and love.
Have we not sinned enough for three life-times? Have we not been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ? Does not the daily return to our baptism deluge again the lawless passions and wicked debauchery that clings to our own bones until we die? For indeed you were once dead, though you thought it life. But now you have died with Christ, died according to your flesh, and are made alive in the spirit by His Spirit.
For you have been sundered from the unbelieving world into the holy Ark of the Christian Church by the saving flood of your baptism to serve the Name of the Lord at all times fervent in spirit and joyful in hope together with all believers in Christ made worthy to attain eternal life.
For the end of all things is at hand. We are living in these gray and latter days, in which love grows cold and faith in Christ is maligned, persecuted, scoured and scourged. You know yourself to be not perfectly pure; evil still lingers and lurks within your body. But in faith you being to slay sin and receive anew the gifts of heaven; that is, mercy and love, compassion and charity, forgiveness and life, salvation and hope.
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Being self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Speaking the word of God in truth and purity, gentleness and respect. Serving not by the strength of your own arms or will (or lack thereof), but in that which God supplies. Above all, keep loving one anther earnestly, that is, loving one another in Christ Jesus, who loved you and gave Himself up for you, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
So you, dear Christians, who have the odor of the resurrection upon you, the baptismal life seeping from your pores, you are hounded by Satan who slinks and sniffs around, looking to devour you, but do not be afraid of him. For the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. The Lord redeems the life of His servants, none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
And here, beloved, in your refuge. The life-giving Ark of His Church. Inside, food for you and your children, as for Noah and his wife and his sons and sons’ wives. Our Lord God kept the bones of His Righteous One, not one of them was broken, as the Psalm said. But here, here His Body is broken for you to eat. This is greater bread than David ate with Ahimelech! Here is His Blood that you may drink and be satisfied. To Him belong glory and dominion, together with Father + and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
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