Hope While Suffering

God’s grace, peace and mercy to you. My theme for today’s sermon is Hope while Suffering. My focus is our Epistle.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

We define the verb suffer: to submit to or be forced to endure. It also means to feel keenly or labor under. Additionally, it means to endure death, pain, or distress; to sustain loss or damage; or to be subject to disability or handicap.

In the mid-13^th century, English speakers incorporated the word into their language from the French who adopted it from Latin. Throughout its history, the word has not changed much with the exception of the phrase Suffering Succotash, an exclamation of annoyance and surprise, made famous by the cartoon character Sylvester the Cat.

Sometimes we use the word in the narrow sense of physical pain, but more often we mean psychological pain, or in the very broad sense, any unpleasant feeling, emotion or sensation. The words pain and suffering are often used together but in different ways. For instance, they may be used as interchangeable synonyms or to contrast differences. One says “pain is physical, suffering is mental”, or “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”. They may also be used to define each other, as in “pain is physical suffering”, or “suffering is severe physical or mental pain”. Other words with some similarity to suffering include distress, unhappiness, misery, affliction, woe, ill, discomfort, displeasure or disagreeableness.

Since much of the New Testament was written against the backdrop of the Greek world, we turn to see what their philosophers said about suffering. The Cynics taught that suffering is alleviated by achieving mental clarity or freedom from some false belief, mindlessness or folly. One must develop self-sufficiency and love of humanity.

The Hedonist Epicurus advocated that we should first seek to avoid suffering and the unwelcome consequences of fleeting pleasures. His version of Hedonism claims that good and bad consist ultimately in pleasure and pain.

For the Stoics, the greatest good rested in reason and virtue, but the soul best reached the greatest good through an indifference to pleasure and pain. As a consequence, this doctrine became identified with stern self-control.

While the writers of the New Testament were persuaded by Greek schools of thought and culture, they were influenced to a greater degree by the Old Testament.

Suffering in the Old Testament is mostly understood in terms of pain, sorrow, affliction and anguish, emanating from different and numerous experiences, such as loss of loved ones, property or land, sickness, guilt or frustration because of the absence of God. Pain or affliction may also be physical or emotional brought about by childbirth, manual labor, or the effects of war and hunger.

Suffering is inherent in the nature of creation and is a result of sin or the transgression of God’s law. The latter view is the more dominant, and is understood in terms of retributive justice or punishment. In other words, actions have consequences. Good deeds or good behavior lead to reward, while bad actions or bad behavior lead to punishment.

Retribution is seen in terms of the direct intervention of God. This is emphasized in Deuteronomy, the Prophets, the Wisdom of Solomon and the Book of Job. A just God has the power and will to execute justice. Now, there is a lot more that can be said of suffering for breaking God’s law, as well as innocent suffering as portrayed in Job, and vicarious suffering, such as that endured by Isaiah the Suffering Servant, but suffice it to say that the New Testament writers were inspired and influenced by the culture, the Holy Spirit and Sacred Scripture as they penned the gospels and epistles. So, we move from suffering in the Greek and Hebrew worlds to suffering in the early Church.

Peter has been bringing both words of hope and caution to his readers in the first chapters of the letter. They should act in ways that are honorable and holy so that their neighbors and family members have no reason to criticize them. The tension inherent in their situation comes to the fore in our passage, where Peter asks the question that seems to be plaguing his audience: “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?”

You see, followers of Jesus were on the recipients of slander and malicious talk. They were treated this way because of their allegiance to Jesus as Lord in a culture where withdrawing from temple worship of their former gods was equivalent to treason. Into this difficult situation, Peter advises Christians to adhere as much as possible to the expectations of state and household: “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”[1]

So, when Peter asks the question of 3:13, his audience could easily respond that they have been harmed precisely for doing good -- for following their Lord. But it seems that Peter asks the question to call for even deeper reflection on their situation. He will readily concede in the very next breath that it is possible for his audience to suffer slander even as they live worthy lives, but seems to want his readers to do a double check when this kind of external pressure comes their way.

The need for self-reflection comes into even greater focus in verse 17 where he wonders aloud about the absurdity of suffering for doing good “if that should be God’s will.” Peter is bent on ensuring that the slander directed toward these Christians comes from their allegiance to Jesus and nothing else.

Pursuing allegiance is a central appeal of this passage: “in your hearts honor Christ as holy.”[2] In a world of many lords and gods, these believers are to have only one Lord and are to be ready to speak to the hope they share in common with the community of faith. By speaking of their hope respectfully, humbly and honorably, they remain above reproach even if they are slandered by neighbors and family members. The hope held out is that their honorable behavior will put to shame those who slander them.

In the rest of our chapter, Peter offers the example of Jesus to encourage his readers. The narrative trajectory of Jesus’ life gives them hope. As Jesus was vindicated after he suffered unjustly, so these struggling followers can look forward to vindication if they commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

There are numerous difficulties interpreting vv. 18-22, most notably the identity of disobedient and imprisoned spirits, the nature of Christ’s preaching or proclamation to them, and the source or rationale for the analogy between Noah’s situation and the community’s situation.

An answer to these three significant textual questions comes from the Jewish apocalyptic book, 1^st Enoch, which dates from about the second century B.C. In Enoch 6-16, we hear an expanded interpretation of Genesis 6-9 in its narration of the exponential growth of human sinfulness and the subsequent flood, which only Noah’s family survived. In 1^st Enoch, the Nephilim, or giants of Genesis 6:4, give birth to evil spirits who bring great wickedness upon the earth that is the impetus for the great flood.

The author of 1^st Peter draws on this expanded telling of sin and flood from Enoch to assert Christ’s proclamation of victory over all evil, including the spirits “in prison,” a picture of God’s patient restraint from their destruction. Christ’s victory over death brings his full lordship over all angels, authorities, and powers, including these spirits who epitomize evil.

Because of his resurrection and his vindication, those who trust Jesus can be assured that they, like Noah’s family, will be rescued through water, an analogy for Christian baptism. If the readers of 1^st Peter knew about Enoch the way we know the writings of modern Christian authors, then we know that they hear the story of Jesus’ vindication after suffering and his removal of all opposing powers. This gives hope that their own suffering will turn into vindication.

Now, let’s move out of Peter’s world and into our own where we are influenced not only by contemporary philosophies, but also by faith. As Greek thinkers influenced the world in which Jesus and his first followers lived, modern philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill affected our culture. They developed and promoted hedonistic utilitarianism, a popular doctrine in ethics, politics and economics. Bentham argued that the right act or policy was that which would cause the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Others advocated the use of biotechnology to abolish suffering. Still others taught that we should consider not only the interests of human beings but also those of animals.

Humanitarianism seeks to make the unhappy happy rather than the happy happier. It is a main ingredient in many of our social attitudes.

Now, I am not against making unhappy people happy or happy people happier. Yet, I know that truly deep happiness is rooted in something beyond this world and the time I spend living in it. For me, the Resurrection means everything, and therefore, the teachings of the Resurrected One, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, mean everything to me. It is in Him and His teachings that I find true happiness.

Nevertheless, not every moment of my life and not every event in my life stirs happiness. Suffering still is part and parcel of my life as a Christian.

So, we want to be careful in making direct comparisons between 1^st century Christians and 21^st century Christians in the U.S., where we often have significant advantages in relation to people of other faiths. Many live and work among people who practice a non-Christian faith or no faith at all.

Yet some of the themes we hear in our epistle resonate with us. As Peter pressed his readers to greater self-reflection to ensure that any suffering they experienced came only from their allegiance to Christ, so we might consider that any persecution we encounter arises not because of our faith, but possibly because of bad behavior.

That said, suffering occurs in our world. Beyond the suffering we experience when death is pending or sickness is present, when we face the strain of finances, friendships or families because of mandated lock-downs, there is suffering directly related to living as a Christian, and we need to be aware of it as much as 1^st century Christians were. We are aware that 1^st century Christian were persecuted for being Christian, but did you know that there were more martyrs in the 20^th century than under any Roman ruler?

Throughout the 20^th century, faithful Christians were murdered throughout Mexico, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Communist China and Vietnam, as well as many oppressive regimes in South America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Today, Christian persecution occurs regularly in North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, India and many other nations.

In Iran, Christians, face systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. The government of Libya trains militants to attack Coptic Christians. Even in France, vandalism, theft, arson and other increasing attacks are occurring on churches. Bishops of Nigeria asked the faithful to wear black on Ash Wednesday to protest the ongoing persecution of Christians in their country. Worldwide, 260 million Christians are suffering from persecution as I speak.

What do they ask us and what is there we can do for people who suffer at this time? I want you to pray, engage and partner with believers who share our faith but not our freedom. Pray, engage and partner with believers who share our faith but not our freedom.

Look, realistically, we can still gather in stores or walk our dogs and engage in friendly conversations with one another. So, as a congregation, we can still pray together for persecuted Christians throughout the world.

My friends, it may seem that suffering seems to be winning the day, but the story of Jesus offers hope to all who follow in His footsteps for we know deep within our hearts that the God who vindicated and exalted Him, offers the same to us. Today, pray, engage and partner with others suffering from whatever life hurls at them, and know that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] 1 Peter 2:15.

[2] 1 Peter 3:15.