Meditation
on I Peter 2:1-10
***
Rid
yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all
slander. Like newborn infants,
long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the
Lord is good.
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected
by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be
built into a spiritual house, to
be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ. For it stands in
scripture: ‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and
precious; and whoever believes in him will
not be put to shame.’ To you then who
believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the
builders rejected has become the very head of the corner’, and ‘A stone that makes them stumble, and
a rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as
they were destined to do.
But you are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the
mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now
you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have
received mercy.
***
This has been a
week of bird watching for me—as the rain tapered off. Have you noticed, too?
The spring birds are back! Not just the robins! The Baltimore Orioles!
They are one of my
favorite birds. Did you know that they are the Maryland state bird? And being
from Maryland, originally, I was surprised and happy to find Orioles in
Minnesota when we moved here.
They really are beautiful, aren’t they? The
males have bright orange bellies with dark charcoal grey backs and heads and dark
grey and white markings on their wings.
Orioles are also fantastic singers. Like
the author of the Birds of Minnesota
Field Guide says, you often hear them singing before you see them. And they
are social creatures. You don’t usually just see one Oriole without another one
nearby. I think we have a family of 4 or 5 or more.
We didn’t see
Orioles the first two summers we lived here, and I wondered why, since other people
talked about having them at their feeders in town. Then a fellow bird-lover told me to put out
grape jelly and oranges if I wanted to attract them to our yard. He was right!
It makes me laugh
to watch the Orioles—now plump and a bit overfed—eating the grape jelly and
oranges at our feeder. They just look so happy as they suck up the jelly and
orange juice and bits in their beaks and hop around, flapping their wings,
before bending over and slurping some more. Sometimes they stop eating to throw
back their heads and break into song. Other times they fly away mid-slurp,
startled by some noise or movement, only to return a few minutes later to
happily feed again.
In my reading about Orioles, I learned
the adults teach their young how to find food by bringing them to the feeders
with them. Then I saw them do this! Their young have the coloring
of the adult females; their bodies and heads are a pale orange and their wings
are marked with white and a lighter shade of gray.
I also learned
that Orioles will often return to the same place to nest and feed—year after
year. That means that some of the
Orioles who are here now may have been here last year—and some may return here to
nest and feed next spring.
This is their home,
at least for our spring and summer. When they migrate to a warmer place in
winter, they must remember the taste of the sweet fruit and jelly and the life
in their community of feathered friends they enjoy here—or else why would they come back year after year?
***
I picture the
Baltimore Orioles hungrily and happily consuming the grape jelly and orange
slices when I read I Peter 2:2, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk so by
it you may grow into salvation.”
But what does Peter mean by “pure, spiritual
milk”? What is it that we need to grow and thrive and feel well-nourished as
believers in this world?
Jesus Christ, God’s Word, and our Christian
community.
To Peter, living a holy life in community
and modeling Christ’s self giving, servant love is what being a believer is all
about! Peter begins his letter by telling us of our living hope in Christ and
how the community suffering various trials is testing the authenticity of its faith.
Peter calls believers to live like “obedient children,” and not to live
according to their former desires as they did before they knew the hope of
Jesus Christ.
Our passage today begins with an
admonition to refrain from attitudes and behaviors that will hurt the Christian
community, such as malice, slander, envy, insincerity, and deceit. Then Peter speaks
of what Christ is for us—and how the Lord is changing us. But He is doing this as we allow Him to work in us and as we live as God’s people who seek to
be pleasing to Him.
Peter says in verse 4, “Come to him, a
living stone, though rejected by mortals, yet chosen and precious in God’s
sight, and like living stones, let yourselves
be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
As Peter describes our lives as believers,
his is not an argument of faith verses works, as we find in the writings of
Paul or James. Being a believer means
being in relationship with Christ and one another and experiencing the Spirit’s
transforming presence in our midst. Our hunger for spiritual nourishment is
evidence of our love and commitment to Jesus Christ, as Peter adds to his
admonition that we long for pure spiritual milk, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is
good.”
Peter uses the familiar Old Testament
language of “stones” as he seeks to encourage his
audience whom he calls “exiles of the Dispersion.” By telling these formerly
Jewish believers that they are “living stones,” Peter may be reassuring them
that they don’t need the Temple in Jerusalem that is lost to them. A stone
building is not needed for worship when Christ is with them as they gather in His
name. Like “living stones,” they are being built into “a spiritual house.” Through Christ and not through their works or their birth, they are a “chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.”
But
I think the stone metaphor goes much deeper than a reassurance that all is not
lost because they have no Temple and Christ is still with them in Spirit.
Stones in the Old Testament are often
used as memorials—reminders of God’s faithfulness to His people in the past and
the promise of His presence and faithfulness in the future. The Israelites,
former slaves in captivity, carried 12 stones from the Jordan River at Joshua’s
order—one for each of the tribes of Israel. They crossed the Jordan River as
dry ground miraculously appeared, carrying the ark to the promised land. And Joshua said, “When your children ask in
time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that
the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of
the Lord. … So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever.”
And then there was Samuel, who took a
stone and set it up between
and Jeshanah in I Samuel 7:12. The men of Israel had gone out of Mizpah and pursued and struck down the Philistines, achieving a victory against all odds. And Samuel said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” And he named the stone “Ebenezer”—Hebrew for “the stone of help.”
and Jeshanah in I Samuel 7:12. The men of Israel had gone out of Mizpah and pursued and struck down the Philistines, achieving a victory against all odds. And Samuel said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” And he named the stone “Ebenezer”—Hebrew for “the stone of help.”
Given the overwhelming use of stones as memorials in the Old Testament, I
think Peter was telling the new believers to be “living memorials” for our
living Lord, testifying to God’s love, grace and mercy, shown through His
faithfulness to His people throughout the ages—and especially through the
sacrifice of His Son.
***
Today, as our community gathers to welcome Kyra
into the Body of Christ through baptism, we pause to remember God’s mercy and
lovingkindness. We give Him thanks for what He has done for us through Jesus
Christ. We embrace the Spirit’s cleansing, transforming work in us that begins
at our baptism and continues throughout our lives. But we must allow the Spirit's work in us by opening our hearts to the Lord, seeking to be in His presence, and seeking to be nourished by Him.
We pray that
Kyra will be like the Orioles, who have begun to make their home here with us,
returning again and again to live and be happily nourished in community. May
Kyra taste the goodness of the Lord in this place so that she longs for the “pure spiritual
milk” that will enable her to “grow into her salvation.” And may she and her
family join with us as the Lord lives and works in us, transforming us into Christ’s
image. Building us into a spiritual house. Like “living stones.”
Let us pray.
Holy One, thank you
for your faithfulness to us and to all your people throughout the ages. We seek to forever be in your presence, Lord,
and to be nourished by your pure spiritual milk so that we may grow and mature
in the faith. Unite us as a community, make us one in You, built into a
spiritual house of living stones. Stir us to be living memorials, testifying by
our words and our lives to your love, mercy, and grace, shown to us through your
Sacrifice of the One who is the Cornerstone, chosen and precious in your sight.
In His name we pray. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment