Peter understood something about being
human. He understood that before we can
pursue God, and the vocation that God has given us, we must first decide to
turn our back on our old life, on our old way of thinking. That’s why he instructs his readers to “put
away”, or some translations might say “put off”, things like malice, deceit,
and slander. It’s the same verb used in
the Greek for the taking off of one’s clothes, perhaps because they are dirty. Just as we take off our dirty clothes to put
on clean ones, so we must also take off our old sinful way of living, before
attempting to live a Godly life. Imagine
how foolish we would look if we kept putting on clean clothes, but never took
off our dirty ones. My guess is the fact
that the new clothes were clean wouldn’t make much of a difference due to the stench
of the old ones. While in some places,
the imagery of milk is used to refer to something basic, here the emphasis
isn’t on the milk, but on the longing.
We must have a desire, a longing to be clean, before we will be moved to
take off those old rags of sin and doubt.
What does it mean to long? The
psalmist would compare a longing for God, to a deer that pants for flowing
streams: “As a deer pants for flowing
streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” (Psalm 42:1) I remember that feeling when I was a runner
in high school. The longer we ran, the
harder we pushed ourselves, the more we longed for water, for pure
refreshment. In another psalm, the
author would state “my soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my
heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” (Psalm 84:2) It is clear that if we are truly exerting
ourselves as people of faith, then we will long for the spiritual nourishment
that only God can provide.
In the middle section of this passage, a
number of Old Testament passages are quoted, as the author lays out two
possibilities for his audience. He
describes our response to Jesus as either tripping, or as building. Some people trip, rejecting Jesus for various
reasons. However, God overrules their
rejection by taking the object, or in this case the person, whom they scorn,
and making him the foundation of a new world.
That’s where that Old Testament quotation comes in, “the stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” (Psalm 118:22) The author didn’t have to try hard to make
the connection between Jesus and this passage, as Jesus actually makes it
himself in Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17. Also, Peter uses it in Acts 4:11 when he and
John are standing before the council, he states that “this Jesus is the stone
that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” A quotation from Isaiah is also used, that
describes Jesus as “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” (Isaiah 8:14) One of the words used to describe this
rejection of Jesus is the Greek word from which we get our word “scandal”. Jesus was indeed a scandal in his day, just
as he continues to be in our day, at least when the implications of his life,
death, and resurrection are properly understood. A crucified Messiah is indeed a tough pill
to swallow; Paul says as much in Galatians, that the cross as an instrument of
shame and defeat is hard for some people to overcome. But for those who trust in God, it need not
be a stumbling block. You see, not
everyone trips over Jesus. While some
might trip over a stone like Jesus, others choose to build with him. We see in verse 4 that though Jesus was
rejected by men, he is precious and chosen in the sight of God. “Chosen” or “elect” is the same word used to
describe us in the very first verse of I Peter.
When we build with Jesus, we become the new temple. In John 2, Jesus talks about how he will
replace the temple as the place where people encounter God. What if as followers of Christ, we can serve
that same purpose, and through our love for those around us serve as a place
where people encounter God?
That is indeed our purpose as a type of
new Israel. It’s why Peter refers to us
as a “chosen race”, “royal priesthood”, “a holy nation”, and “a people for his
own possession”. These are all titles
that belong to Israel. “Royal priesthood”
and “holy nation” are direct quotes from Exodus 19:6. Peter is in essence saying, now they also belong
to the Christian community, the church.
We proclaim God’s goodness, in calling us out of the darkness and into
the light. We even hear echoes of the
story of Hosea and Gomer’s children from Hosea.
In the story, Hosea’s wife Gomer has children with another man, and they
are named “she has not received mercy”, and “not my people”. They are odd, even damaging names for
children, unless you are looking to prove a point. However, in a move that illustrates God’s
mercifulness towards us, Hosea adopts the children, naming them “she has received mercy”, and “my people”. In the Hebrew, all you have to do is drop
the negative component of the names, a simple “Lo-“, to go from merciless to
merciful, to go from “not my people” to “my people”. Isn’t that what God does for us? In his mercy and grace, God drops the
negative component of our names. The “nos”
and the “nots” that defined us not as who we were, but who we weren’t. God gives us a way of defining ourselves not
by our failures, but by our purpose. I
think Peter would join us in giving thanks for a God who rather than looking
back at our failures, looks ahead to the purpose that he has for us.
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