Jon Burnham preached this sermon from 1 Peter 2:19-25
on April 13, 2008, the Fourth Sunday in Easter, at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston
The made for televsion series, Frontline, offers a disturbing glimpse into the global trade in human slaves. A woman from Eastern Europe is shown being kidnapped from a city street and forced to serve as a slave in another country where she does not speak the language. She is jailed in an apartment with several other enslaved women who are forced to service a dozen or more men a day. The most poignant moment in the show comes after she has been rescued by her husband and reunited with her young son. We see mother and son in a poignant embrace and we may only imagine what they are feeling. Our country has some experience with human slavery. Human slaves cultivated the South in the days before the Civil War. Although outlawed today, human slavery has moved to the black market and still thrives in Houston and major cities across the world. As Christians, we condemn all forms of human slavery.
Human slavery serves as the backdrop of our text today. 1 Peter chapter 2 provides a code for household slaves. Newly Christian slaves are serving non-Christian masters. They are encouraged to endure suffering and so gain God's approval. The unspoken issue is the text is how should we respond when we are treated unjustly? The answer is we are to act as Jesus acted during his trial before Pilate. Jesus did not retaliate against his accusers. We should not strike back against those who cause us harm.
The power of non resistance has been taken up by various political parties in the past century. Like a shepherd guiding his sheep, Ghandi led the Indian people to a peaceful revolution by means of non violent protest. In the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the African American people in a Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. As a Good Shepherd, Martin Luther King, Jr. led his people toward the green pasture of freedom. He died a young man, shot down by a sniper in Memphis, Tennessee. He was there to organize sanitation workers toward more say and better pay in their work. Like Moses, Martin Luther King did not make it into the promised land with his people.
Beyond Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr., Christ challenges each one of us to take up our cross and follow the path of suffering our Savior trod. This seems weird to the people of the world. They just don't get it. They think the cross is ridiculous. However, to those whom God has called, the cross explains everything. Paul put it like this: "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are called by God, it is the wisdom and power of God on display." It was our pains Christ carried. It was our punishment he took upon himself. The horror of the cross is that it is intended for each one of us. If we want to be saved from ourselves, we need not enlightenment but crucifixion. As Reinhold Niehbur puts it: "The human personality is so structured that it must be possessed to escape the prison of self-possession." (The Nature and Destiny of Man: Vol 2, p. 111) Niebuhr lived in a time of great suffering. He wrote during World War II in a church in England. He heard German bombs exploding in the near distance. Niehbur tried to come to terms with the evil forces of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Regime. He decided Hitler was possessed by dark forces. He is not the only person to reach that conclusion. Hitler had a history of dabbling in black magic. He certainly looks possessed if you have ever seen film clips of him giving a speech. After the speech his sits down calmly and once again looks like a shy, lost soul.
Niehbur, who is considered a theological genius, claims the human soul is so designed we must be possessed by the Holy Spirit to escape imprisonment to our own petty nature. The power to change is not our own. This is a strong statement that comes from the pen of a Protestant genius who was wrestling with the darkest night of the soul the human race has experienced in the past two hundred years. Perhaps we should pause this morning and listen to this strong word. We who are called by God are broken down, crucified, and raised up. We employ the wisdom and power of Christ's cross. We are possessed by Holy Spirit.
The dark nature of evil that we see in human slavery is echoed even in that old warhorse of a Psalm, Psalm 23, where we catch this phrase: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Jesus the Good Shepherd carries that comforting staff. It is comforting to us because we know if we get lost out in the wilderness of selfish pursuit then Christ will use that staff to bring us back into the righteous path that leads to God our rock and fortress, our stronghold. We are also comforted in the time of our own impending darkness, as we trod the valley of the shadow of death, because we know the shepherd's rod may also be used to fight off and frighten away any wolves that would tear us apart. This is not to say that bad things will never happen to us when we follow Christ. We know sometimes bad things happen to good people.
The Bible teaches the way of the cross . This is a path of transformative suffering. There is nothing here about getting ahead or making more money or finding a more attractive partner. This is the Good Shepherd Blues. The purpose of suffering is to purify us as fire purifies gold. Suffering turns up the heat in our lives. Heat changes things.
Someone sent me a link to an inspirational movie called 213 Degrees from simpletruths.com. At 211 degrees water is hot. At 212 degrees it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train. 212 degrees, the extra degress, is the definition of success. "Some men obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous effort than before," said Polybius. The Olympic margin of victory in the Men's Giant Slolom is 0.17 seconds. "Triumph is always nearest when defeat seems inescapable," said B.C. Forbes. The Olympic margin of victory in the Men's 800 Meter race is 0.21 seconds. "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it," said Margaret Thatcher. The Olympic margin of victory in the Women's 1000 Meter Speed Skating is 0.07 seconds. By going the extra degree these champions received results beyond their wildest expectations. The "extra degree" is something we can all apply every day.
Imagine the possibilities ... Add a few "extra degree" hours each month to your professional development. That's an investment in your most valuable assett ... You! Give a few extra hours each month to your church's efforts ... At the end of the year, that a full workweek of added contribution. Make a commitment to give one "extra degree" act of service to a coworker, family member or customer each week ... That's 52 moments of kindness each year. Eliminate 1/2 hour of television each day ... That's 182.5 "extra degree" hours each year to devote to your family. With 212 degree awareness comes responsibility ... a responsibility to act. It's your life ... You are responsible for the results ... Results that can take you beyond your wildest expectations. 212 degrees. The extra degree. It's time to turn up the heat.
What is your one degree of heat that puts you over the top? A perceived injustice? A slight by the person behind the counter in the check out line at the store? When we are near the boiling level, any little thing can put us over the top. Instead of going negative, what would happen if we went positive? What would happen if we returned evil with good? That is the radical suggestion of our text today. It is not a popular idea. It is a counter cultural call to action. Here is the action of non-violence. Here is the judo of returning evil with good. Here is the challenge of turning the other cheek.
When Jesus was abused, he did not return abuse. When Jesus suffered, he did not threaten. He entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. Jesus sings the Good Shepherd Blues. We hear him singing it. Telling it like it is. We were going astray like sheep. But now we are returning to the shepherd and guardian of our souls. May God possess us with the Holy Spirit. May God free us from the chains of self absorption. May God give use ordinary circumstances in our lives to give us that extra degree of heat that makes us reach 212 degrees. May we receive God's seal of approval. We are beloved children of God. God only wants what is good for us. God is on our side. God is not against us. Let's cooperate with God's work in our lives. Let's live into the freedom Christ provides.
