2nd Sunday of Easter.
April 3, 2005
1 Peter 1:3-9.

^1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, ⁷so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, ⁹for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (NRS).

Resurrection Regeneration.

  According to John, Jesus appeared to his disciples the evening of the day he rose from the dead. They were afraid and so were hiding behind locked doors. Thomas was not with them so Jesus appeared to them again the following Sunday. They were again behind locked doors. Why were they still behind locked doors? Had the first appearance of the risen Christ not convinced them of something? Did the resurrection of the Lord make no difference in their lives? I would think that seeing Jesus alive and hearing the words, Peace be with you, would do something to you. Why would they still be afraid?

  How was your week after Easter? Did our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection last Sunday change anything about your life this past week? Did you go back to school or work Tuesday on some sort of spiritual high with a different attitude toward life? Or was it the “same-old same-old”, business as usual? I confess that for me the week was pretty much like any other week, my thoughts and activities pretty much like those of any other week. For all practical purposes, the resurrection didn’t make a huge impact on my life. I bet you’re about the same. Apparently we’re not much different than the disciples. It may take a little while before the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ sinks in and changes us too.

  Peter was one of Jesus’ disciples. He was one of those men hiding behind locked doors a week later who hadn’t quite grasped the nature of the resurrection. But at some point, certainly by the day of Pentecost, he did understand. He became a new man with a completely different outlook on life and new way of reacting to life’s various trials, all because of the resurrection. And he who was slow to change has an important message for us who are slow to change. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, God has given us a new birth!

  Most of us have moved from one place to another at some point in our life. Many of us moved here to the Maritimes from other places. The effect of changing one’s house, city, province, school, job, workplace, neighbourhood, friends, church and a host of other things changes us too. We have a new reference point. We are occupied with the needs and concerns of our present community. What happens in Nova Scotia is more important to us than what happens in Alberta or some other place because now we live here. The school our children attend is more important to us than a school in another province or even across the bridge. The job you now have is more important than the job you used to have. We are very much a product of our environment; we are very much shaped by the events that impact us directly.

  Again, through his living Word, God confronts us with the life-changing event of the resurrection of Christ. Life cannot be the same with or without the resurrection. When Jesus appeared to Thomas a change had to take place. Thomas could not simply say, “Wow, guess I was wrong!” like he got the wrong answer to a trivia question. Seeing Jesus raised from the dead was a life changing event to which Thomas responded with what must be the most radical thing a Jew had ever uttered up to that point: “My Lord and my God!” I am certain that there were a few mouths hanging open in that room!

  The resurrection became the new reference point for Christians. It was the most important event in their lives and in the history of the world. Jews daily blessed or praised God for creating the world and for redeeming them from Egypt. The Exodus was their reference point, the event that made them who they were. But the Exodus gave was to a new, more important event. The resurrection of Jesus Christ! So Peter begins his letter, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

  Like Thomas’ radical confession, “My Lord and my God!” so Peter makes a radical confession of a new birth. If Jesus really rose from the dead, then we have begun a decisively new stage in time and in our life. Suppose there were a cure for cancer. It would be a new age. Getting cancer knowing full well that there is a complete cure available at the local hospital would be completely different from getting cancer and knowing that there is no cure at all. Just so, knowing full well that you will be raised from the dead when Christ returns in glory makes your life different than if you knew that you would simply die and cease to exist.

  The difference is this: we have a living hope. As we have often noted, Christian hope is not wishful thinking. A hope is something that you are convinced will happen and for which you wait. A wish is something that you know will not happen but would gladly welcome if it did. Our living hope of which Peter speaks is the promise of eternal life. It is the inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Jesus has prepared a place in heaven, in his kingdom for you and for me. That is our inheritance. We will receive it when the time fixed by the Father comes. And because this inheritance is kept for us in heaven, it cannot be compromised. It will not go away, wear out or be lost. It’s in the bank, God’s bank!

  Peter calls this a living hope. In the language of his day, living water meant running water from a source of some kind. It was always available, fresh and clean. A living hope is therefore a hope that doesn’t run out. It is self-regenerating like a living organism. It is a living hope because we are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Like the skin on your body grows back after a cut or scratch, if this hope is attacked by doubts or the lies of the world, it will grow back. It needs only to hear once again the Gospel, that God raised Christ from the dead.

  This living hope, brought about by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is a change in life that shows itself. Peter mentions two ways. First, In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.

  No one can go through life without various trials. We all have to face the frailty of our bodies and human nature. We have people who don’t like us and we face the pressure of a world that despises Christ and our faith in him. As we already noted, the disciples first hid behind locked doors until the resurrection sank in. After that, however, they were fearless. They considered ridicule and physical threats because of the faith a privilege. When flogged because they dared to teach about Jesus they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the name of Christ! James begins his letter by saying, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:2-3).

  How can this be? How can we rejoice in various trials? We normally quickly retreat from shame or physical threat. The reason is only that the resurrection changes all the rules. It is the greatest fact of life. In view of the power of God, whom or what shall we fear? Poverty, distress, persecution, danger, imprisonment or death? No! Moreover, our sufferings are somehow part of Christ’s sufferings. Joined to him through faith and our baptism, he lives in us. Our sufferings continue to accomplish his purpose in this world. We do not suffer in vain. Instead, our sufferings are a sign that we will also share in his glory. Therefore, as we pass through various trials, we cannot but have a certain feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that God is at work in us and that our faith will result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.

  Peter’s other point is that this living hope causes us to love and trust Christ. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

  Napoleon is supposed to have said, “An extraordinary power of influencing and commanding men has been given to Alexander, Charlemagne, and myself. But with us the presence has been necessary, the eye, the voice, the hand. Whereas Jesus Christ has influenced and commanded His subjects without His visible bodily presence for eighteen hundred years.”

  Why were Alexander the Great, Charlemagne and Napoleon able to influence people only as long as they were present? Because they were mortal men. Jesus Christ, however, rose from the dead! He passed through walls into locked rooms. He ascended into heaven in the sight of many people. He sent the Holy Spirit. In other words he proved that having risen from the dead he is not only present with us to the end of the age, but that at the end of the age he will give to us the reward for which we hope, the salvation of your souls.

  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is the fact that makes all the difference. Shortly, we will leave this place and begin another week. Will it be just another week behind locked doors, a week of the same old tasks with the same old attitudes? Or will this week be somehow different, changed by the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead for you? May God give you a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!