Thoughts going in, Sunday May 8th

Second Week of Easter………….. 1Peter 1:17-23 [24-25]
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed (aka ransomed) from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

Series Title: EASTER—don’t just celebrate it, live it!


Key passage: “LIVING FREE”
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed (aka ransomed) from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ…

Freedom is a word we hear so much about in our country ("living in the land of the 'free' & home of the brave), but freedom is very misunderstood. For most, especially THESE DAYS… freedom means the ability to do whatever we want whenever we want, and never having to answer to any authority—even our elected government. In other words, what most people consider to be ‘freedom’ is actually ANARCHY….the complete absence or non-recognition of authority.

Biblically speaking, that is *not freedom at all. Peter tells us that we have been "redeemed (literally ransomed) from **OUR** empty way of living," (vs 18).

In our common language, the concept of ‘ransom’ is limited to the idea of money illegally extorted by a group of evil individuals from an innocent party, in payment for the life of a hostage. This is an OK beginning for trying to understand the biblical concept of ransom/redeeming, but there are other nuances that need to be mentioned. For one, in the biblical sense it is often not just an *individual, but a whole *group of people who are in need of redemption (Israel in bondage in Egypt is the typical example that comes to mind). Within the biblical ideal, there is also a sense of *DUTY on the part of a ‘kinsman’ to redeem/ransom his kin if they are enslaved. Love is a great motivator and it certainly comes into play, but in this sense it is a dutiful self-sacrificing, looking out for the NEEDS OF OTHERS sort of love. Hence, looking once again to Israel in Egyptian bondage, God ACTED on behalf of his people as kinsman/redeemer, out of duty, self-sacrificing love, and with the needs of others in mind…LIBERATING THEM…and leading them to FREEDOM; **not anarchy where they could do whatever they wanted, but FREEDOM to live under Him as His people.

Fast Forward…
In Peter’s thought process something very similar is occurring, although it’s more **nuanced. Peter doesn’t say that his readers have been physically enslaved in the Egyptian (or any other) labor camps. He talks about “the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,” which could mean a variety of things. If he has primarily Messianic Jews in mind, then he means the “Tradition of the Elders” that added SO MANY rules, regulations & restrictions to the Torah that only the religious professionals could begin to obey them; and in short, only the religious professionals could comfort themselves as being in a state of grace. If, on the other hand, Peter had former pagans in mind, then the “empty way of life” would equate to meaningless pagan idol worship & immorality.

The most fascinating aspect of the text is to try to SEARCH OUT what “empty ways of life” might mean to the average Chicago suburbanite, as surely few if any of us have been redeemed either from trying to adhere to the Jewish Tradition of the Elders, **OR pagan idol worship.

This is a good place to insert a remark or two about “Liberation Theology.”
Wiki isn’t always the most reliable place to start, but it’s definition of Liberation Theology is pretty good. In a nutshell: it “is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor", and by detractors as Christianized Marxism.”

Regardless of the *formal definition, aims and goals of Liberation Theology as a discrete movement within the wider church, it MUST ALWAYS BE SAID that LIBERATION is a core purpose of the life, work, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He came to FREE SINNERS, of all races, creeds, and class. But free us from WHAT? That’s still the question. And as we’ve already seen, the LIBERATION Christ offers is both *objective (freeing all from sin) and *subjective (freeing individuals from their specific former ‘empty ways’).

Sadly, too often what masquerades as today’s “gospel” message is that Jesus has ‘freed’ the Christian from the yoke of civic duty/morality/responsibility so as to be able to live in the anarchy of ‘freedom’ to pursue his/her own private selfish quest for The American Dream. WRONG! If the former “empty ways of life” of the 1st century Messianic Jew were adhering to the Traditions of the Elders; if the former “empty ways of life” of the 1st century pagan included ritual idol worship & immorality, then it stands to reason that the “empty ways of life” of 21st century Chicago suburbanites are comprised of the “get all you can, & Can all you get” selfish consumerism, “me first, to heck with others” mutation of the so-called American Dream, which, these days sees both people and things as DISPOSABLE.

We have been RANSOMED from THAT. We have been REDEEMED from THAT. We have been LIBERATED from THAT. In other words, we have been liberated from *ourselves (horrible and selfish taskmasters that we are) and joined to God through Christ. This is TRUE FREEDOM. Easter: don't just celebrate it, LIVE IT! Live Free in Christ!

Cheers,

TM