Press on toward the goal – into the water – 18 February 2024

Friends, as we enter another Lent, we begin with water; the water of Noah’s flood and your baptism into Jesus in the water. Peter speaks about both ‘waters’ to speak God’s grace into your heart as you ponder God’s heart of love for you in the suffering and dying of his Son these forty days.

Petr is speaking to people suffering some kind of ;fiery ordeal’. I don’t know what kind of ‘fiery ordeal’ you may be facing at the moment. But water is the cleansing stream that will enable you to get through, says peter.

On the experience of suffering, Peter asks the question: Is it better to suffer for evil or to suffer for good?

Some might say, “Who cares!? I just don’t want to suffer!!” Fair enough. But there is a bit of difference as to where the suffering comes from.

Is it better to suffer for evil or to suffer for good?

If you suffer for evil, you probably deserve it. You are getting your just reward. But if you suffer for good, then you probably don’t deserve it and are not getting what is just.

Peter’s little question might have come from well-known words of one of the famous philosophers lots of people would have known. From Plato:

In other words, doing the wrong thing is worse than being treated wrongly because you are the one doing the wrong.

But in the case of the Christians to whom Peter speaks, they are not acting disgracefully. They are not doing the wrong thing in living out their faith in Jesus. So at the very least they are in a slightly better place when it comes to their suffering.

And they are even better off because of the One who went through this exact same experience, but ten-fold. He speaks of Jesus. Jesus suffered greatly for doing nothing wrong to people or to his Father. He blazed that trail through suffering for all of us. Peter says;

So, on two counts, we Christian can navigate our suffering with some confidence

1. We (hopefully) are not the ones doing the wrong.
2. Jesus did nothing wrong, suffered greatly and so knows the injustice and eventually gets through it to resurrection victory.

I don’t know your suffering at the moment – ill-health, self-doubt, trouble in relationship, regrets coming back to haunt you, worry about your family’s future, difficult work place, lack of clarity about your job, your calling, your place, your nest steps …

To help his people PRESS ON toward the goal of life in Jesus, Peter then goes to a strange Old Testament account that we might find a bit hard to believe.

He mentions Noah and the eight people eventually given a whole new earth to roam and manage and flourish in after he judgement of the flood. But then he mentions this strange word about Jesus who rose beyond the suffering to resurrection and then;

Those ‘imprisoned spirits’ probably are not people. That word ‘spirits’ always refers to non-human beings when not said otherwise (like ‘the spirit of Elijah’ and etc…) So, who are these non-human spirits? Most think Peter is speaking of what was said previous to this account of the flood in Genesis 6:1-4 and another passage in another Hebrew writing, 1 Enoch.

Some uncrossable boundary was crossed by not just humans but by these ‘spirits’ or ‘sons of God’ in the days of Noah.

Like the horrible things than can happen in a war zone where there is no rule of law and massive imbalance of power, evil stuff like raping and pillaging everything in sight happened that crossed even human and heavenly lines.

The result is this:

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  (Genesis 6:5-6)

So, Peter says God acts in that flood – to cleanse the world by means of water.

And for us, Peter says what that cleansing water is for Christians

You have been cleansed by this living water because the resurrection Jesus won came to you that day;

It (baptism) saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Things are back in order. Jesus has lived through that wilderness among those wild beasts and has been confirmed at God loved Son. He has blazed a trail through all suffering and temptation. We are tended by angels now.

Your baptism into Jesus tells you, you are alive in the ark of the church in the new creation sent to flourish, manage and multiple.

You are washed, clean, holy, pleasing to the Lord no matter what flood of sorrow, sin, dark thoughts, bad behaviour, just judgements, unjust accusations, misunderstanding, mis representations come upon you.

Luther comments. This assurance,

Let is the opportunity to be touched and bathed in the flesh and blood of Jesus. I encourage you to enter it with the heart engaged these forty days.

I read this quote from a professor of religion in the US, Daniel Deffenbaugh:

Begin this Lent in the water. Jesus began his work there in the Jordan and for you that day he raised you in the font.

May you be touched and bathed in the flesh and blood of the Suffering Servant these forty days. Amen.

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