We've been going through Peter's first letter at the Bible
studies at church. In this letter Peter addresses the various groups that made
up the church he was writing to. One group that has stood out to me was the
slaves. They were owned by masters who could do anything to them. Anything. Life must have been incredibly difficult for them.
This is what Peter says specifically to this group.
Servants, be subject to your masters
with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For
this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while
suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for
it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for
it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you
have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example,
so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit
found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he
suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who
judges justly. (1 Peter 2:18-23)
Peter tells them to submit to their masters and to do that
with complete respect. And it doesn't matter if any of those masters are unjust
and cruel. He offers Jesus as a model to follow in their suffering. And he even
tells them that they were called to their life of suffering, just as Jesus was
called to His.
There is, however, one thing that he doesn't tell them. 'Hang
in there. If you respond well to what's going on, life will soon get better for
you. Just hang in there.' Peter would have written that if he had been a modern
American. But he wasn't. He was a Christian who understood life better.
Now, this isn't to say that their lives would never get
better. Peter was clear that they would. The question is, 'When?'
One important theme in his letter has to do with 'later'. More than once Peter tells them that 'later' will be so good.
Here's one place where this theme shows up.
Therefore, preparing your minds for
action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be
brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)
I hope that you see that by 'later' Peter didn't mean in a
few months or anything like that. He meant when Jesus returns, at His visible
revelation to all. That's why he writes that instead of hoping that life would
get better now, these Christians are to place their hope fully[!] on how it
would get better 'later'. The fact of the matter is that many (most? all?!?) of
the Christian slaves that Peter wrote to would die as slaves. Their lives of
suffering would continue for the rest of their days. Understanding 'later' for
them was very important.
Some of us are in situations that make life very trying, to
say the least. We may not have masters who beat us, but we are suffering
nonetheless. And because of how God's plan is working itself out, there is
nothing we can do to change what is going on. Like those slaves, we have been
called to our lives of suffering. Telling us that it will get better soon if we
just hang in there does not help. There are some situations that will not get
better, not until Jesus comes back. And so, we suffer. But there is a way of
suffering that that works. As Peter counsels, we are to suffer 'entrusting
[ourselves] to him who judges justly', just like Jesus did and those slaves
were urged to do. And when He returns the Father will remember our faithful
suffering and reward us accordingly.