“May you live in interesting times” was an ancient Chinese curse, but for a faithful churchgoer in our times? Thank you, Lord, for placing me in this time! My “three score years and ten” plus five, have seen unprecedented changes in America, including significant decline in the institutional church. Because of that, not despite that, but because “change and decay all around I see,” I am blessed to learn anew what Christian hope is really about.
First Peter has been called an epistle of hope, rightly so. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). What exactly is that hope? Decades ago, when America’s public culture had a Christian worldview, when the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world often blended, hope could be in many things. “I hope you get better,” “I hope the children do well,” and so on. Of course, pastors tried to focus that hope, “Hope in God,” (Psalm 42:11), but laser focus was harder when American public life wasn’t challenging the church.
Now the church is often on the defensive. So, what does hope mean now? Here’s a revealing fact about 1 Peter. This short epistle has only three references to the resurrection of Jesus, but it has, by my count, ten references to Christ’s return in glory on judgment day. Seeing Christ in glory is the object of hope, not my earthly lot. Even more focused, hope in 1 Peter is not in the resurrection of Jesus. Look closely at the verse quoted above. Our hope is “through” the resurrection of Christ. That is, His resurrection, without which our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:17), has given us birth to hope of heaven, “to an inheritance…kept in heaven for you.” “Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:4,13). The church’s loss of privilege in American society helps us see our hope, and leads us to pray, “grant that heav’nly minded He make us” (Lutheran Service Book, 617:3).
“Christ is risen; He is risen indeed.” Reciting that at Easter never satisfies me, something is still missing. Maranatha. “‘I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
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