Seventh Sunday of Easter -- Humble Resistance

Passages: Acts 1:6-14, Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35, 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11, John 17:1-11.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. –1 Peter 5:6-10

Our lectionary continues with the theme of suffering as part of the Christian experience. But what I find most interesting about the 1 Peter lection is the author’s mixture of two Christian virtues – humility and resistance. Often sacrifice and humility is conflated with submission and docility. Critics of Christianity have frequently said that Christianity encourages obedience to oppressive structures. However, 1 Peter calls Christians to be vigilant (alert and self-controlled) in the face of evil and to resist, standing firm in faith. Humility does not equal apathy, docility or social obedience; rather it is acknowledging the sovereignty of God and your place in God’s kingdom. This place is one of unity with others, who share your common lot, suffering for following Christ’s love and finding comfort in God’s grace and promise of restoration.

In 1 Peter, the author refers to “your enemy the devil.” In Greek, the language of the letter, dia,boloj means “accuser” or “slanderer,” and is how Early Christian writers referred to the Devil. The Hebrew Scriptures, such as the Book of Job, refer to the Devil as “ha-satan” or the adversary or even obstacle. The Early Christian encounter with the Roman Empire, and their perception of the Empire as morally bankrupt, yet immensely powerful, intensified their conception of evil and Satan. The Christian “Devil” has much more agency and power in the world in the Christian worldview than in the traditional Jewish worldview, in part because of Rome’s influence during Christianity’s formative years. Importantly, this gives Christian texts a strong sense of institutional and structural evil. 1 Peter’s warning is a warning against complacency to the culture and society Christians inhabit, a landscape where evil prowls like a hungry lion.

So the humility that Peter speaks of at the beginning of the passage is not a humility that is submissive to the culture one is in. Casting aside anxiety is not succumbing to apathy. It is quite the opposite. When you humble yourself before God, and align yourself with the glory of Christ, you find yourself in conflict with the world. You find yourself vulnerable, potential prey to a hungry lion. Fortunately, as today’s Psalm reminds us, “the God of Israel give power to his people” (68.35) – God gives us the power for humble resistance.