When Peter says to resist him, firm in your faith, he is not sending you out to do battle on your own. He is locating you. You are baptized into Christ.
You can tell festival season is drawing to a close when the Sunday readings feel like they are pulling in different directions. Acts 1 gives you Judas and that unforgettable detail, “and his bowels gushed out,” which makes ears perk up whether you are in fourth grade or sitting next to Grandma Schmidt. John 17 lifts you up in the high priestly prayer of our Lord (John 17), and then 1 Peter drops you right back into the grit: Suffering, testing, and a prowling, roaring Devil. At first glance, they do not seem to line up neatly. Of course, that is only if you are listening for themes instead of listening for Christ. Because all three readings are doing the same thing as Easter draws to a close. They are placing the Christian in the time between – between Christ’s resurrection and His return – and asking a single question: How do you remain His, here?
Acts shows you what happens when one falls away. John 17 shows you how Jesus prays to keep His own. And 1 Peter tells you what that keeping looks like down here on the ground: You have an adversary. He is a real one, not just a feeling and not just an abstract. Satan is a devouring enemy. But he is not an equal one! Because the Easter-risen Lord who prayed for you once in the garden is the one who now lifts up the humble (1 Peter 5:6), who steadies the suffering (1 Peter 5:10), and gives you a solid gift with which to resist.
That gift is going to sound pretty “sacramental” to you if you are from a tradition which values the way God works through His Word spoken, washed in water, and delivered to be eaten and drunk under bread and wine, body and blood. But I do not talk like that just because I happen to be a Lutheran sort of person. Recall, preacher, how this is Peter’s modus operandi in the epistle, very possibly a baptismal sermon for Easter candidates in the apostolic age, with its bullseye-centerpiece at 1 Peter 3:18-22, and that ringing endorsement for God actually doing the work in baptism: Baptism now saves you. And I think that is what Peter has in mind when he talks about resisting the Devil (because he seems to have it in mind through the rest of the letter as well!).
So, consider this, preacher, you will not out-think the Devil, you will not out-feel him, and you will not outlast him. You will only stand if you are given something stronger than he is, and that is something outside of yourself, something placed on you, something spoken to you. Baptism is placed on you. Absolution, the Word of God in Christ that forgives sins, is spoken to you. And on this final Sunday of Easter, you also get to remind your hearers that resurrection hope is stronger than the adversary. That is how Christ actively keeps His people. It is how He answers His own prayer to the Father. And it is what you and your hearers experience whenever that prowler tempts them – Christ’s work on your behalf.
That work of Christ is to be the humble one – a good hook for exploring 1 Peter 5:6-7. Do not fall into the trap of moralizing 1 Peter 5:6 and exhorting your folks to be humble. Peter is not handing over a spiritual technique to his own hearers (and you should not either!). He is handing you Christ. Peter delivers to us the one who humbled Himself under the same mighty hand, who did not grasp at equality with God but emptied Himself, who was obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-11). That is what it looks like when the mighty hand of God presses down: It presses Christ. “It was the will of the Lord to crush Him” (Isaiah 53:5, 10). The mighty hand of God presses Christ into the grave. And that is what it looks like when the same hand of God lifts up: Resurrection, exaltation, the name above every name.
Peter delivers to us the one who humbled Himself under the same mighty hand, who did not grasp at equality with God but emptied Himself, who was obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, when Peter says cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7), he is not giving you a coping strategy! He is telling you where your anxiety has already gone. It has been laid on Jesus, the one who carried your sin, carried your death, carried your accusation. And now, risen from the dead, He cares for you still by speaking forgiveness into your ears, by placing His name on you in baptism, by feeding you with His own body and blood, and by anchoring you in a hope that the Devil cannot devour. This is not you managing your own burdens, ever! This is Christ carrying them. That is what gives you life as opposed to being weighed down by the burden of sin.
On that note (compare to your own experiences if a similar illustration is apropos): I just told a brother this week - as he laid out his sins, his worries, his heartache, his frustrations, just one of those really honest conversations – I told him, “Don’t worry. You ain’t got this.” Notice that is the absolute opposite of exhortation, which usually comes out as something like, “Don’t worry. You got this!” right? But to honestly say, you do NOT have this, is not despair (that is the Judas route, alas!). It is hope. Hope in the One who does have it, the one on whom all of our anxiety (and sin, and frustration, and worry and heartache and frustration) already has been cast. He is the Lord Jesus who gives us the gift to be sustained in suffering, and to resist the Devil in real time.
That is how you resist him. Not by becoming stronger than the Devil, but by belonging to the One who has already crushed him under the very hand that raised Jesus from the dead. Preacher, overhear the possibilities there. That is the hand which raised you and your hearers up too. That is why resisting the Devil is going to sound a whole lot more like living inside of Christ’s victory rather than some kind of performance! When Peter says to resist him, firm in your faith, he is not sending you out to do battle on your own. He is locating you. You are baptized into Christ. You are under the mighty hand that has already crushed your enemy and raised your Lord. You are the one for whom Christ was humbled, for whom He was lifted up, for whom He still speaks, still feeds, and still forgives.
The Devil, loud and prowling as he is, cannot devour what Christ has already claimed. He can accuse, but Christ answers (these ones are mine, and no one can snatch them from my hand!). He can threaten, but Christ stands, risen, risen indeed! He can prowl, but he cannot possess those who belong to the Lord Jesus. So, resist him, not by looking inward, but by being given again what is already yours. Hear the Word that forgives you. Remember your baptism. Receive the medicine of immortality, the body and blood of Christ. This is how He cares for you. This is how He keeps you. Deliver that, preacher. Your people need it, and they cannot find it on the inside of themselves. It has to be delivered from the outside, and for this task you have been called.
God bless your preaching this week!
Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on 1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching 1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
