Easter moves, Easter grows, Easter is transitive. It affects objects, it changes people, it does stuff.
Easter epistles in the Three-Year Lectionary are brief series; the first two years pretty comprehensively preach through two brief letters. This year six Sundays on 1 Peter; next year they will come from 1 John, and the year after that will be greatest hits from the Revelation of John. I have repeated elsewhere what I think in general about “sermon series” as a preaching decision (and I maintain that, in general, you should not do it), but a possible exception could be taking the texts of epistles for teaching when they are presented in the lectionary like this.
Having said that, my gut would be to avoid doing so through these Sundays in Easter. The festival season celebrating the joy of resurrection is sufficient focus without the distraction of some other theme to paste on to the texts for the next month and a half. Save your catechetical creativity in this regard for the lengthier seasons of ordinary time like Pentecost/Trinity. There is a place for catechetical preaching and Bible teaching. But my advice for Easter: Let Easter be Easter. Confess the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of your hearer for all it is worth from 1 Peter!
This is a great letter to do it from, of course, as you are likely aware, baptismal references throughout the letter suggest a framing context of an early Easter liturgy. Scholars have sometimes proposed (even if they cannot prove) the possibility that the epistle reads best as a sermon delivered to the newly baptized, and the Easter vigil was a traditional day for such baptisms. Linking the new life of Christ with the new life of your hearers is precisely what the Apostle Peter is doing directly at 1 Peter 3:18-22, but consider the baptismal valance this week also of 1 Peter 1:3 (“born again to a living hope”), next week 1:23 (“born again... through the living and abiding Word of God”), and the verses we will hear on the fifth Sunday of Easter, 2:2, 2:9-10 (“like newborn infants... a chosen race... a people for His own possession... now you are God’s people”). Easter marks more than the historic resurrection of the Son of God. It also highlights the resurrection of your listener in the not-yet and the now, promised in the Word that raises them (now, and then) that is sealed on your hearer with the water of baptism (also refer to Romans 6:3-11 on this connection between baptism and the resurrection life in the present tense!).
We want to pick up on the “not-yet” and “now” dynamic at work in this 1 Peter 1:3-9 pericope for Easter 2. It promises the reader/hearer then and now what you can guarantee also in your own sermon: The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead does something. Again, it is not just marking a historical moment. Dwell on this yourself for more than a moment, preacher. Christ risen changes stuff. Fifty days after the resurrection, a few years before he had penned these words for his own congregants, Peter had himself borne witness to this same truth, as he convicts his hearers at Pentecost: David… knowing that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne… spoke about the resurrection of Christ…. This Jesus God raised up…. He himself says… “Sit at my right hand until I make all your enemies your footstool.” Let all the house of Israel, therefore, know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:29-36). Peter is saying here that Christ’s resurrection judges the world. It also judges His executioners. He places the entire house of Israel under judgment! The resurrection of Christ does stuff!
It promises the reader/hearer then and now what you can guarantee also in your own sermon: The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead does something.
The thrust of 1 Peter 1:3-9 is different of course, but still invites us to appreciate that Easter moves, Easter grows, Easter is transitive. It affects objects, it changes people, it does stuff. Here Peter’s audience is different. I tend to agree with the hypothesis that his immediate historical audience is baptizands hearing Christ delivered to them in a vigil sermon, so I envision Peter’s intended hearer is a believer who has been catechized over a year or more (not simply confronted with the sudden and revolutionary outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples in Jerusalem as in the Acts 2 reference above). What to say to such a believer? The same message: The resurrection of Christ does stuff. What does it do?
Let us read through what the resurrection of Christ does. 1 Peter 1:3: It causes us to be born again (that is a now thing) to a living hope (living in the now, right? But it is a hope, so it is forward looking into a not-yet). 1 Peter 1:4: Christ’s resurrection causes us to born again to a living hope whose content is inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in Heaven for you (the not-yet realization of what is hoped for in the now, but it is in safe hands and it will never pass away). Christ’s resurrection won this inheritance for you, gives this hope to you, who in the right-now are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5). There is now and not-yet reality and language inextricably linked again, and once more an effect of the resurrection of God’s Son. How brilliant to have such a hope, such a promise to rely on in faith, since the right-now is also dichotomous: Rejoicing and beset by trials (1 Peter 1:6), which is a refining, as metal in fire, so that faith (now) may result in the (not-yet) praise, glory, and honor when Christ returns (1 Peter 1:7).
Christ’s resurrection does all this, and the coda to consider this week is all about the now: Now you do not see Him, but you believe in Him; you rejoice with ineffable joy (1 Peter 1:8). In the right-now, you are filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9). Hear that well, preacher, the salvation is now. It is not “gradually obtaining,” not “progressively perfecting,” but right now obtaining salvation. Christ’s resurrection does stuff, and it does this: It saves you (also see 1 Peter 3:21-22).
What we have done over these verses and minutes is simply read through the pericope line by line, but not with a simple or thoughtless rereading of a text you know. We have read it through the specific lens of, “Christ’s resurrection does stuff.” Your sermon must, likewise, focus on Christ, His death and resurrection, so your listener’s context can be framed from the perspective of God’s work in recreating, in transforming death into life, in raising His Son from the dead and raising your hearers from death to life as well. Notice how Peter does not dilate at length on the “various trials” (1 Peter 1:6) he mentions. He simply interprets their purpose, a refining of faith, which means dishing the dross, the meaningless, the stuff that does not matter, the stuff that is of less and little value in light of resurrection. So, you also get to encourage your hearer not to put as much stock in their own tentatio, the everyday trials which will arise and face us in our various vocations while we are in this world and flesh; not as much stock in the old life as in the new, the new which is not just not yet but also the new which is now.
You cannot preach the resurrection hope of your hearer without reference to the real, historic death and resurrection of the Son of God.
What is new is their life. They are born again (1 Peter 1:3). Christ’s resurrection did this. It is an identification with death, where Christ took all that is old and died with it. And it is an identification with His resurrection, where Christ takes all that is new (life, joy, imperishability) and gives it all to these newborn babes (1 Peter 2:2). And that is a now in spite of struggle, in the midst of trial, in a living (in the right now!) hope (1 Peter 1:3) of a heavenly inheritance (1 Peter 1:4). You cannot preach the resurrection hope of your hearer without reference to the real, historic death and resurrection of the Son of God. This is true. Now, notice too, preacher, the great surprise, the great good news: The converse is also true. You cannot preach the resurrection of Christ without inextricably linking it to the resurrection of your listener, the resurrection of you. This is because Christ’s resurrection does stuff, thanks be to God (also refer to 1 Corinthians 15:16-22)!
One final word of caution with this text, preacher. “Testing genuineness of faith” must be preached precisely, honestly, and truthfully, not in such a way as to confuse works and faith (and, therefore, confuse Law and Gospel). If you refer to this part of the pericope, make certain you do not leave your hearer with the impression that faith is a test, an exam, a quiz, that it is up to them to pass, to get something right. Faith is not of yourself. It is a gift of God. Let no one boast about this. Faith is God’s work. The “test” read as “examination” is a category error when joined with “genuineness.” This is a metaphor of metallurgy, not a scrutiny of sincerity. But I betcha’ nine out of ten of your hearers will not read or hear it like that. They will hear it as a call to muster up some kind of authenticity and imagine they will get burned if they are found wanting. This is a presumption in need of correction. You do not want to build an entire sermon out of this point. But what Peter is saying here (and what you need to preach here and all over the pericope!) is a matter of assurance to heal and encourage your listener who has been raised up, born again, and obtaining salvation. It is not a “challenge” to get them to live up to (which is a silly assumption for sermon craft in any case)! May you never imagine your own sermon craft is failing because it is not sufficiently “challenging” your hearer or that you need to “punch up” a sermon by “challenging” your people. I used to hear this a lot; wonder how that fad is doing these days. It substitutes a competition ethos for a Christ ethos, likely born more of testosterone than of concern for true teaching. Let the reader understand: Christ’s resurrection does stuff – and it does this too – it burns away everything less valuable than new life in Him. It is new life for your hearer, new life you walk in the right now, as you wait for the not yet too.
Blessings in your Easter preaching this week!
Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on 1 Peter 1:3-9.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching 1 Peter 1:3-9.
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!
