A Precious Gift
a sermon based on 1 Peter 1:3-9
Rev. Randy Quinn

In 1487 the Portuguese explorer Bartoleme Dias was the first European to sail all the way to the southern tip of Africa. When he arrived there, he found a peak that juts out into the water and called it “The Cape of Storms.”

Navigators have told how stormy that area can be ever since. One for example, on a modern ship reported that his ship tilted to an angle of 30˚ for several days during a storm in that area. One of his men stepped off a ladder, slipped and hurt his leg so badly he had to be flown home for medical treatment.

Dias had a first-hand experience of such storms. When he returned to Portugal, he told King John II of those ferocious winds and waves. As the king listened, he had a surprising reaction. He saw the possibility of sailing around this cape to India. He renamed it “The Cape of Good Hope.”

A week after the resurrection, the Disciples were still frightened about what might happen to them. They found themselves huddled together behind locked doors (Jn 20:26). All they could imagine were stormy days ahead.

And today in places throughout the Middle East there are people huddled together behind locked doors. The only future they can envision is filled with escalating violence and mounting death tolls.

And even if we have not found ourselves physically behind locked doors, I know many of us have found ourselves behind other kinds of doors where we have huddled in fear:
• Some have lived in abusive homes where the pain is so great they find themselves emotionally shutting out the rest of the world.
• Some have buried a spouse and in their grief have found themselves frightened by the relatively simple tasks that the spouse performed – whether that was mowing the lawn or paying the bills or cooking meals.
• Some have survived a serious motor vehicle accident and for a time are afraid to ride in a car.
• Some have heard the words of a doctor about a debilitating disease or condition that has caused fear to reign in their lives.
• Some have had their homes invaded by strangers and jump every time they hear a door creak.

If you have not experienced any of those events, you know someone who has.

And if you have somehow avoided any of these circumstances, there are those who would call you blessed, or fortunate, or lucky. Peter says the rest of us – the ones who have experienced suffering and fear – are the ones who are blessed.

Peter has written this Epistle to scattered Christians who are suffering persecution. In fact, some scholars believe it was written while Peter himself was imprisoned and awaiting his death.

While awaiting his own death, Peter is speaking of hope.

This is the same Peter who denied Jesus while he was on trial and lived in fear of being arrested shortly after Jesus was raised from the dead.

Somewhere between Jesus’ death and his own death, a dramatic change occurs in Peter’s life. Somewhere between Easter Sunday and the day he wrote this letter, Peter found new birth and a living hope (1 Pet 1:3).

What didn’t change were the circumstances of his life. There were still disappointments. There were still times when he faced opposition. There were still times when his life was threatened.

But somehow, he found strength and victory in the circumstances where he had found weakness and defeat before.

My own belief is that Peter learned what hope is and where hopes lie by looking at his own failures. He looks at the death and ultimate resurrection of Jesus as a key to understanding his own difficulties.

It would have been easy for him to look at the storms at hand and continue to live in fear – just as Dias did at the Cape of Good Hope

It was also possible for him to look at his circumstances and pretend nothing was wrong or things could be worse, much worse – which is how a lot of people try to console other people who are suffering.

Peter chooses instead, to face the obstacles of his life and grow through them, to allow God to use them for his own benefit. He doesn’t suggest that God brought these trials into his life to make his faith stronger, but instead offers the suggestion that when trials come we find our faith is tested.

Anyone who has ever served in the military knows about obstacle courses. Depending upon the nature of the training environment, these “o courses” are designed to challenge us physically for the tasks and assignments we are expected to receive.

Having “survived” several different “o courses” in the twenty some years that I’ve been involved with the Navy, I can assure you that I am stronger for having run these courses. At the same time, I have never encountered obstacles like those in real life.

Peter is talking about real life obstacles, not training obstacles. These are not set up for us to strengthen our faith like a military obstacle course, these are obstacles that reveal our readiness to face life and trust God to give us the victory on the other side – whether that “other side” is in this life or in the next life.

You may have heard the story of the woman who died of cancer. As she was preparing for her death, she met with her pastor and made arrangements for her own funeral.

One of her specific requests was that she be buried with a fork in her hand.

She explained that throughout her life, she had attended countless church dinners. And her favorite line had always been, “keep your fork,” because that meant there was dessert coming.

She wanted to be buried with a fork in her hand as a testimony to the fact that she believed there was something better coming for her.

Peter saw that, too. He knew there was something better beyond the current difficulties. He may not have been able to see it, but he knew it was there.

Like King John II who knew there was something beyond the Cape of Good Hope – something that was proven ten years later when Vasco da Gama made the first successful trip by sea from Europe to India.

Hope springs from the promise of resurrection.

That was true for Peter. And it’s still true for us today.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.