Rev. Sarah D. Odderstol
Readings: 1 Peter 1.3-9 – John 20.19-31

“Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.” The author of First Peter appears to offer a response to Jesus’ question to Thomas in John’s Gospel. “Have you believed because you have seen me?” 

In his book, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller writes, “I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes and he never opened his eyes. After that I liked jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.”

Joy is the language of this kind of love in Christian community. Joy shows us the way to follow Jesus. The community for whom First Peter was written knew joy even in the midst of their suffering. But we have to be careful with how First Peter talks about suffering. 

This passage is not talking about suffering in general. Instead, the writer of First Peter is addressing a particular situation: the suffering of persecuted Christian communities. In this situation, the author claimed the people’s suffering made these early believers stronger in faith much in the same way a metal, like gold, is proven in fire. Despite derision and shunning from their family and friends, these early Christians stood firm in their belief in Jesus.

If we try to apply this same line of thinking to the global suffering we are experiencing in the wake of COVID-19 or even to the very human suffering that is a part of every persons’ life, we very quickly stray into bad theology. God does not will suffering for creation. That is like saying a parent enjoys watching their child suffer. If all suffering is interpreted as God’s will to purify or to punish, then powerful people can justify the suffering of the powerless as a part of God’s plan while the powerless are left to passively accept their suffering as what they have been told is God’s will instead of seeing oppression for what it is. You see, bad theology. 

God never promised that life would be easy or that our lives would be free of suffering. Our faith does not save us from suffering; faith is our response to suffering. Faith is our pursuit of joy and the peace that accompanies it in midst of all that life throws at us. Whether we are fighting for our life against the Corona Virus or waging a battle with anxiety and depression in self-isolation, God is with us in our suffering. God suffers alongside us…and so we know joy, even while we suffer.

This is the imperishable inheritance promised to us…the gift of Easter. When we follow Jesus we become a part of something so much bigger than ourselves, bigger than the family we are born into, bigger than the country we call home…we become apart of love that transcends time and space…life and death. We are anchored in that love now and rejoice in the knowledge that one day we will know this love fully when we return to the God who made us.

Sometimes you have to watch someone love something before you can love it yourself. My friends sharing love is the most powerful thing you can do. From simple acts of kindness to extravagant generosity, love brings joy into the darkest places of life. From taking your aging neighbor’s garbage to the curb to helping a local charity make their payroll, from calling someone just to check-in to registering to be a live kidney donor…we all have the power to share the light of God’s love. When we carry the light of Christ to others, we too bask in the radiance of the love we offer. This is joy! Hold up your light…your light will show the way for others!

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine 
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine 
Let it shine…let it shine…let it shine!