"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."
(I Peter 3:9)
Jesus was known for his turn-around teaching...you know, the kind of teaching that presented a completely opposite perspective than conventional belief or practice. In the sermon on the mount in Matthew's gospel, he would say, "You have heard it said....but I say..." Peter picks up on this theme in our text today, reminding his readers that the teachings of Christ are meant to transform even the most challenging aspects of human relationship.
Conventional wisdom would challenge someone wounded by the insults of others to respond in like kind. The world is certainly familiar with this kind of behavior. Wars have been started, friendships fractured, businesses compromised, and churches distracted from their mission when retaliation is chosen as a response to the harmful actions of others. In the turnaround teaching pattern of Jesus, Peter challenges early Christians to repay evil with blessing. Talk about catching an enemy or adversary off guard! Who trades blessing for evil? That simply isn't done!
And yet, it has been done...isn't that the turnaround teaching of the cross? Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (TNIV) Paul argues that most of us wouldn't lay down our lives for a truly good person, much less for a person who was at odds with us. But the demonstration of love God set forth at the cross, turns around our thinking, for Jesus died for a human creation that had identified itself as the enemy of God. Jesus took up the cross and willingly embodied this turn around teaching, punctuating his point by his broken body and shed blood in the very presence of his enemies.
Peter tells us that to follow Christ's example is to "inherit a blessing." That is the turn around hope for a fractured world...it begins with you and me.
Prayer: Turn around our thinking, dear Lord, that we may love, not as convention expects, but rather, as love dictates. This we pray in the name of the turnaround teacher, Jesus, the Christ, Amen.
Jim Abernathy
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