Second Sunday of Easter

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! What joy it is to continue to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has won the victory for us. Peter continues that joyous celebration with these words in our lesson today, “He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)

We have hope in the certainty of our inheritance. We rejoice as we gather here today to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We can sing wonderful hymns and hear the Gospel message as we gather together. But what happens when we leave this place and enter our daily lives? Peter is realistic in his joy and hope to know that on this side of eternity we may not see the full glory of God. In fact we may even see the opposite and wonder what is going on. Peter says, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.” (1 Peter 1:6 ESV) On this side of eternity we will face trial, temptations, pain and suffering. It is part of our sinful condition.

But how do we deal with the trials of life? And not just the big problems but even the mundane, ordinary life can drag us down since it doesn’t feel like the mount-top experience we think we need to have. I believe, as I think the New Testament does, that is a matter of perspective. How do we see success and failure in our life?

One-way is to think about two philosophical ideas of life: Theology of the Cross and Theology of Glory. Both of these philosophies are correct if we see them in the right way but too often we confuse the Theology of Glory for this life. Let me explain. Often times when we think of life we want to define it by our success. The Theology of Glory focuses on our success in a spiritual way. What principles can I follow that will give me success? What guidelines can I find in scripture that will help me succeed? If I follow a biblical formula for life I will succeed? Right?

The Theology of Glory focuses on what we need to do to succeed. But that isn’t reality in this life. We will fail because of sin. Things will happen to us or we will make mistakes that can jeopardize our success. And how do we handle failure in a Theology of Glory? We try harder or find new principles to live by. Maybe if we only prayed harder or read more of God’s Word or applied His guidelines better, then things would succeed. Butt hat doesn’t face the reality that because of sin we are failures. Yes, God does give us some successes in this life, but we still face the failure of our sinful selves. We still face pain, suffering and brokenness in this life. The theology of Glory would like to avoid pain and suffering and deny that we are truly broken and fully dependant people.

That is where the Theology of the Cross is a better view of life. It recognizes that “for a little while,” we will face trails, pain, and failure in this world because of sin. The Theology of the Cross rests not in the successes we have in life but in the death and resurrection of Jesus for us who have failed. It is a philosophy not based on trying harder but trust in Jesus. We will fail, we will face pain and suffering, but we can trust in Jesus to be our Savior – the one who truly succeeds for us. In the Theology of Glory we put ourselves first and in the Theology of the Cross we put Christ first. This is not a pat answer to suffering and pain. In fact we will still ask the “why” questions in our troubles. But the Theology of the Cross points us to the true answer – Jesus and that in the struggles of life we do have someone we can turn to and trust in. We don’t rely on our success but give up to ourselves and trust in Jesus Christ our crucified and risen Savior.

The Theology of Glory isn’t wrong; it just doesn’t apply to this life, but the next. Peter says this when he proclaims that our hope is based on the glory to come in the inheritance of eternal life. This is a joy that we can cling to – not matter what happens in this life I still have Jesus and His inheritance of eternal life. Our pain and suffering help remind us that on this side of eternity there is still sin and brokenness. Jesus has given us the victory but it hasn’t been fully realized until we journey to our eternal home. Being uneasy with this life actually helps us not to settle for earth but long for our true home – eternal life with God. Are you frustrated with life here on earth? Good, let that help you long for a better place and know that in Jesus we have a secure future.

For a little while also helps us put our suffering in perspective when it comes to time. When we think about time in the eyes of God as Peter does in this text, we realize that our present trials and suffering do not compare to eternal life of joy with God. I know that when you are in the midst of suffering and pain it can seem like an eternity, but it really isn’t. Our time on this earth, this sinful world, will come to an end. And it will seem, when we are in heaven, that all the suffering we faced was but for a “little while.” We have hope because we know there will be an end to whatever troubles us. Jesus will return to take us to a better place. Sometimes God grants us reprieve here on earth but the true release from suffering will come as we pass through the shadow of death and join our Savior in eternity.

One way to see our suffering and pain is to view it as an opportunity for God’s grace to shine. It is often true that we learn from our suffering that from our success. And often it is in the midst of the suffering and trials that we grow stronger and more reliant on God. That is what Jesus was trying to tell His disciples when He calmed the storm. The story goes that His disciples were on the Sea of Galilee and a great storm came up and they were afraid of drowning, dying in this storm. They wake Jesus and ask Him to relieve them of this storm. Jesus gets up and stops the storm but then rebukes His disciples of their little faith. You see Jesus power and glory is there in the midst of the storm as well as in the relieving of the storm. The same is true for us. Jesus is not only there and showing His glory at the end of a trial but He is the one that sees us through it. He is the calming power in the midst of the storm.

Here is another way to look at it. We have young children and know that there is a period in their life, usually when they are 2 or 3 years old, where they go through a phase called separation anxiety. Mom and Dad decide it is time to get out for a dinner date by themselves, a kid free moment and a babysitter comes to watch the children. But as the parents leave the child gets very upset. They realize that Mom and Dad are going someplace and they are not coming with them. And they usually cry and wail, “Mommy, Daddy, don’t leave me!” And what do we say as a parent? “Don’t worry. We will be back soon.” In a little while the parents return and the child learns that they were not leaving forever.

We too need to learn spiritually that Jesus will return in a little while. He will come back to be with us and restore us. Jesus has not left us but has gone to prepare a place for us in our true home, our eternal inheritance. There is an interesting thing in the New Testament – Jesus never says good-bye. Test it our and see. Jesus never says good-bye to His disciples and He never does to us either. He has gone into heaven “for a little while” but He truly has never left us. He is there in the midst of our suffering and pain and speaks His words of comfort. He reminds us that we have a better place prepared for us. He tells us of our inheritance in Christ and that “for a little while” we may suffer but soon we will be in our eternal home.

Amen