Servants, respect and obey your masters in all things. Obey not only those who are good to you. But also obey those who are hard on you. 1 Peter 2:18 WE translation
For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,”[but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2: 18-25
“Take this job and shove it” is a wonderful option for those who live in a free society. However disrespecting your boss is not a Biblical option. Verse 18 reads 'servants' in the translation I chose but in most translations the word used is slave and the command is for obedience to masters who are both kind and cruel. These scriptures plainly saying if you are in a bad situation ‘deal with it’ and to make matters worse it adds when you do so you are acting as Christ did. Why would it say that? Doesn’t God want us to be blessed? Well the answer to that question is yes, but there are times and circumstances in which our personal prosperity is a low priority within the Kingdom of God. Political, religious, racial and ethnic oppression are all common occurrences in human history. During such times men and women only have one possession. It is the one possession every human being carries with them throughout their life. It is the one commodity we each have a monopoly on. It is the soul. The Bible’s primary and exclusive concern in regards to our lives is the soul. The soul is never tested more than when it is treated unjustly. We are most Christ like when we suffer unjustly without complaint. The dignity of nonviolence often penetrates the heart of a wicked soul, but we are not promised this.
Two contrasting examples for us to consider are Gandhi’s non violence and India and the other is the atrocities suffered by the Jews of Europe in World War II. Both examples are from the same generation. There was even correspondence occurred between the two groups. Lena Mandel wrote a 1983 letter to the editor to Commentary Magazine. In it Mandel cites a Gandhi letter written to Martin Buber a Jewish philosopher living in Germany. Mandel reports that during World War II Gandhi said to Buber, “German Jews had the moral obligation to stay in Germany and, by willingly submitting to Nazi atrocities, teach mankind a moral lesson.”
In regards to his own struggle with the British Empire he stated "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." Many believe that Gandhi victory was not his but the British culture that allowed Godly shame to change their oppressive policies. Mandel adds “Gandhi’s record of passive resistance and civil disobedience should serve as a glorious monument to Western civilization at its best—because it worked. How can anyone ignore the fact that it could only have worked because Gandhi was dealing with a decent and moral society?”
What biblical examples can we look at to resolve our conflict between total submission and social and personal change? Let us consider the life of Jesus. An oppressive King issues a decree that all the children under two years of age should be killed in Bethlehem. Joseph was given instructions in a dream to escape with the Jesus to Egypt. There are times when some are called to endure and others are called to follow the spirits leading.
The instructions to Joseph allowed Jesus escaped but the mothers of Bethlehem did not receive any such instruction. The lament of the crime is such that it reaches back to the spirit of Jeremiah and cries, “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Incomprehensible crimes stack up in human history as the bodies of Jewish souls did in Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz, Dachau, and Belzec.
When we witness Jesus before Pilate the Bible describes him as silent in Matthew 27:12-14. His silence was total but was absent of threat, retaliation, or violence. These are the words he said to Pilate. “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” John 18. Peter words record the heart of his voice and the topic of submission, “he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
This is the bottom line of submission. Will we trust ourselves to the one who judges justly? Not because it is easy or even because we understand why atrocity and injustice occur. We do so because we know that Jesus is the shepherd of our soul, and if that were not true, most of us would be more like British or Nazi oppressors than we would be like Christ like or even Gandhian liberators.
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