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Reverend Timothy B. Cargal, Ph.D. Back to the Basics1 One of the modern classics of Christian devotional writing is a novel by Charles Sheldon published more than a century ago and entitled In His Steps. That title is taken directly from the passage in 1 Peter that we have just read. In fact, the book begins with the pastor of a fictional congregation working on a sermon from that very verse. Sheldon’s book was written in 1897, and it became a blockbuster, selling over eight million copies, and it never has really gone out of print since. It tells the story of what happened in the lives of members of a church after they committed themselves to approach the decisions in their workplaces and other arenas of life by asking themselves what Jesus would do and then trying to do that. The results were life-changing for the members of that congregation and also had a positive impact in the community. That was only a story, of course, but the spark for it came from the author’s personal experience. At the time he wrote the book, he was a minister in Topeka, Kansas, but before that, he had been in social work, and as an experiment, he once disguised himself as an unemployed printer. He then walked the streets of Topeka to see what would happen. What he discovered was indifference among many professing Christians toward those in need. That shocked and saddened him, but it also led him to imagine how different things would be if Christians did not compartmentalize their lives and allowed their Christianity to be equally applied to all situations. The book, In His Steps, was the result. Do you remember the "WWJD" campaign that reached out to young people several years back? Before there were bright yellow "Live Strong" bracelets for cancer research and bracelets of every other imaginable hue supporting every imaginable worthy cause, there were those bracelets emblazoned with WWJD. Those initials stood for "What would Jesus do?" All those bracelets and t-shirts were an outgrowth of a rediscovery of Sheldon’s novel In His Steps, and so also at least indirectly of 1 Peter’s statement that "because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps" (v. 21). Now, that point about following Christ’s steps even into suffering was not one of the points emphasized by that WWJD campaign. That there could be a personal cost in following in Christ’s steps was part of Sheldon’s novel, but even he shied away from the possibility that genuine, physical suffering might be the result. Both Sheldon in his day and we in ours think that if only all the Christians who regularly attend church would determine all their actions on what Jesus would do, then surely our communities would become idyllic places. Isn’t that, after all, what we have seen in our scripture lesson from Acts? Those first Christians were doing the very things that Christ had done—right up to and including continuing to perform "wonders and signs"—, and as a result they enjoyed "the goodwill of all the people" and who were as a result joining themselves to the church "day by day." But the possibility that following in Jesus’ steps might result in suffering even as Jesus was physically abused because of opposition to his ministry stands front and center here in 1 Peter. You see, this passage is part of instructions being directed specifically to Christian slaves within its original context. It was to household slaves under the authority of masters who were literally, in the Greek of the letter, acting as "despots" that the writer holds out the example of Christ’s obedience even to the point of death. Perhaps because its call for "slaves" to submit to even abusive masters is both so far removed from modern social structures and so often extended to individuals thereby directed to remain within other forms of abusive relationships with sometimes disastrous effects, the lectionary committee has omitted the initial sentence (v. 18) of this paragraph from the reading. Nevertheless, without that essential fact about the context, there are other details of the passage that only raise questions. What is the source of the "pain" arising from "suffering unjustly" (v. 19), and why might the readers conversely be "beaten for doing wrong" (v. 20)? Since Christ suffered unjustly because of human evil directed at him so that we might gain the benefits of salvation, the writer of 1 Peter argues that all Christians are to continue to work for the benefit of even of those who might cause them to suffer for doing what they know is right before God (vv. 20-21). Not only is this a way to mirror Christ’s actions, but it is the way to continue to accomplish Christ’s purposes as well. By continuing to work for even those who abuse them, they create conditions among those who "malign" them now that may ultimately lead them to recognize God in and to "glorify God" for these actions (v. 12). Far from a passive acceptance of mistreatment by others, these Christian slaves’ continued service to their masters is an active response aimed at those very masters’ future redemption. Much more than asking ourselves what type of clothes Jesus would buy, what kind of car he would drive, or what movies he would see were he living in our time and culture, it is consideration of what Jesus would do to demonstrate God’s grace and justice that are the real question before all those who would follow in his steps. Because Jesus died bearing "our sins in his body on the cross," he made it possible for us to "live for righteousness." Once again the author of 1 Peter makes it clear that passivity has no place within the Christian’s response. Now that we are "free from our sins" and the death that they entail, it is incumbent upon us to live in such a way as to extend God’s justice in the world. As Christ’s own experience makes clear, working even to extend God’s righteous justice in the world is no guarantee that we can escape suffering. Yet, drawing on imagery from Isaiah, the author confidently asserts that "by his wounds you have been healed" (v. 24b). In the immediate context related to deliverance from sin, clearly some of these wounds are spiritual in nature. But quite likely the author has in mind more literal healing as well. The recipient’s own bodies may have experienced "beatings" and the "pain" and "suffering" that would attend them. Christ’s "wounds" hold out the possibility for healing in this area as well. Yet healing is not necessarily equivalent to escape. Once more in keeping with the pattern of Christ’s own experience, it may be that final and complete healing and wholeness are received only from God, "the one who judges justly" in the life to come. Getting back to the basics, then, isn’t just doing those four fundamentals of church life that I preached about last week. Yes, being the church will always include studying the scriptures, sharing fellowship together, celebrating the sacraments, and praying in thanksgiving to God even as we ask for the things we need. But at its most basic, living the Christian life means looking at Jesus’ footsteps as revealed in the Bible, and then trying to place our feet in the same places. If we do that, sooner or later we will come to someplace where we cannot see his footprints, simply because we are in a situation Jesus did not specifically address. We still have to walk through it. There are no guarantees that everyone will fall in step behind us, or that the trail will lead us clear of all hardship and suffering, but Christ will continue to walk with us as "the shepherd and guardian of our souls" even through those uncharted paths. Copyright © 2008 by Timothy B. Cargal. All rights reserved. 1 Portions of this sermon were first published in "Following Jesus—for Real," Homiletics (March-April 2008), 52-56. Material used by permission.
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