Musings on the Daily Lectionary - Wrestling with Scripture

Today's reading from 1 Peter is not one of my favorites, but it does raise interesting questions about how one handles Scripture. Some well known injunctions are found here such as the command to "accept the authority of every human institution," including pagan emperors and governors; a requirement that slaves "accept the authority of your masters with all deference," whether such masters be good or bad; and the command that wives "accept the authority of your husbands," even if they are not Christians.

I occasionally hear the last injunction quoted by conservative Christians, but some of these folks have no trouble railing against the government. Never mind this Scripture's command to "Honor the emperor." And despite some recent attempts to portray the southern Confederate States as some sort of 19th Century Tea Party effort, almost no one is arguing in favor of slavery. Never mind that following 1 Peter literally would seem to have ruled out any efforts to eradicate slavery.

But Scripture is an equal opportunity trouble maker. Faithful people of all political stripes struggle to employ it in meaningful ways. And people of all stripes sometimes end up trumpeting passages that they like while simply ignoring those that they don't.

Most all of us do some scriptural "cherry picking," but such efforts can only lead to creating a god in our own image. A far more faithful approach might be to wrestle with difficult texts such as this one from 1 Peter. To do so will require some understanding of the passage's context, the situation of the people to whom it was first written. And it will require us to know something about the large message of the Bible so that we can hear these words in the context of many other biblical words. That is to say that wrestling with Scripture, as the term implies, requires some real effort.

Over 70 years ago Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote of The Cost of Discipleship, in contrast to "cheap grace." And what could be cheaper than embracing a few verses of Scripture that support what we already believe and labeling that faith.

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