1 Peter 2:1-10 “Long for the Spiritual”

The first line of our scripture has really befuddled my brain. In the English version in our bibles, it sounds so clean and clear. In the original Greek however it sounds like Peter the fisherman is being his rustic self. Our bibles say “get rid of all malice.” This is stronger than some translations that might just say “set aside.” King James says “set aside” for instance. This is more like a wasp or a fly lands on your leg. You do not just “set the wasp aside.” You brush it off. You get rid of it, knowing it is doing you harm. You have some malice on you now–brush it off. Except the word for “malice” in the Greek here is “kaka.” I am not saying a bad word, because this is the actual word in the bible. Peter actually wrote this. Peter is using the strong and colorful language of an ancient fisherman here. Later translators and editors cleaned it up, probably thinking that Peter is also the leader of the church and recognized as the first Pope.

How do we get rid of all malice? I might try to get rid of all malice, but my guess is the best I will ever get is maybe just putting it away for a moment or two in a place that I can easily get to again. We are all human after all. We all have our moments. We are going to get angry, hurt, and even show malice at times.

Peter is saying to get rid of ALL of it, however. Please note that the word “all” is repeated three times in this line. The command is really to get it all out of our systems, so that there be nothing left at all.

While I was focusing on these words of Saint Peter, suggesting that I set aside malice, I found my own heart becoming calmer. I discovered that if I focus on getting rid of malice, I am able to set aside a lot of malice! If we just say to ourselves every morning when we get up: “I am not going to hate anybody today!” then eventually we find ourselves not hating. Could it be that simple? Just say that you are not going to hate today.

Why don’t we say it together? “I am not going to hate today.” Don’t you feel better? If we could just get the entire world to say it all at once?! Then, we might one day make it to the Great Commandment of Jesus to love God and our neighbors. But, we really cannot get there until we set aside the malice.

Verse 2. “Taste the Lord”? That is what it says: “you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Okay, I can hear the Word of God. I can see the miracles of Grace. I can feel the Spirit over my life. How do I taste “spiritual milk that leads to salvation”?

Like the child that wants to know his or her world in all completeness always puts everything into the mouth, so we must also taste the flavor of God. God wants to nurture us and make us grow. There is spiritual milk flowing from heaven. Well, it must have some flavor.

What would I imagine that flavor to be? Again, growing up as a German we always thought that marzipan was the food of heaven. For those of you unfamiliar with marzipan, it is simply almond paste, sugar, and rose water. Usually it is wrapped in a dark chocolate, hence the name “marzipan,” which is Italian for “dark bread.” If you ever want the full “German effect,” drink a German Pilsner while eating marzipan! I guarantee that you will be suddenly speaking German in no time! As an aside, I know that you all thought that I was just all about Fig Newtons, but you have to know that there is this German side to me as well!

Do you remember the first time that you really felt the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you remember that feeling? How did that taste? Bring that flavor back into your life. Feel spiritually nourished by God again. Taste it. I want Jesus so much I can taste it!

Also in this line is the understanding that we “long for” that taste of the divine in our lives. Again, Peter uses a little stronger language in the Greek than is indicated in this particular translation. He says that we “epipitheo” the Spirit. This word is better understood as “crave” or “lust after.”

You may recall from last week that I mentioned the reason that Peter is writing this letter at all is because the early churches found themselves backsliding into debauchery. They were getting drunk and enjoying the party lifestyle as they waited for the apocalypse. So, they all were very much into the craving and lusting–Peter is saying they just need to make it about craving the true and pure Spiritual milk.

What do you really look forward to in your life? Are you desiring or craving after God? Do you remember what that tastes like? How wonderful it feels to be in the presence of the Almighty!? I am inviting you now to remember back to that time when you were baptized or healed in the name of Christ. Taste that moment once more. Crave that flavor of God!

Moving on to verse 4. Jesus is a living stone. And, we are to become living stones as well. Does this not remind you of that famous moment in African history when Stanley encounters Dr. Livingstone in the heart of Africa with the phrase “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Most people do not realize that Livingstone was in fact called as a missionary, originally destined for mission work in China, but then found himself through circumstance in Africa following the Nile to its headwaters. His heart was to stop the slave trade coming down the Nile. He was a true “living stone” for Jesus.

Whereas Saint Paul likes the metaphor in his writings that we come together as the body of Christ in the church, see Romans 12, Saint Peter likes to use the idea that we come together like building stones in the structure that Christ is building. He is the cornerstone, the first stone laid for the building, but we are all the other little stones that are leaning against his strength to complete the edifice.

The unique idea that Peter wants to express is that we are being built up as a people of God for the purposes that God has set forth. This echoes the previous idea that we are being nurtured as spiritual children.

In verse 9, we hear the promise that was made to Abraham way back in the Old Testament: We are a chosen people. This is so special to think about. For many will say that “I” chose to believe in God and Jesus Christ, not giving God the credit for the choosing part. Let me affirm for you today that you have been chosen by God!

If you have been feeling at all discouraged this last week, let me affirm for you that you have been chosen by God because God sees you for who you really are. God knows you. God created you. God has promised you that you will be redeemed.

This reminds me of Psalm 8:3-4, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established, what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.”

In Hamlet by Shakespeare, we hear the now famous speech: “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals. . . .“

So, we are blessed in that knowledge that we are indeed picked out by God in heaven. Like seashells on the beach God is seeing our beauty and picking us up to be with God in heaven. But, speaking not particularly about any beach on the island, we might look down and see a lot of other stuff besides shells.

I can accept that God made me in God’s image and because of that essence of God still in me, I might be worthy to be picked up again. The problem comes when I look at the rest of the world. As many of you will know, Easter Seals is in the building just below the parsonage. They are a program for helping the differently-abled. I see them taking walks and working in the garden. So, I have to ask, “God, did you choose them too?”

John 9 tells the story of a blind man, born blind that Jesus heals in the presence of his Disciples. The Disciples themselves are confused suddenly and ask Jesus a strange question: “Rabbi, who sinned that this man was born blind? Was it he or his parents?” Jesus responds, “Neither he nor his parents sinned. He was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Then, Jesus healed the man’s blindness and sent him on his way.

When the former blind man comes to the Temple, the priests there make the argument that because Jesus had touched the blind man (in order to heal him) that Jesus now is also tainted by sin. So, instead of judging in favor of the miracles of Jesus, they judge by looking at what they still see as sin. They cannot see for themselves that the man born blind was indeed chosen by God. They only think that they themselves are the chosen ones.

The people whom we might judge against for whatever reason, are also chosen by God because they also enjoy God’s mercy over their lives. Today we have heard a lot of anti-immigrant hate speech, but they are also chosen by God. We scorn whole other countries, China for instance because of a trade imbalance with them. Yet, are they also not chosen by God? I would have a hard time believing that God would simply write off two billion souls.

Yes, WE, big WE in capital letters to indicate more than just a handful of souls, are God’s own people. WE are the progeny of heaven and the future angels. WE long after the pure Spiritual milk of heaven today.

Amen.