Slaves of God

October 22, 2008

I Peter 2:13-17

“Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.”

“Chu--, An--, Jan--, Scot--, Blythe! I need you to take the trash out of the house for me,” my grandmother would say. She had to run through the four children before finally finding my name. Once outside with the trash, I would enter the door and my cousin Alan would say, “Grandmommie is looking for you. She needs you to change a lightbulb in the bathroom.” I would head to the bathroom when I would hear, “An-Jan-Scot-Blythe, I need you to get some thing out of the attic.” Not five seconds would pass and the same rehearsal with the words I need you to mop a spot on the floor, can you go find the mop in the washroom?” And then, the rehearsal of names followed by, “I need you come slice these tomatoes for the sandwiches but make sure you rinse them first!” Mind you, I’m still changing the light bulb at this point! Now, you have to understand that I wasn’t the only one working. Everyone was being directed in similar fashion and marveling at how my grandmother could give us so many things to do before the first was finished or even attempted. We often thought we should have t-shirts that read “Slaves of Mary Frances!”

I don’t mean that in a negative way though in our cultural vernacular the word slave brings up the connotation of great negativity. In the culture of Peter, while negativity was engaged in slavery, there were also examples of slavery as a positive thing. Scholar Pheme Perkins has said that “inscriptions from Asia Minor show that in some instances of manumission freedmen were designated slaves of the god or goddess in whose temple the preliminary registration to free the person had taken place (Interpretation Commentary: 1&2 Peter, James & Jude, p.48).”

So Peter is calling this community to think in those terms: to live such lives that they are living for God. It is as if he is calling them to wear t-shirts that read “Slaves of God.” Those would have been shirts worth wearing because they would have indicated that the person had such love for God that he/she chose consciously and from their hearts to live exemplary lives based in love and respect for others. Peter’s message transcends the years. It is his message to our community as well. So often we live for ourselves, for our agendas and out of our self-centered perspectives that we miss the wonder of being a slave for God. I am proud to be a slave of Mary Frances (my grandmother, for I do love her that much!) but I hope that one day people will say of me that I loved God so much and lived for God so faithfully that the best term for me would be “slave for God.” I hope that for all of us! May that life be our striving! Amen.