Finding God’s Love in Cash and Toes – 1 Peter 1:17-23

Lectionary Readings for April 26, 2020
Acts 2:14a, 36-41        v 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19   v 17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord.
1 Peter 1:17-23          v 17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites.
Luke 24:13-35             v 31 Suddenly, the disciples’ eyes were opened, and they recognized Jesus. And at that moment he disappeared!

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Today I’m going to talk about a big pile of cash and my mother’s big toe. And yes, both of them have something to do with God’s love for us.

First, the big pile of cash – which is what you’ll need if someone takes someone you love hostage. You’ll need a ransom payment to reunite with your loved one and restore the relationship.

Some translations of today’s text describe Jesus as having paid a “ransom” (in the form of his torturous death) to save our souls. For many of you today, that language and concept – that theology – may sound quite familiar. But here are two big problems with that theory of our relationship with God and both problems revolve around to whom the ransom is paid.

Problem 1 – The ransom can’t be paid to the Devil because The Big Loser (as my wife and I have referred to him) neither created nor owns our souls. The Big Loser is just a majorly annoying distraction at best – or at worst, as the case may be. So he’s out.

Problem 2 – The ransom can’t be paid to God – who did create us – because God loves us and is already present with us. No payment is needed to reunite us or restore God’s love for us.

Here’s a third understanding of “ransom theory” that makes a lot more sense to me. Through His suffering, Jesus paid the “price” – the ransom – to His abusers, for us.

Now when I talk about Jesus suffering for us, I’m not just talking about his last 24 hours on earth – all that torture and dying stuff. I’m talking about His entire life which was filled with both good and bad days.

Along with crowds cheering for him and folks inviting him back to the house for a free home-cooked meal, Jesus was constantly having to deal with disciples who didn’t understand what He meant, church leaders who regularly questioned His actions and beliefs, and entire towns who rejected him and even tried to kill Him (ex: John 6:58-59).

Through all of that suffering, we have a Jesus who – being fully human and fully God in the flesh – fully understands our greatest, our worst, and our most boring days. Jesus paid that price of suffering so that we can connect with Jesus as fleshy peers. And in that connection, we can ask Jesus, “OK, you’ve felt what I’m feeling. Help me see what I’m not seeing; help me understand what I’m missing; guide my words; guide my actions. Jesus, give me wisdom!”

And the most beautiful part of all of this? Jesus paid this price for all of humanity. God looked at creation and decided that every single one of us – regardless of how good or bad we’ve been, regardless of our skills, or our intelligence, or our personalities – every single one of us was and is worth this price, this ransom payment. What a gift!

Now for my mother’s toe… While I don’t personally remember this story from my childhood, my mother vividly recalls it for reasons you will quickly understand.

First of all, families often teach young children how to be responsible with adult objects. Artistic families have child-sized art supplies or musical instruments, sporting families have child-sized bats and balls, and woodworking families have child-sized toolboxes. I come from a long line of woodworkers so by the age of four, I had graduated from plastic toy tools “for babies” to genuine metal tools – sized for my small hands.

Hold that thought.
Imagine a beautiful late-spring day, warm air, nice breeze, flowers in bloom. The perfect day for my mom to read a book in the shade while keeping an eye on her inquisitive four-year-old while he plays in the backyard.

Apparently, her book was an attention-grabbing novel because mom did not notice me opening my kiddie-sized toolbox, nor did she see me approach her with hammer in hand.

Of all the objects in the backyard that could have grabbed my attention, the one that stood out was the freshly painted red nail of her big toe. For whatever reason, I took a big swing and connected my hammer squarely with that polished red target. After many tears – from both of us – we had a long talk about freedoms, responsibility, consequences, and something called empathy.

In and of itself, the hammer was neither good nor bad. What mattered was how the hammer was used. And through its misuse, learning happened.

If you wonder why more folks don’t come to church, one reason is because we Christians have a long history of using the tools – the wonderful gifts – of Jesus and our sacred Scriptures to inflict terrible harms upon individuals and nations. Sadly and accurately, people often think we Christians are likely to judge them and reject them. That’s our honest history and modern reality.

But in this reality, and especially in our local community, every day is an opportunity for us to demonstrate – through our words and actions, through how we live our lives – to demonstrate to the people around us how good the Good News of God’s love is. This morning’s Scripture reading tells us that we can trust God to show us how we can share God’s love with ourselves and with others.

Here’s my ask for you today: Every morning this week, start your day with this simple prayer: “Lord, show me an opportunity to share your love with someone and give me the courage to do so.”
That, friends, is how we’ll change the world and our reputation. Amen? Amen!