In Belarus, the dictator Alexander Lukashenko remains in power—

aiding and abetting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine—

thanks to his rigging of the country’s elections in twenty-twenty.

Although independent modelling suggests that the opposition candidate won… 

Lukashenko declared himself the winner, claiming a vote of eighty percent.

In response, hundreds of thousands marched in protest.

But the Belarusian KGB cracked down violently…

and more than thirty thousand were arrested.

Currently, there are more than five thousand political prisoners in the country.

More than thirty journalists have also been imprisoned…

and the Belarusian Journalists’ Association has been declared an ‘extremist organisation’—

so that anyone who is a member risks being imprisoned for up to six years.

Meanwhile, the woman who actually won the last election and should be president…

is living in exile in Lithuania…

and trying to drum up support in the West.

Her husband is serving almost twenty years in a Belarusian prison for, supposedly, ‘inciting hatred and social unrest’.

 

 

Of course, that’s not the first time that we have seen that sort of thing—

the use of manipulation… 

intimidation…

bullying…

and victimisation…

as a means of exerting control… 

protecting a privileged way of life…

and shoring up power.

In fact, it’s something that we have seen throughout human history…

down to the present time—

be it, Adolf Hitler…

Stalin…

Idi Amin…

Pinochet in Chile…

Mubarak in Egypt…

Mugabe in Zimbabwe…

Omar al-Bashir in Sudan…

Bashar al-Assad in Syria…

Putin in Russia…

the Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka…

the military junta in Myanmar…

the Indonesians in Timor-Leste and West Papua…

the white government in apartheid South Africa…

or the colonial English in India—

namely, the use of manipulation…

intimidation…

bullying…

victimisation…

and violence…

as a means of gaining power and staying in power;

as a means of protecting a privileged way of life at the expense of others—

at the expense of those who are weak…

poor…

powerless…

vulnerable…

and defenceless.

 

But, if we’re honest, it doesn’t just happen on the world stage, does it?

And it doesn’t just involve despotic rulers and abusive governments.

It’s really the history of the human race.

It’s the story of all of us:

schoolyard bullies…

domineering employers…

our government’s treatment of asylum seekers…

perpetrators of sexual harassment and sexual violence…

abusive husbands and parents…

even people who maliciously spread gossip, rumours, and lies.

It happens on school councils…

in social clubs…

and in the church.

There seems to be something inherent in our nature as human beings.

Maybe it’s hereditary or evolutionary— 

a sort of primitive jungle instinct—

but we seem to have this tendency to exploit the defenceless;

to victimise the vulnerable;

to exert power over those who are weaker.

 

The book that we know as the First Letter of Peter…

was written to churches throughout the eastern part of the Roman province of Asia Minor—

part of modern-day Turkey.

It was written to small groups of Christians who lived in largely rural communities…

far from direct Roman rule and influence.

They experienced discrimination, abuse, and victimisation from their neighbours… 

because they had renounced the worship of the traditional gods of their communities;

because they didn’t fit in;

because they were weak, powerless, and vulnerable.

And, in their suffering and victimisation, it would have been easy for them to lash out;

to become vengeful;

to resort to violence themselves—

as so often happens.

That was the situation that our author—

who wrote in the name of Peter—

sought to address in this letter.

He tried to encourage them to stand firm in the face of their suffering.

And note how he does that in our reading this morning—

he focuses on the death and resurrection of Jesus:

“By his great mercy, God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”.

The author addresses the recipients as people who have been re-born…

through the death and resurrection of Christ.

In other words, through the death and resurrection of Christ…

they need to understand themselves as new people…

living a new and different life;

adopting a new and different way of seeing…

and thinking…

and doing…

and being…

and relating…

and responding. 

Indeed, the author suggests that the suffering that they are currently experiencing…

was an opportunity for them to demonstrate the “genuineness” of their faith…

in the way that they responded to it…

with the hope that it would “result in praise and glory and honour”.

The implication, in all of this, is clear:

in the face of suffering…

those who claim to follow Christ…

should meet such suffering as Jesus did.

In the death and resurrection of Jesus…

God was showing us a new and different way to be human…

and a new and different way to live out our essential humanity—

one that doesn’t respond to violence with more violence.

As Martin Luther King jr once put it…

“Jesus eloquently affirmed from the cross a higher law. He knew that the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy would leave everyone blind. He did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with aggressive love”.

 

It was to such an essentially different existence that the author of this letter called his readers.

He called upon them to recognise the fundamental futility of the way that our world works…

and the way that it has always worked.

He called upon them to reconsider the values and priorities of their society.

He called upon them to see themselves as an alternative society—

as a counter-culture.

He called upon them to see themselves as new people…

different people…

reborn people…

people who imitated and displayed—

who lived out—

the fundamental nature and ways of God:

treating each other with love—

not responding to each other with violence or victimisation;

treating each other with respect—

not resorting to bullying or belittling;

and certainly not being motivated by self-centredness or self-seeking.

 

But, more than that… 

the author of First Peter was suggesting… 

that it was because they were doing that, that they were being persecuted.

And is that surprising?

Those who reject the ‘gods’ of their communities—

those who step aside from cultural assumptions…

and who question societal practices—

are often the victims of reactionary forces.

They are often oppressed and persecuted by those who fear losing their power and privilege…

and who want to maintain the status quo.

That’s exactly what happened to Martin Luther King—

assassinated for challenging institutional racism…

and the way that the structures of American society perpetuate poverty.

And, of course, that’s what happened to Jesus before him.

But, as the author of First Peter reminds us here…

it’s only through death and resurrection that anything really changes;

it’s only through death and resurrection that there’s any hope for the world;

it’s only through death and resurrection that there’s any hope for humankind;

And it’s only when we confront the bullies and gossip-mongers;

challenge the injustices;

renounce violence—

whether overt or passive—

and call into question those aspects of our culture that perpetuate victimisation;

that we actually fulfil our destiny as the people of God…

and truly live as resurrection people.