Riegert, Eduard R.

English

Scholars Commons

Consensus
Volume 23
Issue 1 Essays in the History of Interpretation Article 6
5-1-1997
During the Time of Your Exile
Eduard R. Riegert
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus
This Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation
Riegert, Eduard R. (1997) "During the Time of Your Exile," Consensus: Vol. 23 : Iss. 1 , Article 6.
Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol23/iss1/6
During the Time of Your Exile i
Eduard R. Riegert
Prof, of Homiletics Emeritus,
Waterloo Lutheran Seminary,
Waterloo, Ontario
Text: 1 Peter 1:17—23 (A—Easter 3)
Here^s a word that describes our situation: Exile!
“Live in reverent fear,” advises the writer of the Second
Lesson, “during the time of your exile” (1:17).
“Exile” is a word that describes the way we feel about our
communities, our country, and our world. We still live at the
same addresses but we don’t feel at home. Home has become
alien. This is not the place or the society in which up until a
short time ago we were living. We feel we have been wrenched
away into another world that may look the same but isn’t.
Nostalgia is a sign of our exile. Small towns have once again
become desirable places to live because they are an escape from
the “city” . Forest Gump and Babe are big hit movies because
they picture simple life with a touch of ancient magic. Nostal-
gia for things past betrays our sense of exile.
The root of our sense of exile is a profound awareness of loss.
Not only for Christians but for any socially alert person it is
the loss of what some decades ago a Prime Minister called the
“Just Society”
,
and what a former American President called
“a kinder, gentler society”
.
Since World War II that’s what we deliberately and consci-
entiously set out to make in Canada. Post-World War II gov-
ernments were haunted by the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Not only the military veterans returning home but every wait-
ing spouse and every depression-scarred child and grandparent
feared deeply a return to Depression times, and insisted that
68 Consensus
such times of human discard and hopelessness, homelessness
and helplessness and hunger and unemployment and bankrupt-
ing illness would not fall on us again.
And so gradually—because the people insisted—we have
been busy building, if not the Just Society, at least a juster
society and a kindlier one. The Canadian Pension Commission
in 1933; “Family Allowance”, the National Housing Act, the
Veterans Charter, and basic labor laws in 1944-45; followed
by the national hospital insurance in 1958 and full medicare in
19672—to name only a few milestones.
So the sense of loss is profound, and engenders the feeling
^ of exile. This is no longer the kind of society we worked so long
to build. We’ve lost that. And we are hurt and bewildered.
We are exiles in a strange land.
How shall we as Christians understand this situation?
Right off, it’s worthwhile reminding ourselves that Chris-
tians have always carried a sense of exile with them. The Let-
ter to the Hebrews expresses it succinctly: those who “died in
the faith. . .confessed they were strangers and foreigners on the
earth” (11:13). Why? Because “they sought a better country,
that is, a heavenly one” (11:16). That’s the reason why Chris-
tians have always carried a sense of exile: This earth is not our
true home. Christians think of themselves as peculiarly “God’s
own people”—copying their Jewish antecedents even as First
Peter says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, God’s own people” (2:9). “Our citizenship,” af-
firms St. Paul bluntly, “is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20), and
therefore we are resident aliens on earth. We nurse the image
of paradise lost, and in our depths cherish the hope of paradise
regained.
So if we hurt because we feel like aliens or exiles, this is
surely a reminder to us that we have settled down too much in
Babylon!
If Christians have always carried a sense of exile, it is nev-
ertheless true that often exile has been literal for Christians:
They have been forced out, pushed out, by another god. This
is the experience of persecution.
Such was the case of the Christians in the Roman provinces
in what is now Northern Turkey to whom First Peter is ad-
dressed. Pliny the governor was asking Christians to renounce
Exile 69
Christ...or else be executed. It was a simple examination.
Three times he asked, “Are you Christian?” and three times
threatened punishment if they were. If they were resolute in
their confession, he sentenced them to execution. For him it
was a simple matter. All they had to do to avoid execution was
to recite a prayer to the gods which he dictated to them, make
a small offering of wine and incense to the statue of the Ro-
man Emperor, and curse Christ. This was a sure-fire method
to expose Christians because he observed that “those who are
really Christians cannot be made to do” these things.
^
First Peter addresses them as “exiles of the Dispersion”
(1:1), and encourages them not to “be surprised at the fiery
ordeal that is taking place among you” (4:12). ^ They are being
pushed out by another god: “Just put a pinch of incense and
a drop of wine in the fire to acknowledge Caesar and the gods
of Rome. That’s all you need do. Oh, and curse Christ, of
course. That’s all you need to do to stay at home.”
But they refused, and chose exile.
So here we understand our situation bluntly: We are being
pushed out by another god. A god who dictates constant down-
sizing, monstrous layoffs, staggering cuts in education, social
programs, and cultural programs, and dubious economic theo-
ries. This god is called The Market. We are a Market- driven
society.
I know a young engineer who is working on contract with
an Ontario branch of a major international beverage company.
He literally hates the company. It’s ruthless. Faceless people
in some head office somewhere make decisions based on The
Market. They give no sign of being aware of the people affected
by decisions to shut down this plant, down-size that one, merge
those, enlarge these. Morale is terrible. Everyone is anxious,
suspicious, afraid.
The Market is a terrible god.
Our sense of exile is the experience of being pushed out by
another god.
But we are Easter People!
Listen:
You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited
from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
70 Consensus
but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb with-
out defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of
the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from
the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on
God.
That’s Good Friday and Easter! Notice: “You were ran-
somed.” The better translation is “you were delivered from
futile, useless ways of life hy an act of powers
^
So we are not slaves to The Market god or any other god.
We have been delivered by a mighty act of power! We are
Easter people! I
So we can live in a new way. Ij
Trust in God who raised Jesus from the dead: Trust God
who raises the dead! Is that hope? The Market god kills. The |'
God who raised Jesus? Of course, gives lifel \
Have genuine mutual love. If anything crosses up The Mar-
ket god, love surely does!
Obey a Lord who was destined Lord of Glory from the foun- *
dation of the earth. With that Lord we can resist The Market |
god.
As Easter people we can live in a new way.
We can make Easter in the world!
Notes
1 This sermon was preached at a day-long symposium on ministry in the
current social and political climate, “Weeping by the Waters,” 9 May
1996, Waterloo, ON.
^ A highly readable history is Victory 1945: Canadians From War To
Peace by Desmond Morton and J. L. Granatstein (Toronto: Harper-
Collins, 1995).
^ A. R. C. Leaney, The Letters of Peter and Jude, The Cambridge Bible
Commentary on the New English Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1967) 9.
^ I am assuming that First Peter is late. Pliny’s letter to Trajan is dated
A.D. 112.
^ F. W. Beare, The First Epistle of Peter, 2nd ed., rev. (Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1958) 77.


During the Time of Your Exile

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 23Issue 1 Essays in the History of Interpretation Article 65-1-1997During the Time of Your ExileEduard R. RiegertFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationRiegert, Eduard R. (1997) "During the Time of Your Exile," Consensus: Vol. 23 : Iss. 1 , Article 6.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol23/iss1/6During the Time of Your Exile iEduard R. RiegertProf, of Homiletics Emeritus,Waterloo Lutheran Seminary,Waterloo, OntarioText: 1 Peter 1:17—23 (A—Easter 3)Here^s a word that describes our situation: Exile!“Live in reverent fear,” advises the writer of the SecondLesson, “during the time of your exile” (1:17).“Exile” is a word that describes the way we feel about ourcommunities, our country, and our world. We still live at thesame addresses but we don’t feel at home. Home has becomealien. This is not the place or the society in which up until ashort time ago we were living. We feel we have been wrenchedaway into another world that may look the same but isn’t.Nostalgia is a sign of our exile. Small towns have once againbecome desirable places to live because they are an escape fromthe “city” . Forest Gump and Babe are big hit movies becausethey picture simple life with a touch of ancient magic. Nostal-gia for things past betrays our sense of exile.The root of our sense of exile is a profound awareness of loss.Not only for Christians but for any socially alert person it isthe loss of what some decades ago a Prime Minister called the“Just Society”,and what a former American President called“a kinder, gentler society”.Since World War II that’s what we deliberately and consci-entiously set out to make in Canada. Post-World War II gov-ernments were haunted by the Great Depression of the 1930s.Not only the military veterans returning home but every wait-ing spouse and every depression-scarred child and grandparentfeared deeply a return to Depression times, and insisted that68 Consensussuch times of human discard and hopelessness, homelessnessand helplessness and hunger and unemployment and bankrupt-ing illness would not fall on us again.And so gradually—because the people insisted—we havebeen busy building, if not the Just Society, at least a justersociety and a kindlier one. The Canadian Pension Commissionin 1933; “Family Allowance”, the National Housing Act, theVeterans Charter, and basic labor laws in 1944-45; followedby the national hospital insurance in 1958 and full medicare in19672—to name only a few milestones.So the sense of loss is profound, and engenders the feeling^ of exile. This is no longer the kind of society we worked so longto build. We’ve lost that. And we are hurt and bewildered.We are exiles in a strange land.How shall we as Christians understand this situation?Right off, it’s worthwhile reminding ourselves that Chris-tians have always carried a sense of exile with them. The Let-ter to the Hebrews expresses it succinctly: those who “died inthe faith. . .confessed they were strangers and foreigners on theearth” (11:13). Why? Because “they sought a better country,that is, a heavenly one” (11:16). That’s the reason why Chris-tians have always carried a sense of exile: This earth is not ourtrue home. Christians think of themselves as peculiarly “God’sown people”—copying their Jewish antecedents even as FirstPeter says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, aholy nation, God’s own people” (2:9). “Our citizenship,” af-firms St. Paul bluntly, “is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20), andtherefore we are resident aliens on earth. We nurse the imageof paradise lost, and in our depths cherish the hope of paradiseregained.So if we hurt because we feel like aliens or exiles, this issurely a reminder to us that we have settled down too much inBabylon!If Christians have always carried a sense of exile, it is nev-ertheless true that often exile has been literal for Christians:They have been forced out, pushed out, by another god. Thisis the experience of persecution.Such was the case of the Christians in the Roman provincesin what is now Northern Turkey to whom First Peter is ad-dressed. Pliny the governor was asking Christians to renounceExile 69Christ...or else be executed. It was a simple examination.Three times he asked, “Are you Christian?” and three timesthreatened punishment if they were. If they were resolute intheir confession, he sentenced them to execution. For him itwas a simple matter. All they had to do to avoid execution wasto recite a prayer to the gods which he dictated to them, makea small offering of wine and incense to the statue of the Ro-man Emperor, and curse Christ. This was a sure-fire methodto expose Christians because he observed that “those who arereally Christians cannot be made to do” these things.^First Peter addresses them as “exiles of the Dispersion”(1:1), and encourages them not to “be surprised at the fieryordeal that is taking place among you” (4:12). ^ They are beingpushed out by another god: “Just put a pinch of incense anda drop of wine in the fire to acknowledge Caesar and the godsof Rome. That’s all you need do. Oh, and curse Christ, ofcourse. That’s all you need to do to stay at home.”But they refused, and chose exile.So here we understand our situation bluntly: We are beingpushed out by another god. A god who dictates constant down-sizing, monstrous layoffs, staggering cuts in education, socialprograms, and cultural programs, and dubious economic theo-ries. This god is called The Market. We are a Market- drivensociety.I know a young engineer who is working on contract withan Ontario branch of a major international beverage company.He literally hates the company. It’s ruthless. Faceless peoplein some head office somewhere make decisions based on TheMarket. They give no sign of being aware of the people affectedby decisions to shut down this plant, down-size that one, mergethose, enlarge these. Morale is terrible. Everyone is anxious,suspicious, afraid.The Market is a terrible god.Our sense of exile is the experience of being pushed out byanother god.But we are Easter People!Listen:You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inheritedfrom your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,70 Consensusbut with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb with-out defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation ofthe world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him fromthe dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set onGod.That’s Good Friday and Easter! Notice: “You were ran-somed.” The better translation is “you were delivered fromfutile, useless ways of life hy an act of powers^So we are not slaves to The Market god or any other god.We have been delivered by a mighty act of power! We areEaster people! ISo we can live in a new way. IjTrust in God who raised Jesus from the dead: Trust Godwho raises the dead! Is that hope? The Market god kills. The |'God who raised Jesus? Of course, gives lifel \Have genuine mutual love. If anything crosses up The Mar-ket god, love surely does!Obey a Lord who was destined Lord of Glory from the foun- *dation of the earth. With that Lord we can resist The Market |god.As Easter people we can live in a new way.We can make Easter in the world!Notes1 This sermon was preached at a day-long symposium on ministry in thecurrent social and political climate, “Weeping by the Waters,” 9 May1996, Waterloo, ON.^ A highly readable history is Victory 1945: Canadians From War ToPeace by Desmond Morton and J. L. Granatstein (Toronto: Harper-Collins, 1995).^ A. R. C. Leaney, The Letters of Peter and Jude, The Cambridge BibleCommentary on the New English Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press, 1967) 9.^ I am assuming that First Peter is late. Pliny’s letter to Trajan is datedA.D. 112.^ F. W. Beare, The First Epistle of Peter, 2nd ed., rev. (Oxford: BasilBlackwell, 1958) 77.

https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1597&amp;context=consensus

During the Time of Your Exile

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Scholars Commons

Wilfrid Laurier University