Rev Francisco Bilog1 PETER 2:2-10
Children like to play guessing games, especially ones where they pretend to be something that others have to guess. Adults do that sometimes, too, only the game can become a habit with no real answers. Today’s text uses a succession of images that tell us who we are as followers of Christ.
What am I? Paul suggests three images that demonstrate the nature of the Christian life.
I. We Are Hungry Babies
This is a humorous image. Can’t you just picture yourself right now in a diaper fumbling with a big bottle? Or think about your spouse. Or your grown children.
Peter used the term in a serious way, though. The way a baby hungrily slurps a bottle is the way hungry Christians are to ingest spiritual milk in order to grow. The spiritual nourishment is the living Word of God that is both the Bible and the Holy Spirit living within us. We are to dine deeply at Christ’s table.
What am I?
II. We Are Living Stones
Peter again reached back into his heritage and used an image from Isaiah. This image is about a “living stone.” Isaiah spoke of a stone that was rejected as being useless but became the cornerstone. We can easily see why people heard that analogy and immediately thought of Jesus. He was condemned by the Jewish leaders as being worthless and was crucified. But like a stone at first deemed useless that later became the cornerstone of the building, Christ is the living cornerstone.
Peter tells us that people who follow Jesus are likewise living stones. But these stones are being used to build up a spiritual house. What am I?
III. We Are a Chosen People
Throughout this section, Peter used a series of visual images to identify people and give them a new identity in Christ. In verses 9-10, he tells us that Christians are a chosen people.
That is good biblical language to identify people who are selected by God for a purpose. That purpose is to serve God and tell others about God’s ways. Other ideas are “chosen people,” “royal priesthood,” “holy nation,” and the recipients of God’s mercy. In verse 10, Peter tells us that we were once nobodies without mercy. But in Christ, we are now the people of God and people who receive grace.
What are we? We are individuals who have experienced the transforming touch of Jesus Christ, and who are called to a higher and deeper purpose than any we have known before. (Don M. Aycock)