Reading
recently in Genesis 12, I thought of a connection between God’s covenant with
Abraham and Peter’s letter we’ve been studying in our Sunday morning preaching.
Vv.1-3 is an early expression of the good news of salvation, the blessing of
“all the peoples on earth” through Abraham – more specifically, of course,
through his descendant, Jesus Christ. But the blessing is conditional, and there is also a promise of cursing, which too is
conditional. The condition given for God’s blessing or cursing is how one
treats God’s people, because that is an expression of how they respond to God
Himself. Jesus clarified this to say that all people will be judged in how they
respond to Himself, which again is revealed by how they treat those who belong
to Him (cf. Mt 25:31-46). He turned an ancient Jewish culture on its head when
he told his followers, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse
you” (Mt 5:44). The point is clear, and it is consistent with the Abrahamic
Covenant: God is the one who does the
blessing and cursing, not us! When
Peter addresses our treatment from non-believers, he affirms that in
persecution we are blessed (1 Pt 3:13), while our persecutors will be shamed
(v.16). Out of our own blessing we offer a blessing to our persecutors (v.9),
leaving their judgment up to God (4:5). We are blessed in suffering unashamedly
for Christ (vv.14,16), but judgment of the sinner is up to God (v.17). So, I
wonder, what opportunities might we have in a frantic holiday season – with
competitive shopping and awkward family get-togethers and such – to bless and
pray for those that curse and abuse us?
