Giving a Good Defense

1 Peter 3:13-17
13Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

One simply must smile over the fact that Peter writes these words for the Church. Oh the irony that he would be our instructor about living peaceably with those who hate you.

Matthew 26:47-54
47While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. 51And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

Impetuous Peter, who so quickly lops off the ear of a soldier sent to arrest Jesus now tells the Church not to harm those who hate you. Clearly, he has matured a great deal in his faith and understanding of what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As he looked back over his time with Jesus, I am certain he realized that cutting off the ear of soldier was not quite what Jesus had in mind for His followers. Violence does not win souls into the Kingdom of God.

We live in violent times. It doesn’t take a sage to see that reality. But the moment we resort to violent or hateful tactics, we’ve lost our witness. Let’s consider that idea again. When you resort to ugliness, your witness for Christ and His great sacrificial love disappears – completely. Jesus’ response to Peter’s act of violence? Healing. He restored Malchus’ ear before being dragged off to die. We have no idea the impact of this incident on Malchus, for his story begins and ends with Peter cutting off his ear. But the compassion of Jesus had to have some kind of eternal impact.

Keeping this story in mind can serve as a role model for our own witness. Even in the midst of the hatred of others coming our way, we are told to keep a cool head, even to the point of being gentle and respectful. I’ll just say it outright – Wow! That’s hard! There are often times I struggle to lay my hands on gentleness or respect when assaulted by angry words. The ugly words come so much more quickly and are, quite frankly, more fun to speak! I know – sin is just ugly. But why, Oh why would I waste an opportunity to show the love of God – even to a hater? I pray that God would send His Spirit into those situations and help me to be more like the mature Peter than the impetuous one.

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