1 Peter 2:18-25

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

I want to point out some of the parallels we actually have been going over in our services. Peter is remembering back to what Jesus told him and the rest of the disciples and now telling us. Jesus used Isaiah’s prophetic word that explain that we as humans would be healed by his suffering and now Peter is quoting Jesus quoting Isaiah. It is actually because Christ suffered and brought healing to our souls that Peter finds meaning in the suffering he and other Christians are experiencing. Jesus endured his suffering and death on the cross so that we could die to our selves and now live new lives of being right with God. This is the healing of our souls that Jesus offers.

Finally, Peter draws on that metaphor we have been familiarizing ourselves with, of Jesus as our Great Shepherd. Remember, John 10 tells us we know the Good Shepherd because He is the one who lays down his life for his sheep. Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross is the means to our soul’s healing and being made right with God, the example by which we find meaning in our own suffering, and finally Jesus’ suffering and death is actually him calling out to us as our Good Shepherd to return to Him, the overseer of our souls.

So, this morning, that is the call. Return to the one who suffered and died for you. Find meaning his life life and death, and accept his invitation to live a new life.