1 Peter 2:21–25

Misericordias Domini

1 Peter 2:21–25

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

Dear congregation,

Life places heavy burdens upon us.
As human beings, we experience suffering - and some experiences are particularly hard to bear: those we do not understand, those that feel unjust or simply unfair.
We shake our heads and ask, often with indignation:
“How can this be?”
How can it be that someone who already has so little is robbed and loses everything?
How can it be that in a family already marked by suffering, someone suddenly dies?
How can it be that a person who has already lost their homeland must also lose their spouse?
How can this be…?
We all know such experiences - times when suffering seems overwhelming and incomprehensible.

And, in truth, this is where faith often begins: How can it be that Jesus Christ - who sought only to help others and bring peace - was crucified? If we struggle to understand our own suffering, how can we possibly understand the suffering of the innocent?
Questions upon questions.

The author of the First Letter of Peter writes to thoughtful people - people who seek understanding. His language is refined, his message demanding. He writes to those searching for a way to live with their experiences of suffering.

And his counsel is this: Take Jesus Christ as your example. We are called to follow in his footsteps. Christ goes ahead of us - we follow. He makes a way through suffering, and as we follow him, we begin to find our own way.

The writer sees in Jesus a powerful example: an innocent man, honest and trustworthy, without sin.
A man who endured humiliation and injustice without defending himself. A man who did not respond to hatred with hatred, nor to violence with violence. A man whose suffering did not turn into bitterness or aggression.

Here is the image: an innocent person who suffers - not because he deserves it, but unjustly. And yet, even in suffering, he continues to trust. “He entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.” Jesus does not take God’s place. He does not seek control or revenge. Instead, he holds fast to his trust in God - and that trust sustains him.

The writer of the letter seeks meaning - not in suffering itself, but in what God does within it.

Suffering in itself is not good. But God’s work in the midst of suffering can open a path to healing.

This thought culminates in the striking sentence: “By his wounds you have been healed.”

This is not a simple doctrine, not a cold theological formula. It does not say: Jesus had to die so that you could be healed - as if it were some necessary transaction. There is no sense here of a calculated divine plan, as though God inflicted suffering on Christ to appease divine anger. That would not make sense.

Rather, something else is being expressed: that within suffering, through deep faith and trust, a new possibility emerges - a possibility for healing. Here, the cycle of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is broken. Violence is not repaid with violence.
Instead, a new understanding is born - an insight that challenges everything we thought we knew about the world. “By his wounds you have been healed.”

And then the writer continues: “You were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

We might think of the disciples - following Jesus, yet full of their own ideas about who he should be.
They imagined him as a king, a political leader, the head of a resistance movement. They wanted change, power, victory. And they were not even united in their expectations. Perhaps we resist being compared to sheep - and yet, if we are honest, there is something true in it.
How often do we not know where we belong?
How often do we follow the crowd without direction?
How often do we act as though we lack what we need?
Human beings destroy what sustains them.
We spoil green pastures and poison fresh waters.
We act against our own well-being, and we live in fear - of loss, of misfortune, of death.
We struggle to sit at the table with those we call enemies.
We dwell on what is negative and are often harsh in our judgments.

And into this reality comes the image of the Good Shepherd - the guardian of our souls.
It is an image that creates trust. It offers an alternative to aimlessness and to our destructive tendencies.

This is what we celebrate at Easter: the overcoming of human destructiveness - even the kind that leads to death. Easter proclaims that there is another way. Suffering does not have to lead to revenge. If we allow God to guide us, if we follow Christ, something within us begins to change. Our creative powers are awakened. We begin to discover that we have more than we thought - more than we need. Following Christ refreshes the soul. It enables us to create spaces of life - green pastures once more. This is not merely a change in attitude. It is the beginning of a new reality - a new life, created and made possible by God.

This is the experience that breathes through the Letter of Peter. And it is expressed in these words:
“By his wounds you have been healed.”

Perhaps we will never fully understand suffering. Perhaps tomorrow we will still ask, “How can this be?” But we do not face these questions alone. Christ has already walked this path. He has gone through suffering- without hatred, without retaliation - holding fast to the trust that God is just. And this is where our hope lies: not that suffering will disappear, but that it will not destroy us. “By his wounds you have been healed.” There is a way - the way of Christ - that does not lead deeper into darkness, but into life. We are no longer wandering sheep. We have a shepherd: Jesus Christ. And his Spirit has been given to us.

So we walk on - step by step, sometimes uncertain, sometimes doubting - yet with direction.
For Christ has gone before us, and his path leads to life.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.