Footsteps to Follow

Scripture:

1Pet. 2:²¹ For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

²² “He committed no sin,

and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

²³ When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 

Observation:

The church of the first century was made up of the marginalized; whether the Jews of the diaspora, women or servants. All of these lived with the threat of oppression and suffering. Peter was not promising them a life without these struggles, but was placing before them Christ. If Jesus endured unjust suffering, then why not Jesus’ followers? 

Jesus suffered and died for all of us and in this way he left us an example. We find in Jesus the role model for our lives and we are to follow after him. Powers writes, “As children learned to write by following an existing pattern, so believers were to trace the pattern of Christ in their lives in order to realize their call to holiness.” (Powers, NBBC) This was to follow footsteps that were continually moving onward. Discipleship is a lifetime journey. 

Peter quotes the prophet Isaiah and then places tangible examples before those who are suffering for their faith. Ultimately, Jesus trusted God in all situations, knowing that God would be the just judge. 

Application:

This is a topic we don’t really like to think about — suffering! I think that we would like to believe that becoming a follower of Jesus Christ will make our lives easier, and in some ways it will. At the same time, it’s not a promise that everything will be easy. The transformation is real and the strength and emotional support from the Lord is life-giving. While this may happen to us, the world doesn’t necessarily change. The believers in Peter’s day were suffering because of how they were being treated by non-believers. There was to be unity among the believers — they were not to be causing the suffering, but there was to be perseverance.

This perseverance was possible because the believers were following the example of Christ. Even today Christ is put before us as an example for our lives. Yes, we are to follow his footsteps, for this is what it means to be a disciple.  This is a day-by-day journey, following after the Messiah. Life wasn’t easy for him, and it’s not necessarily going to be easy for us. 

So, what do we do when someone is unkind to us? Have we thought about following the pathway laid before us by Jesus? He didn’t return the abuse. I’m afraid that we don’t want to wait for God to respond with justice, but that we would rather resolve our problems in the here and now. There is a time and a place to do that, if we are participating in God’s justice, but there are other times when we simply need to follow Jesus, and be silent. 

Sometimes, the more that we study about discipleship and following Jesus, the harder it can appear. At the same time, we can’t forget that this entire life is possible when we live in grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit. To follow Christ means that we will be misunderstood, and in this season it appears that this is increasingly true. To be maligned and misunderstood, is to be like Jesus. To follow Christ is to be quiet, and let God do the judging. May God give us strength to be like Jesus!

Prayer:

Lord, my desire is to follow after you. I need you. Amen.