This Too Shall Pass
AM Psalm 5, 6 • PM Psalm 10, 11
Exod. 15:1-21 • 1 Pet. 1:13-25 • John 14:18-31
Given just a snippet of text, as we are with these Morning Reflections, it’s sometimes difficult to understand the context of a New Testament epistle—that is, who the author was, who the audience was, how and why the audience might have been motivated to attend to the message, and what the occasion or the general times in which the letter was written were like. But it’s important to recognize the simple fact that the epistles were not primarily stories or sermons or theological disquisitions. They were honest-to-goodness letters.
In the case of 1 Peter, the epistle, so most scholars believe, was written from Rome by a protégé of the Apostle Peter, sometime after the apostle’s death in 64 A.C.E. and perhaps as late as 112. The pseudonymous author was apparently well trained in rhetoric, philosophy, and Greek, which Peter himself was not, and was writing in the name of Peter to the “dispersed exiles” who had organized churches in five Roman provinces in the north of Asia Minor. Peter himself was persecuted by Nero in 62 and 63; his followers were officially persecuted by the emperors Trajan and Domitian in the decades that followed and probably suffered from social harassment as well. The author seems to acknowledge the difficulties his readers are living through, addressing them as “foreigners” who must live in “reverent fear” until the coming of Christ.
I like today’s appointed passage from 1 Peter for two reasons. First, it counsels patience—an attitude of “this too shall pass”—for the letter’s troubled readers. I don't know about you, but on the day I’m writing this reflection (April 3), I could use an extra dose of patience, and I reckon I’ll need a similar dose on the day it’s published (April 21). Second, verses 24 and 25 of the passage are the basis for one of the most sublimely beautiful pieces of music you'll ever encounter. Hear what Brahms does with the verses in his German Requiem with “Den alles fleish es ist vie gras.”
Written by David Jolliffe
Patiently, David waits for the return of live church, choir practice, the Tippy McMichael series, and major league baseball.