1 Peter 3:18-22

Lent 1 - Year B

1 Peter 3:18-22

Who will harm you when you are about doing good?

Well, more than you would think. Everyone with a conscious or unconscious investment in things staying the way they are, because doing good means changing a situation in which “not good” has been operating.

What, then, makes it worthwhile to proceed apace and against a hurtful status quo? Is an understanding of blessedness sufficient? This is a baptismal, transfigurational blessing that brings repentance for our participation in whatever hurt is happening and a commitment to see a reconciliation, a “trip to Jerusalem”, through.

There are apparently two different ways of moving ahead. One way is that of non-violence, proceeding with “gentleness and reverence”. The other way is not, implied in the need to make such an instruction. Our go-to position is to project ourselves as good, rather than to see ourselves as part of the problem and deciding to do what we can where we have the power to make a difference - with our way of operating.

Imagine spending a whole Lent in a quest for a conscience that recognizes and responds to “good”. It will probably take that long, at a minimum, to make a shift that can be seen on the outside and not just felt as an intention on the inside. A blessed Lent to you.