Reading: 1 Peter 3-5, Psalm 34

Ever been beaten because you wore the wrong hat? History is replete with instances of unnecessary and bizarre conflict. One of the most ludicrous is the 1922 Straw Hat Riot in New York City. At the time, it was considered socially unacceptable for a man to wear a straw hat after the 15th of September. For several years it had become a sort of social game to knock straw hats off the heads of those who wore them too late in the year. But in 1922, a few young men decided to get a jump on the fun and engaged some dock workers, knocking off their hats and stomping on them. This did not go over well with the dock workers. One might think that would be the end of it, but somehow the brawl spread and grew over the next few days until there were hundreds of young men, mostly teenagers, wandering in the streets with bats looking for straw hats to obliterate. Several people were hospitalized, a number of teens were arrested, and an untold number of hats were never seen again. There were a number of editorials written over the next few months, many of which simply admonished the public to wear the right hat if they wanted to avoid trouble. On the other hand, only three years later President Coolidge dealt a death blow to the straw hat police when he publicly wore his straw hat on September 17th. In those days, if the president did it, it was good enough for any level of society.

An absurd example, but the principle hold in less absurd circumstances. Consider the abolitionists, or the civil rights movement. Violence answered those who would enact change. Stepping out of the accepted norm is dangerous. Some things are worth it. Straw hats are not. The letter from Peter that we are reading today makes this point. Having just wrapped up an argument to the believers to not act like the people around them, but to be obedient to the Great Commandment from Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself, and to pray for those who persecute you, Peter moves on to the consequences of obedience. People will get mad at you. They will attack you. Returning persecution with prayer and grace is not necessarily a recipe to stop persecution. It may well intensify it. But it will ultimately defeat it. Peter’s larger point is that the suffering the believers endure in the process makes them more like Jesus, in that he suffered for them. To suffer for him is to identify with the King we have chosen to serve. It is better to be associated with the judge when he comes to rule.

Stepping outside the line of normalcy is good when normal is in opposition to God’s Kingdom. Peter, picking up what Jesus taught, encourages this kind of radical change. Do not live like the people around you. Surrender you definition of good and bad to God. Accept his wisdom. The flip side of course is that stepping outside the line of normalcy is not good when God defines normal. That was the error of Adam and Eve. They decided to rebel against God’s wisdom, and it pulled all of God’s good creation off its rails. Peter is pushing on both sides of this to his audience, and it is a lesson well heard today as well: don’t be a radical just to be one. Pursue God’s justice, God’s wisdom, God’s definitions of what is good and bad. Not your own.

This is even more important for those who are leaders. I don’t think Peter is just talking about those with titles and obvious authority, either. The Elders are people who are respected. Leaders by example of living. It is more than a position. Peter tells them to be careful to do everything he has been writing about. They are to direct God’s people not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. They are to be humble leaders, putting the last first, being the servant of all. For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Peter closes his letter with a final warning not to be taken in by the temptations of the Serpent, as Adam and Eve were. The devouring lion, the devil, is still tempting humans to take the knowledge of good and bad for themselves. His game plan has never changed. Peter wants his readers to understand that God sees their suffering and will prove himself to be the God who makes all things new. Christ will himself restore, strengthen, and establish you.