The second Sunday of Easter is called Quasimodogeniti! It is a fancy Latin term for "as newborn babies." As we reflect on 1 Peter 2:1-10 this month, we move from the "all flesh is grass" comment. We are not permanent on our own. Life will not go on here forever. We must say goodbye to those we love. Someday those we love will say goodbye to us. But in Christ, we are newborn babies, no matter what the age. We are at the beginning of our eternal life in Christ and his resurrection power. Our new beings thirst to hear that.

Our "old" being can fight to rely on that which is not solid. C. S. Lewis wrote three books about life on Mars (an old world), Venus (a brand new world) and Earth (a world shrouded in the darkness of evil that had to be defeated). The book about Venus, Perelandra, has a "Christ" figure seeking to help the first couple to stay on a floating bed of seaweed, with the temptation being to try to get to solid ground. 1 Peter reminds us that in our life it is the opposite. We sin when we go after the floating seaweed of life! But we are assured that we are not in this life alone.

In Christ, we yearn to drink that pure spiritual milk of the Word: God's promises. We read the Scriptures not to find out how we can discover the Christian "tricks of the trade" to escape from the troubles of life in some holy bubble or how to please God and get some goodies. Peter reminds us that we are already on the solid rock. "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." That which we aim for on our own or try to preserve on our own will always be a bed of floating seaweed. Nothing here will last forever in its present form. As we noted in a recent Sunday morning Bible Class session, many of our hopes are "dead hopes." Christ is our "living hope." Our new being yearns to drink of that hope.

Peter moves on to talk about the rock. Christ looks weak and rejected to the world but offers us pure spiritual milk that helps us to see we are rock-solid by faith in Him. In Him we are a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, and God's own people. We are called from darkness into marvelous light. The Scriptures tell us what we are, in Him.

Let us read the Scriptures and reflect on the solid rock, our Lord and Savior and all that he promises. Let us pray that God will bring those promises to bear fruit in our lives. Our Lord will thus settle us and keep us thirsting for that spiritual milk that satisfies our spiritual needs. Blessings on your journey through the year with the Lord and 1 Peter!

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp