Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed….if any of you suffer as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear His name.                  I Peter 4.12-16.

            When Peter writes to Christians about the “fiery ordeal” they are enduring, he is not speaking metaphorically. Writing in the aftermath of the burning of Rome, Peter is addressing a Church identified as an enemy of the Empire. “Christian” is a label that describes criminal activity, like “murderer,” and “arsonist” do.  Tacitus, in his Annals (Book Fifteen), reports that in the city of Rome, Christians were covered in pitch and burned alive – sometimes on high poles as luminaries for night-time revels.

            I Peter then is really a text-book of discipleship under pressure, a survival manual for times of persecution. In the passage above Peter is repeating what he heard Jesus say.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when people revile you, and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you. Matthew 5.10-11

            Trials are a blessing because they produce a heavenly reward, and connect us with the heroes of faith who have gone before.  This is what Jesus taught.  This is what Peter believes.  This is what he shares with fellow Christians in that turbulent decade of the 60’s, when Rome first recognizes Christians as enemies of the State.

Peter has earned the right to give this advice not just because he speaks truth, but because he has lived it. He knows what it is to face a “fiery ordeal” and pass the test.  After He and John are seized by the Sanhedrin, beaten and threatened, they “rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name” Acts 5.41.

            He also knows what it is to hear the cock crow, and meet the eyes of Jesus after denying Him (Luke 22.54-62).  Peter knows failure as well as triumph - his advice isn’t just academic – he has real-life experience.

            That experience taught him this: when one suffers for the Name, one is qualified to wear the Name. That day early on, when he and John rejoiced together to be beaten for Jesus, I am certain he recalled the time he failed. I am also sure he remembered the words of Jesus then: “I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have returned, strengthen your brothers” Luke 22.32.

            “Strengthen your brothers,” Jesus said, and so he does as he pens these words from I Peter 4. They are strengthened, and so are we, as we are reminded together – by one who has earned the tight to say so – that we should be strong in the face of persecution. We should rejoice in the face of it. We rejoice because we know our reward is great and sure. We rejoice because we know that our endurance qualifies us to wear the Name of Christ.