You know it’s a crisis when the Brits call off a cricket match.
On Saturday, May 21 a concerned citizen in Hampshire, England phoned the local bobbies to report a white tiger lounging on the fairway of a local golf course. Presumably it was not waiting to play through. The cops ordered golfers off the links and halted play mid-innings at an adjacent cricket pitch. They scrambled a copter and called in help from the nearby Marwell Zoo. As officers closed in, thermal-imaging cameras noted that the prowling predator threw no body heat. Then it tumbled over in a downdraft from the chopper blades.
It was a life-sized stuffed toy.
Peter holds out no such possibility as the church engages in spiritual warfare. In what may or may not be a mixed metaphor, Peter juxtaposes a lawyer’s word, “adversary,” with the image of a man-eating lion to describe the danger that confronts the Christian community. Our enemy gives off heat kindled by Hell’s own flames and seeks to flesh his fangs in the bodies of believers.
But, Peter reminds us, this is all part of the deal. In what, again, may or may not be a mixed metaphor, he goes from lawyers to lions to the IRS: “the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished,” a verb that refers to the payment of taxes. Believers embrace the worst the tiger can inflict – until the big cat finally rolls over dead beneath the onrushing gust of the Holy Spirit.
Hold That Tiger!
Doug
Collect
God of all comfort, you call us to cast our cares on you. Grant us grace in the face of our trials to stand firm with our fellow-saints around the world and throughout the ages that in our sorrow and suffering we may become more like the crucified Christ in whose name we pray, Amen.
Benediction
May the Lord humble you,
In order to exalt you.
May the lion stalk you,
In order to strengthen you.
May the Lord perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you,
In order that you may bring glory to God forever and ever.
In the name of the Father,
And of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
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