THURSDAY October 26th
1 Peter 5:12–14
‘By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.’
There was obviously a lot of relationship between the believers in the early Church, first there is Silvanus, who it would seem by what Peter has said actually wrote the letter on behalf of Peter. He describes him as a faithful brother, he then describes in a few words what this epistle has been all about, ‘the true grace of God’ and then exhorts again, ‘Stand firm in it’, that is stand firm in the grace of God.
There is then mention of an anonymous lady (she) who is at Babylon, and then he refers to Mark, who Peter calls his son, this is probably a reference to him as being a son in the faith, and is probably the Mark known as John Mark in Acts 12:12.
Paul had the same relationship with Timothy, who he called his child in the faith (1 Timothy 1:1) and his beloved child in 2 Timothy 1:2. He then encourages them to kiss each other with a kiss of love! Paul says to ‘Greet one another with a holy kiss’ (Romans 16:16).
In our British culture this seems to be going a step too far, but for many cultures even today it is an acceptable form of greeting, I guess if we were to re-phrase it into our culture it would be to greet each other with a good firm warm handshake, or maybe a gentle hug.
But, whatever way we choose to look at it we can see that the early church had a care for each other that was outworked or lived out in their relationship with each other. Remember they were living in communities that were hostile to the Christian faith, many being prosecuted for acknowledging that Jesus is Lord. They realised that in the oft-time toxic culture in which they lived they needed each other for succour, for strength and for support.
But we need to realise we need each other even when we live in good times, we should never wait till the tough times may come to seek to get or to give support to others in the body of Christ, it should be the norm.
May God keep us bound together through his grace being outworked through us as a local Church in Gateshead, and for others the same in the place which you consider to be your spiritual home. May we always be there for each other, through both the good times and the bad.