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Happy and Blessed

1 Peter 3:13 & 14
"13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;"

This week we will study how we want to ANSWER change. We look to the Discple who experienced CHANGE on a level very few of us ever will; Peter. When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus and a few Disciples, they were ATTACKED; Peter responded by CUTTING OFF the ear of a servant there with the High Priest. Not so good.

Some of the time Peter's example is a cautionary one. We don't want to go around cutting people's ears off. But, what CAN we learn from Peter? Years later,  after the Resurrection, Peter went on mission trips through the northern areas of Asia Minor preaching the Gospel. And, years after that he wrote letters to the people he visited with advice and guidance. Which is what we have in the Epistle; First Peter. Just a few years after this letter Peter was arrested and executed by the Romans around AD 66–68. 

So, Peter has some perspective and insight when he writes the words we are studying this week. We picked up where Peter is echoing lessons from the Psalms; God watches over and cares for His faithful followers; the righteous. This is not to say that God will make the righteous win and the wicked loose. Life is not that simple in natural disasters and pandemics alike the righteous and the wicked often perish together. 

Peter takes his lesson a step further in today's verses; "And WHO is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" The wicked is who and they will victimize you no matter what. "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, HAPPY ARE YE: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;" No one can do REAL harm to the Lord's people; they will persecute you, but GOD will make all things work together for GOOD. The "HAPPY ARE YE" in the original Greek is the same word used by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount during the beatitudes. There it it is translated as; BLESSED. This world is going cause you to suffer and at times it might just terrorize you. When we "suffer for righteousness' sake," we are blessed. And, St. Peter knows about this better than anyone, with the exception of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 
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