St. Peter makes some dramatic and profound statements in today’ first reading. Israel had a special covenant relationship with God. They were God’s chosen people. Their mission as a nation was to be a sign of God’s presence in the world. Their relationship with God was based on the Law, sacrifices, and rituals. It is shocking that Peter says that you were once no people. This would have been a disturbing statement to anyone from Israel to hear.
The point is that being a Christian is very different than being a good neighbor, a pious Jew, or a simple follower of natural religiosity. In those forms of relating to God the basis is fear, punishment, sacrifices, control of a capricious, vengeful God, and legalism.
Peter had a personal relationship with Jesus that pushed him to a deep personal confidence and trust in a living, merciful God. Peter felt and lived salvation on a personal level trough his relationship with Jesus. Hence, he expresses that relationship in the beautiful images that we just heard from his letter. The images are not legal, cold or hard. Rather they are drawn from living, common biological parts of our lives. Just as a new infant needs milk a Christian is drawn deeper into a loving relationship with God the Father. This relationship turns each of us into living stones that form part of a whole – which is the Church, the spiritual household that Peter mentions. All Christians together form the royal priesthood. The basis of that living relationship is the mercy of God the Father shown to us in the person of Jesus.
Being a royal priesthood, a chosen people, is a form of life for the first Christian communities. Relating to God through laws and temple buildings was no longer important for them. They discovered that they were a living temple, a sign of God’s beauty and mercy to those around them.
Once you were no people
but now you are God’s people,
you had not received mercy
but now you have received mercy.
Image: ChatGPT C J Dunn 17MAY26 “St Peter preaching to group” AI generated.