Sermon for Lent Midweek 1

St. Peter calls us Christians “sojourners and exiles.” We are not in the place where we are truly from, where we are supposed to be. He recalls the memory of the ancient Judahites who went into exile in Babylon because of their sin. These people were held far from their homes as second-class citizens, with no temple to worship God. They wept at the fact of their exile, even as their captors mocked them. This is the image we have of our life on earth as Christians. We are not yet in the place we should be. Baptized and believing in Christ, we have started on our way to our goal. That it our future hope, which we hold to by faith in Jesus, the resurrection and life with God forever. Even if we are living in the place where we grew up, we are still pilgrims and exiles to this place, for the life in Christ is opposed to the life approved by the world.