Perfectly Following Love's Commandment
Good role models and examples to follow are such blessings in any endeavour. A career, a hobby, a family role, even a whole way of life. For most people in the world outside of the Church, the role models encountered are neighbours. People met in the course of life whose wisdom and experience can be shown day-to-day. Occasionally one encounters an historical or otherwise distant figure who seems a good role model, someone who might be adopted as a personal hero. A paragon of some desirable quality.
Christians have these sorts of role models, too, but we also have the saints. These are people who may have lived a long time ago, like Peter and Paul being celebrated today. It may seem difficult to imagine that we have a close, personal relationship, like that of a mentor or role model, with someone who died nearly 2,000 years ago. But, through the wonder of God's grace and our adoption into the life of Christ, we not only have a close relationship to these ancient men, we share our whole lives with them.
It can be difficult for us to imagine how we are meant to learn from men like Peter and Paul. The world they lived in was so incredibly different from ours. The continent we live on was unknown to them. The Roman Empire was the government of their world. Communication was slow. Slavery was a nearly universally-accepted fact of life. They knew of an invisible world, just beyond the bounds of human senses. A world that we, burdened with modern ideas like rationalism and a total reliance on empirical evidence, often struggle to conceive of, much less encounter. For the importance of the stories and for our relationship with Peter and Paul to make sense to us, we must allow our imaginations some freedom.
Peter and Paul are both amazing people. Peter, a close friend of Jesus and "the rock" on which Jesus builds his church. Paul, a persecutor of Christians who encounters the risen Christ and is wholly converted on the spot. Miracles are attributed to them through their lives. Paul and the earthquake in the prison. Peter's gifts of healing were said to be so great that people would reach to touch the corner of his shadow and find their ailments lifted. They were both critical to the health, growth, and spread of our faith across the Mediterranean world.
These two great saints are also profound different people. Peter was unsure about Paul's validity as an apostle, having never met Jesus in the way the others did. Peter traveled, preaching and baptizing, but Paul's devotion to sharing the Gospel with gentiles in far off places was an unexpected form of evangelism. In spite of their differences, and the tragic falling out the Paul speaks of in his letters, the Holy Spirit draws them both toward Rome. And it is in Rome that they will be reunited in death, martyred by Roman authorities for their persistent preaching and teaching about Christ and their refusal to acknowledge the divinity of the emperor.
Their ministry as apostles is, of course, important and worth much time reflecting on. And, for those who are so called, the apostolic ministry continues in our midst today. It is an enormous task, as it was for Jesus' twelve, but a good and holy one. However, it is not Peter and Paul the apostles that I want us to think most of today; it is Peter and Paul the martyrs. Men who preferred to lose their lives rather than lose the Gospel.
Similar to the historical and cultural context of Peter and Paul, this is a difficult situation for us to imagine today. Very few of us can imagine any realistic scenario in which our lives would be deliberately, intentionally, truly threatened by another person, much less a scenario where our faith is the cause of that threat. Roman justice was harsh and conformity to the government's expectations was a very high priority, including expectations about religious practice. Openly declaring one's self as a follower of Christ could mean suspicion, social exclusion, fines, jail time, and death.
I confess to you, my siblings in Christ, that in my years of ordained ministry, to my shame and disappointment, I have spent more hours in Parish Council meetings talking about parking lots than I have about ways to share the Good News of the Gospel. And I know that I am not alone in that record.
Many preachers and writers in the Early Church described martyrdom as the most perfect fulfillment of Jesus' commandment to love. To be a martyr was to witness with one's whole life, literally one's lifeblood, to the value and importance of God's transfiguring grace and power. What greater sign of the value of the Gospel and the glory of God's love could there be? I wonder where the convenience of church parking lots fits into the witness of martyrs?
I make this comparison not to shame anyone. Just as Peter and Paul's world confuses us, I am sure they are bemused by automobiles and many other recent inventions. We have to cope with the world in which we live and parking lots are a part of it. I make the comparison because, on some days, an outside observer might be forgiven for thinking that we would be more willing to die for a parking space than for the sake of the Gospel.
Feasts like today are a powerful reminder for us to take stock of where we think we have placed value in our lives and to compare it to how we live, both individually and as a community. In the places where the values we think we hold are not evident in how we live, Peter and Paul and all of the other martyrs are reminders that we might consider adjusting some priorities. What does your own list of things, causes, and values that you would willingly die for look like? It's a sobering exercise to think about such a list, but well worth doing.
I will conclude by reminding you that, at least in our tradition, Peter and Paul do not sit in heaven, wearing the crowns of martyrs, and looking at us in sanctimonious judgement. They have nothing but compassion, support, and love for us. They had lives every bit as difficult and complicated and trying as ours. They remember the struggle to embody the values they intended to hold. Peter and Paul are role models and examples, but they are also right beside us, cheering us on, praying for us, and waiting with excitement to share with us the great feast God has prepared.
May today be a good and holy festival for you all.
