Saints Peter and Paul 2005Acts 12.1-11, Ps 87, 2 Timothy 4.6-8, 17-18, John 21.15-22.
What’s a martyr these days?
When we hear the word martyr used, one of the first images that comes to mind is a suicide bomber in the middle east, in Jerusalem, or in Iraq. We think of religious lunatics, whackos whose own distorted, deranged and malignant version of their favourite deity causes them to kill. They live lives, and die deaths, that are death giving, not life giving. They do not help their causes, they only create more chaos and destruction, more oppression, more hate, more fear. They bring only darkness to the world, not freedom or glory. They create fear and paranoia.
They are aiming for this, you see, this world of fear, because fear is a great weapon, it’s a great tool to keep people in check. Its not just terrorists either. The United States government is expert at the use of fear, our own government has been quite proficient in its use to remain in government, and I’m sure the opposition would love to be able to use it as well. Indeed, when parties and politicians take a stand against fear, they usually fail. And even churches have used fear as a tool for evangelism and church growth. The signs outside the church up the road witness to that. Unfortunately it seems to work, as evidenced by the current growth in the more hardline rightwing evangelical churches. But even so, I would be very reticent to use that theology to grow the church. Because in the end, it is not life-giving, it is not long lasting, it is not community building. It is isolating and it creates and sustains fear, not love. It is the theology that leads to murderous groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
Now why am I talking about this stuff this morning? Well, it’s because we are talking apostles and martyrs this morning. And because it worries me the way the word martyr is used and understood, the misappropriation of the word.
The origins of the word martyr relate to witnessing, testifying, telling the truth. The original word meant nothing like senseless mindless killing in the name of a misunderstanding, no, a perversion of the word of any deity. It didn’t mean actively seeking death for glory. That is just plain suicide, not martyrdom. Jesus death was martyrdom, in the sense that it was a witness to God’s love for us, and it was passive. He was killed by others. He did not kill himself. But the activity of salvation was not martyrdom, there is a big difference between the two, and it would take a long time to explain it all, so I think its best left for another time. And you know the interesting thing though about the word martyr is that in its original usage it doesn’t require the witness to die because of that witness. That meaning developed as Christian witnesses were killed by others because of their beliefs and their refusal to deny Our Lord. And the thing is, they didn’t die telling people to kill in the name of our Lord, but telling people to live and love in the name of our Lord. The fact is that Jesus did not want bloodshed in His name. No self respecting deity would. Because there is nothing glorious in suicide bombing and terrorism. There is nothing glorious about killing people. Perhaps there is personal glory, some sort of short-lived veneration by other like-minded religious lunatics, but there is no divine glory, no special place in heaven. I mean, the glory on earth is the reward, the veneration by fellow nutters is the payment. Glory cannot be found in bloodshed. Glory can only be found in a life lived well, a life in which the fruits of the Spirit are revealed in the actions of a person, the fruits of love. Glory can only be found in living in Jesus Christ.
So the, Peter and Paul. Ahh, finally we get to them. Now whilst they are referred to as martyrs, they are very different to this modern idea of a martyr.
Are they religious whackos? Well, perhaps in the context of their world they were, because the term is very subjective. I mean, in their own social group, their families and their worshipping community a suicide bomber isn’t regarded as a religious whacko. As I said, their fellow nutters venerate them. Peter and Paul, in following this strange prophet who was crucified outside Jerusalem, would certainly have been regarded by their Judean peers as slightly whacko, and hence dangerous. I mean, whackos are dangerous, aren’t they? They were counter cultural, in that what they preached went against the religions of their culture. Paul even turned his back, eventually, on the strict observance of the law of his religion of origin, as Christianity became less and less Jewish, and he came to realise and began to preach that to be a Christian didn’t require one to follow explicitly the letter of the law. Paul was not about legalism. Paul was about living a life that was glorious, a life that showed God’s glory, Jesus love, and the Spirit’s action and drive. He went to his death passively. He was killed by his persecutors for refusing to give up his faith. He didn’t commit suicide or kill others, and this was a culmination of a life that was lived in grace and power and love. His death was not the witness, it was a witness, it was just another part of the witness of his life. The power of love, the glory of God in his life was the transformation from the persecutor of the church into its most energetic evangelist, church planter extraordinaire. Paul was a violently zealous person before his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. This divine encounter did not make him violent for Jesus, it opened his heart and compelled him to be a zealous evangelist and pacifist for Christ. His many skills, especially in communication and in the use of rhetoric, were put to use for the promotion peace and love. God was with him throughout his life. Paul was blessed. And his teaching and example inspired many and still does. And you know what - nobody got killed!!! Although unfortunately, his words have been twisted by anti-Semitic loonies and used to incite persecution of Jewish people, which just goes to show, if you want to hate someone you can find a reason in everything, if you read it wrong.
And what of Peter? In the gospels, we see Peter as this bumbling sort of person, earnest but impetuous, trying to say the right thing but somehow ending up saying the wrong thing. When the crunch comes he resorts to violence, cutting off someone’s ear, and then he denies our Lord three times. Yet his encounter with the risen, living Christ transformed him as well. Jesus knew this would happen, I mean he said that Peter would be the rock of His church. Peter became that rock, steadfast and sure. He was not violent after his transformation. I mean, even this prison breakout in the reading from Acts was passive and peaceful. Doors were opened, chains removed, without anyone getting killed. The church did not launch a counter attack, or suicide terrorist strikes in an effort to get him out. They prayed. In the Gospel then, Jesus tells him to feed His sheep. That is the task of the rock on which the church was built, to nurture Jesus flock. Again, not to take over the world, defend the holy lands, liberate people through the use of force, executing the infidels along the way. It is all passive. And it lead to martyrdom. Jesus told him that. Yet he willingly followed Jesus. And he became that rock.
This is the power of God the Trinity in action, transforming. When I hear all the mention of God from the United States in their conquest for oil, whoops, war against terror, I cringe. I cringe because I know that God does not want death and destruction in God’s name. I cringe because nowhere in the Gospels does it say that George Dubbya Bush is to be the saviour of the free world. No where at all does it say that the United States of America is a nation charged with the task of invading and executing the infidels. That is using God for political purposes. That is building up a case for violence that is just as unjustifiable as a suicide bombing. It is not inspired by God at all, nor is it blessed by God. Do we really think that God is on our side in a war? Is God on any side? I think so. But God is not on the side of any armies. God is on the side of the defenceless, the powerless, the innocent victims of war.
And that’s the point I want to make. A martyr is not someone who dies in the process of killing others to make a political point. That sort of martyr wins no friends. That sort of martyr wins no blessings, no special place in heaven. A martyr is a person who, like Saints Peter and Paul, lives a life that glorifies God and tells the world about the true Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who did not demand violence but demanded that we look after the defenceless, the poor, the sick and differently abled. It is a Gospel in which there are no Jews or Greek, male or female. A life and death that witnesses to Gods love. A life of passive resistance, a life of compassion, a life of peace.
