Homily for the Feast of Saint Peter & Saint Paul 29 June 2025
Episcopal Parish of All Saints - Ashmont, Dorchester, Massachusetts
The Rev’d John R. Clarke, Interim Rector
To cross and sword they yielded and saw the kingdom come.
Derrick Johnson. Not a household name, but he aimed to be. Right up there with Christopher Columbus, Lewis & Clark, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin.
How? Johnson — along with about 2,700 others — applied to be among the first cohort of humans not only to land on Mars, but to build a permanent, self-sustaining colony on the dusty hulk.
The name of the mission — not affiliated, by the way, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX: Mars One, as in "one-way."
Yes, until it went belly-up in 2019 for lack of backers, the mission aimed to launch the successful applicants into space, land them on Mars, and attempt to keep them alive there until the end of their days. As advertised, one-way.
That meant, however, Mars One had lots of critics: Was it even ethical? Was it a scam?
But let’s say it was all on the up-and-up: Would you do it? Would you sign up for a one-way trip into the history books via the Red Planet?
I suppose it would depend on a lot of factors: What you want to do with the rest of your life … the ties that bind (spouse, family, friends) … the lure of fame … or the gravitational pull of going boldly where no one has gone before.
A one-way/no-exit enterprise raises questions like that.
That’s why Derrick Johnson eventually got cold feet. The trigger? What else? Love. Johnson wasn’t in love when he applied for Mars One. Back then, he thought he would never fall in love, never find the “one.” But, in light of a law he never saw coming (equal marriage the Law of the Land, the 10-year anniversary of which many of us celebrated and gave thanks for this past Thursday), love (earth-bound Jonathan) found Mars-bound Derrick. Aw-w-w-w-k-ward!
That meant Derrick had to decide what he really, really wanted to do with the rest of his life … what he really, really had to do.
In other words, he discovered that bumping into the future — in his case, two competing futures — has a way of changing your life … changing your mind … changing the course of just about everything.
That’s Jesus’ point when he asks Peter — in our Gospel reading this morning — once, twice, three times, “Peter, do you love me?” hitched once, twice, three times to Jesus’ invitation, “Follow me.”
Why the repetition? It’s Jesus’ way of saying, “‘Follow me’: It’s a one-way mission. What, then, do you really, really want to do with the rest of your life? What do you really, really have to do?”
Peter doesn’t quite know what to think of the question. From where he stands, the future looks pretty good. The trauma of Good Friday is far, far behind him. He has just realized the perfect day: caught a mother lode of fish … on a glassy sea … dug into a steaming breakfast … on a pebbled shore … with each and every one of his best friends in the world … and with Jesus, alive once more.
Now, not all our tomorrows end in gloom-and-doom. I mean, we don’t get out alive, true, but getting there isn’t necessarily a steady loop of “Ask not for whom the bell tolls.”
And yet, where will a one-way future lead Peter? A future not on his bucket list. Destination, as it turned out? Death on a cross — like Jesus — only for Peter, hung upside down.
That future, hinted at by Jesus and punctuated by his "Follow me" invitation, pushes Peter, even in that sublime seaside encounter, to answer in his heart of hearts, “What do I want? What am I driven to do?”
It’s a question no less urgent for Paul, whose witness, ministry, and martyrdom we also commemorate today.
When we first meet Paul, the world is his oyster: Grand Inquisitor commissioned to stamp out the newly-minted Christian sect … stamp out Christians. Period. And Paul is very good at it — killing them, that is, without pity, without regret. With fanatical efficiency. Zero tolerance.
But if his victims are anything like the deacon Stephen — whose state-sponsored stoning Paul personally supervised — guileless Stephen, who knew what he had to do … and — even as life escaped him — prayed, “Lord do not hold this sin against them” … this grisly prelude-to-holocaust appears to have taken its toll on Paul, eroded his confidence, challenged him to humanize his victims … look at them as neighbor.
Because he, too, soon comes to a point in his life (that point being the road to Damascus … Damascus, where he hoped to spread even more mayhem — more death! — for the Christians there) … right there, like Derrick Johnson, under totally unexpected circumstances, Paul comes to the point where he must determine his true love.
And being confronted by Jesus, no less, that road becomes a one-way highway into Paul’s future … because he knows that, in choosing Jesus, he is signing he own death warrant.
And so, like Peter, Paul chooses the costly one-way mission Jesus offers him.
And, like Peter and Paul, each of us — all of us — are offered a one-way future … a future framed by Jesus’ answer to the all-important question: “Who is my neighbor?”
With that future in focus, Jesus challenges each of us to discern and commit to: What do we want? What — with the needs of the real world staring us in the face — do we need to do?
For example, reality: Would Jesus (or Peter or Paul) … would we … stand by — without condemnation — as more than 30 persons, some in wheelchairs, were zip-tied on Capitol Hill this past Wednesday and dragged out by Capitol officers. Their offence? Protesting, “Please, don’t kill us by cutting off our healthcare.”
That’s just one outrageous example among so many and, sadly, more to come. Each requiring a response from each of us who claim to follow Jesus.
Are you clutching your pearls, thinking, “This is all too political for Sunday morning pulpit fare”?
Well, yes. Political. Too political? Then answer this: What do courage, truth-telling, risk — action! — have to do with the one-way future Jesus proposes for his followers? Absolutely … everything.
Not convinced?
Check out the ticket Jesus issues to each and all eager for the adventure of a lifetime. Stamped “ONE-WAY.” Turn it over. Printed on the reverse? “Follow. Me.”
Amen.