Brief synopsis of the readings: Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles. As is my custom I’m using the readings for the mass during the day, instead of the vigil readings. Our first reading from Acts describes King Herod’s view of Jesus’ disciples. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword. He then had Peter arrested and thrown in prison with the intent of bringing him before the people. The followers of Jesus prayed for his release. But Peter was chained and slept between two guards with more guards outside the door. Peter was awakened by an angel who removed Peter’s chains and had him get dressed. Peter thought this was a vision but did what he was told and he passed the other guards and made their way out of prison. Finally recognizing that this was real Peter rejoiced that God saved him. Matthew’s Gospel recounts when Jesus asked his disciples “who do people say the Son of Man is?” After a few answers Jesus asked them who they thought he was. Peter replied that “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus was pleased by this answer and told Peter that the Church will be built on him and Peter will be given the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.”

Before we begin, let me provide some clarification as we celebrate the Solemnity of Peter and Paul: if you have fond memories of folk music of the 1960s, we’re not commemorating 2/3 of the singing group Peter, Paul & Mary. Throwing no shade on their music, we are celebrating two of the greatest pillars of the early church: St. Peter who we now celebrate as the first Pope, and St. Paul whose travel brought the message of Jesus to the area surrounding Jerusalem.

I find it interesting that we celebrate both men on the same day; most of the time each saint is given his own day: St. Valentine on February 14th, St. Patrick on March 17th, St. Francis on October 4th, etc. But why do our friends Peter and Paul need to share? I doubt it was because they were poor negotiators or they had the wrong agent. No, I suspect that June 29th is a day that is bigger than most.

When we think about the first few decades after Jesus’ ascension into Heaven we can see a plethora of characters. But none loom larger than these two. It’s fair to say that without either of them we wouldn’t be who we are today. Peter, as we can see from today’s Gospel, was chosen by Jesus to lead the community. Whether it was because Peter came up with the perfect answer to Jesus’ question (and was given leadership as a reward) or because the Holy Spirit gave Peter the answer to signal Jesus who to pick, we can all agree that Peter was God’s choice to lead. And Paul, as we read about elsewhere in Acts Chapter 9, was chosen by God when Paul was on the road to Damascus.

But what’s interesting is how they lived out their call. We would not describe either of them as being passive witnesses and they even clashed with each other. We celebrate these pillars today because neither of them spent the rest of their lives seeking to preserve their own power and authority. They didn’t vie to see who was number 1 or more valued in God’s eyes. To quote a hallmark of the civil rights movement, they kept their eyes on the prize. All they cared about was the proclamation of Jesus’ message.

Tradition (if not Scripture) tells us that they were both martyred in Rome around the year 64 and that gave them about 30 years of ministry. Those years were not easy and we can imagine several points where things could have gone wrong. But they were not directed by the egos and to use a modern quotation, they didn’t believe their own press. When we think of all the Romans, the Jews who cooperated with the Romans, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, it’s pretty remarkable that Peter and Paul saw their paths entirely in service.

To be frank, we could use more of that today. When we think about people like George Washington (who passed on the presidency after two terms and retired to Mt. Vernon) or Nelson Mandela (who did the same) we recognize the gift still exists but is no more common. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling surrounded by Christians today who justify poor treatment of the needy, of refugees, or the marginalized by expressing fear about “where this church/nation/world/bridge club is headed.” It’s almost as if we have the power to change God’s direction in his plan for us and are justified in treating others badly because that’s the only path to God’s Kingdom.

Of course that’s not true. But I think it’s worth asking if the fear that we see is more about our own future. How often have we heard that we need to resort to violence “or you won’t have a country anymore”? Or when someone insists that he was chosen by God and yet encourages everyone to pay up to maintain his lifestyle?

Peter and Paul gave us excellent examples of true leadership that doesn’t compete with discipleship but rather enhances it. The fact is, we revere them because they didn’t draw attention to themselves. I’m not sure what they would think of the rise of “influencers” whose only desire is to build themselves up for the purpose of…building themselves up. They use fear and FOMO and create peer pressure to get strangers to listen to them but at the end of the road there’s nothing there.

Make no mistake, Peter and Paul are popular in our faith but, ironically, they did this by not working to be popular. Paul speaks clearly to this in his first letter to the Corinthians when he criticizes those who are loyal to others. Those others may have been good teachers but we’re missing something if we look only at them and not at God.

No argument, this is a tough call. We all want to be well thought of and respected but if someone points to us, we need to be pointing to God.

Oh, and by the way, Peter Paul & Mary were an excellent folk music group.