We hear today our Lord Jesus giving instruction to the Twelve about Mission. His instruction to them, here and elsewhere in the Gospel accounts, is always for a particular purpose. He has called them to the unique vocation to proclaim in words the Gospel, to proclaim in words that the One spoken of in the Scriptures (spoken of but not named) is Jesus of Nazareth: that Jesus is the suffering servant described by the prophet Isaiah; that Jesus is the Lord David was referring to in the Psalms as the Holy One of God; that this Jesus, through the foreknowledge of the Father, was delivered up to the Jews, was crucified, died, and was buried, and rose on the third day according to the Scriptures; and that this Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen and Anointed One, that He is alive and known through the Holy Spirit, which has been poured out for all peoples, that everyone who calls upon the Name of Jesus will be saved, for in so doing they acknowledge that they are sinners in need of the Savior, whose Name is Jesus and only Jesus. It was for this purpose alone that Jesus called the Twelve and trained them.
In all of the rich teaching we hear today, I think the central point around which the rest revolves is found in three words: “Have no fear.” Have no fear, Jesus teaches, of the world that has not received the Holy Spirit and therefore does not acknowledge Jesus as the Savior. Have no fear, Jesus teaches, of the world that is as a pack of wolves. Have no fear, Jesus teaches, of these wolves flogging you in public places, of those who will hate you for the sake of Christ. Have no fear of those who seek to kill your body. Have no fear, is what is behind all of Our Lord’s words to the Twelve as captured by S. Matthew.
What Jesus is training them to be is Martyrs. And they all did become martyrs, although only 11 of them were put to death. The one that was not was Saint John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple. Yet despite not being put to death (through beheading, through being nailed to a cross like Jesus, and so forth), John is a martyr. How is that?
To explain that is to also explain the real meaning of the term “martyr.” John is a martyr like the rest because the word martyr comes from a Greek term taken up into the vocabulary of the Church, and it means to witness. It means to give public testimony of belief in Christ Crucified and Risen who is the only Savior of the human race. John gave public testimony to His belief that Christ is the Crucified and Resurrected Lord, at the Right Hand of the Father Almighty through his preaching and writing. Many of the others did the same, and many more beyond only the Twelve. To be a Christian martyr is to proclaim publicly in word and deed the Truth Who is Jesus Christ. It is to give full-hearted testimony in clear terms. It is not to have a private, personal belief in Christ only, but one that spills out into the whole of our life, into the whole of our words, actions, and the whole of our relationships.
To be a person who gives such testimony is to be a person who speaks of truth which convicts the world. To be a person who gives such testimony is to be a person who is not ashamed of the Gospel, not ashamed of Jesus Christ; but rather to be a person who understands him or her self to be a sinner – that is, a person who acknowledges oneself to need a Savior, and who knows that Savior is Jesus Christ, and that there is no other Savior, no other Mediator or Advocate to God but Jesus Christ. The Twelve were being trained to be such people, such witnesses, such martyrs: people for whom the Gospel is joy, freedom, inexhaustible inspiration, and true rest.
A fundamental part of Our Lord’s teaching to the Twelve was to assure them that they need not prepare beforehand any script or any particular words to speak. Jesus said that the Spirit of the Father would speak through them, and give them the words to say. And so we have in this another teaching how we receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Not the presence of the Holy Spirit (which comes in baptism and is generally known within all creation), but the power or fire of the Holy Spirit. To receive the power or fire of the Holy Spirit such that He gives the words to say, even to those poised on the knife-edge between life and death, comes from the strength of one’s belief that Jesus indeed is the Christ. To believe Jesus is the Christ with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul — thoroughly, without reservation, without hesitation — and to acknowledge this before people, without qualification; and to do so in a simple way, speaking about a simple Faith, not complicated with philosophical ideas or odd, mysterious secretive knowledge – but simply, joyfully, and soberly proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ. This activates the power of the Holy Spirit in us, that all we do proclaims Jesus is Lord, Jesus is alive, Jesus is the only Savior for the world. This activates the fire embodied as the words God gives us to say.
It is the gift of the apostles and their proclamation that we too can have a simple faith in God. The apostles are witnesses of the majesty of Christ; that is, martyrs of the majesty of Christ. The rest we find in Christ through the Holy Spirit comes through their teaching, their proclamation, their witness, their martyrdom. With the feast this week of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, let us give thanksgiving to God for the gift of the apostles, the gift of their apostolic witness, the gift of the apostolic martyrdom (from the Twelve and the 120 apostles) from whom we have the foundation of the apostolic Church: the New Testament writings, which along with Scripture, is the well of eternal life, from which living water flows. Saint Peter and Saint Paul, along with all the New Testament apostles: pray for us. Amen.
On Speaking with Fire about Jesus Christ