Today (June 29) is the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.  Tradition holds that they were killed on this day by the Emperor Nero.  It is unlikely they were both killed on the same day, but it is almost certain that the execution of each was ordered by Nero, sometime between 64 and 68 CE.  Peter was crucified. According to tradition, he was hung upside down on the cross at his own request, because he deemed himself unworthy to die as Jesus did.  Paul, who was a Roman citizen, was spared the cross.   Crucifixion was designed to bring death by slow torture and public humiliation.  Paul was executed in a more civil, humane manner; he was beheaded.  

Peter and Paul shared a common fate – death at the hands of the Empire because they preached allegiance to a Kingdom that was greater and which was opposed to ways of worldly empires.  We may (rightly) abhor the cruelty and bloodlust of Nero, but he wasn’t mistaken about Peter and Paul.  They were genuine enemies of the all-powerful state. 

The declaration that “Jesus is Lord,” which was almost certainly the first creedal statement of the early church, was in direct opposition to the claim of Rome that the Emperor is Lord.  Nero recognized the truth of what Jesus said and what we Christians always tend to ignore: no one can serve two masters.

If Jesus is Lord, then no ruler, no country, no person here on earth is sovereign over me. 

If Jesus is Lord, then my philosophy and my theological convictions are also not the supreme source of truth; my political ideology does not describe the perfect human society; my loyalty to family and tribe and country are all secondary to my first loyalty, which is to Jesus. 

People who really believe that, who really live like Jesus alone is Lord, are forever getting in trouble with all the other people and nations and ideologies that want to claim our unwavering loyalty.

Jesus people serve another King and have placed their citizenship in another Kingdom.  They can be pretty good members of the tribe and clan and nation, but they are really resident aliens.  Their true citizenship is in the Kingdom. Jesus people are just living here for a while, never forgetting they belong to Christ.

Prayer:  Sovereign One, I know I’m just visiting this planet, but I’ve really settled in here.  I’m pretty comfortable.  Sometimes I hate it when you make me homesick for your Kingdom, just when I was learning how to get along with the powers that be.  Who wants to be a troublemaker and end up like Peter and Paul?