The Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul
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Readings: 2 Timothy 4: 6-8 and 17-18; Matthew 16: 13-19
The Book of Common Prayer keeps today as the feast of Peter the Apostle, but modern church calendars tend to celebrate Peter and Paul today, tradition suggesting that they were martyred on the same date in Rome under the emperor Nero in about the year AD 64.
Church tradition is backed-up by the contemporary historian Eusebius, who says, “Thus, then, was Nero the first to be heralded as above all an antagonist of God, and stirred up to murder the apostles. It is related that in his day Paul was beheaded at Rome itself, and that Peter was likewise crucified, and this story is accredited by the attachment, which prevails to this day – [that is, Eusebius’ day, about the year 340] – of the names of Peter and Paul to the cemeteries there.” He goes on to say that they were martyred at the same occasion, and gives another source to confirm this.
Peter had a position of leadership in the early Church, and is regarded as the first bishop of Rome, and ordinations to the sacred ministry of the Church have been carried out at Petertide for centuries. Priests were ordained at Worcester cathedral yesterday, and deacons today, and Antony Cross, Pauline and Greville’s son, is being ordained deacon at Winchester Cathedral today.
You might think that Peter and Paul would warrant special feast days of their own – and we do remember the Conversion of Saint Paul on the 25th January, but there does seem something appropriate about remembering them together.
Reading through the Acts of the Apostles, Peter and Paul are the major figures, but were extremely different people. Of all the first twelve apostles, I would say that we know the most about Peter. A fisherman, married, whole-hearted, impetuous, a man with human failings clearly observed in the gospels. He denied Jesus on the night of his arrest, but was restored to true fellowship with him.
Paul – an educated man, a persecutor of the Church until his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. Thereafter he became the Church’s great apologist – very widely travelled in the service of the gospel, extensive writer who developed an understanding of the lordship of Christ and what that meant for his followers.
It is interesting that Peter features prominently in the first half of the Acts of the Apostles, then the action and narrative shifts to Paul: his missionary travels and final journey to Rome. A verse from Galatians chapter 2 makes the point that ‘God who made Peter an apostle to the Jews, also made Paul an apostle to the Gentiles.’
Now if you were interviewing for the post of Leader of the Apostles, both Peter and Paul would have things stacked against them. Peter deserted his Lord at a critical time, having denied him three times. Paul, as we have said, a persecutor of the Church, and a willing witness, it would seem, to the killing of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
It is significant that we are openly told about these events in the New Testament. The various writers do not seek to conceal the failings of the disciples of Jesus, but rather show us that human weaknesses can be forgiven and redeemed by the Lord. St Paul mentions in Galatians that people “rejoiced when it was said that ‘he who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God because of me.’
And in John’s gospel, there seems to be something very deliberate in the recording of the three-fold restoration – as we call it – of Peter, following the three-fold denial; the restoration being the occasion where Jesus three times asks Simon Peter – do you love me? Previously, as we heard in the gospel, Jesus declared of him, “On this rock I will build my Church.” He seems to have given him the primacy which the Church recognizes by considering him to be the first Bishop of Rome, and all subsequent popes as his direct successors.
When anyone is called to Christian discipleship, it is not, as we might say – ‘the finished article’ – that the Lord requires. None of us will become ‘the finished article’ in this life. Rather we are called on to love and serve with heart, mind, soul and strength. A sense of being on a pilgrimage; a journey into deeper fellowship with God will urge us forward. St Paul said that he was making for that goal: “I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. I do not consider that I have made it my own: but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to that which lies ahead, I press on towards the goal.” Then in the reading from 2 Timothy today, when he is nearing his death, which he describes as ‘being poured out as a libation’, he gives thanks that ‘The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.’
He also said elsewhere that he didn’t judge himself. I’m sure it would have been easy and understandable for Peter, for instance, to look back on his failures, and conclude that he was not worthy to go on, or that he couldn’t possibly be forgiven. But that would be to overlook the gift of grace, and the forgiving nature of God, who desires that we have life, and that we have it abundantly.
Which had the greater influence – Peter or Paul? Who converted the more people? Maybe, as politicians say when backed into a difficult corner when being quizzed by tv interviewer, “That isn’t the question you should be asking.” God calls all sorts of his people to his service, with differing characters, abilities and personalities. This results in some very diverse styles of church leadership, about which we often hear unhappy stories. It’s easy to see different styles of leadership, whether in the church or the workplace or in the political sphere, and think “That’s right, because I like it” or “That’s bad because it doesn’t appeal to me.” But God can and does use all sorts. The style of leadership you’re unsure about may attract and appeal to others, and be what is needed at a particular moment.
But let’s return to the ordinations this weekend and give thanks for those all over the country who have offered themselves for ministry, and after a long discernment process and hard graft, are kneeling before bishops and hearing the ‘charge’ as it is known – the outline of what is expected of a deacon or priests; their duties and responsibilities.
I recall a paragraph used in the Bishop’s charge at my own ordination thirty-seven years ago. “We trust that long ago you began to weigh and ponder all this, and that you are fully determined, by the grace of God, to give yourselves wholly to this service, and to devote to him your best powers of mind and spirit, so that you may grow up into his likeness.”
Perhaps using the example of today’s saints – Peter and Paul, we can all renew our discipleship and consider what God might be calling us to – as Paul says “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” in the expectation that God has a purpose for each of us, whether we are in our 20s, 60s, 80s – or 90s!