Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul
Readings: Acts 12: 1-11; Psalm 34: 1-10; 2 Timoty 4: 6-8, 17-18; John 21: 15-22
We’re celebrating the Feast of Peter and St. Paul, Apostles and Martyrs today – and rightly so. St. Clement, Bishop of Rome in the late first century identified Peter and Paul as outstanding heroes of the faith. Some believe Clement was actually ordained by St. Peter. Others that he knew St. Paul personally – that he is the Clement mentioned as a co-worker in Chapter 4 of Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.[1] The Festival was certainly being observed by the mid third century, and probably before. In 258, their supposed remains were moved on this date so they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands during the persecution under Emperor Valerian. St. Augustine wrote, “Both apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; And even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostles' blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labours, their sufferings, their preaching, and their confession of faith.”[2]
You’ve no doubt heard the expression “To rob Peter to pay Paul", meaning to take from one person or thing to give to another. The phrase dates back to Middle English in at least 1380. It may have had religious connotations as the Feast of Peter and Paul was widely celebrated in England in the Middle Ages. But English folklore has it that the phrase alludes to an event in mid-16th century England in which the abbey church of Saint Peter, Westminster was deemed a cathedral by letters patent; but ten years later it was absorbed into the diocese of London when the diocese of Westminster was dissolved, and a few years after that many of its assets were expropriated for repairs to Saint Paul's Cathedral. Asset stripping even then?
So, what might we take from Peter to give to Paul, and what might we take from Paul to give to Peter? Let’s first look at them in turn.
Of all the apostles, we probably know the most about St. Peter from the scriptures. Peter ran a fishing business in Bethsaida He was named Simon, son of Jonah or John. There is an account of how Peter's mother-in-law was healed by Jesus at their home in Capernaum so Peter was married or possibly a widower. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew to be "fishers of men" In Luke, Simon Peter owns the boat that Jesus uses to preach to the multitudes who were pressing on him at the shore of the lake at Genasseret. Jesus then amazes Simon and his companions James and John (Andrew is not mentioned) by telling them to lower their nets, whereupon they catch a huge number of fish. Immediately after this, they follow him
The Gospel of John gives a somewhat different account of "The First Disciples" In John, we are told that it was two disciples of John the Baptist (Andrew and an unnamed disciple) who heard John the Baptist announce Jesus as the "Lamb of God," and then followed Jesus. Andrew then went and fetched his brother Simon, saying, "We have found the Messiah," and then brought him to Jesus. Jesus then gave Simon the name "Cephas," meaning 'rock', in Aramaic. 'Petros' is the Greek equivalent of this. He is also frequently mentioned in the Gospels as forming with James the Elder and John a special group within the Twelve Apostles, present at incidents at which the others were not present, such as at the Transfiguration of Jesus. He often confesses his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. He is with Jesus at his arrest; he follows to the high-priest’s palace where he denies Jesus. He is first into the empty tomb. He is an influential leader in the early church – and his work was not without its dangers as we heard in the first reading
We also know that Peter often misunderstood what Jesus was on about, was impulsive and impetuous and often blurted out things at inappropriate moments. Jesus was sometimes exasperated by him, at one stage telling Peter to “get behind me Satan.” And yet it is Peter who gets it right, too. He is the one who in a moment of insight, or an inspired guess, sees the Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. And when people are deserting Jesus, and he asks the disciples if they want to go as well, it is Peter who speaks for them all and says “Lord, to whom will we go. You have the words of eternal life.” I think it should give us great comfort in our own ministries that Peter often blundered around – and yet he is now one of the towering figures of our faith. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he gives the first great sermon of the early church as he addresses the crowds in Jerusalem. He travels eventually to Rome where in a persecution by Nero around the year 64 is executed by crucifixion, some early church writings, from Origen for example, or in the non-canonical Acts of Peter say that he is crucified upside down.
God works in and around and through all our blunderings and mistakes as long as we are faithful as Peter was. We celebrate him as an apostle – the word means one who is sent, and as a martyr – and the word originally simply meant a witness. So, we can pray in the spirit of St. Peter that we too may be people sent out to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ – to be witnesses of the resurrection in our own place and time.
To St. Paul – different from St. Peter in so many ways. For a start, he was a Roman citizen born in Tarsus in modern day Turkey. They shared a Jewish faith – Paul stridently so. We first encounter him in Chapter 7 of the Acts of the Apostles when Stephen is being stoned to death. The coats of the mob are laid at the feet of a young man named Saul who approves of the killing, we’re told. Saul is a willing and significant participant in the subsequent persecution of the church and is soon heading to Damascus to arrest followers of “The Way”. On his own way, he is dramatically encountered by a vision of Jesus. In Damascus he is ministered to by Ananias who tells him he has been chosen by God to bring his name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel.[3] He certainly does this and his enormous influence echoes down the ages – much of current Christian theology has its roots in Paul’s writings. He confounds the Jewish people of Damascus by proving the Messiahship of Jesus and then returns to Jerusalem, tells the disciples what has happened to him, and returns to Tarsus. We meet him again in Acts 13, this time in Cyprus, now named Paul, and he begins the first of his three great missionary journeys throughout the eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor and Greece. Throughout all of these, he encourages, praises, cajoles, berates, rebukes the churches he visits. He writes to the Ephesians “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.”[4] To the Galatians he writes “You foolish Galatians, who ha bewitched you”[5] He suffers great privations – shipwreck, imprisonment, beatings, persecution, hunger, thirst, sleeplessness.[6] He continually writes to the churches he visits – in fact his Letter to the Thessalonians is the earliest written of the New Testament, pre-dating the Gospels. Others write in his name following his example and witness. He’s described as persistent, patient, insistent in ethical conduct, courageous, humble, angry and harsh sometimes, and uncompromising. He had a severe argument with St. Peter about ministry to Gentiles. He continues to attract the attention of scholars. Professor John Barton is his wonderful History of the Bible rather drily notes “The interpretation of Paul is a major scholarly industry, and no consensus threatens.”[7] John Barton also writes of what’s called a New Perspective on Paul which began in the 20th century. This approaches Paul’s great theme of salvation by grace through faith not from a modern Western point of view, but by situating Paul in his historical context. Not everyone accepts this, but, says John Barton, it has opened a fresh way of seeing Paul against the backdrop of his time.[8] Those of us using the Bible Reading Fellowship notes will have noticed a similar approach taken by Helen Miller in her notes on 1 Corinthians in the current issue of “Guidelines”. It certainly gave me some fresh perspectives on Paul. Eventually, Paul, intending to make another journey to Spain is taken into protective custody, we might say now, brought before the Governor Felix in Caesarea, sent to Rome where he arrives after a hazardous journey, preaches in Rome for about two years, and then , then, according to Eusebius the early Christian writer is killed during the persecution under Nero.
So, what might we take from Peter to give to Paul, and what might we take from Paul to give to Peter? Well, nothing actually. It’s the wrong question to ask. Peter and Paul were created in God’s image and likeness and given different gifts and talents to serve God through Christ. We give thanks today that they kept the faith to the end and can take heart that even the most unlikely companions can serve God together.[9]
Perhaps we can go back to where we began and say with St. Augustine” Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labours, their sufferings, their preaching, and their confession of faith.”
[1] Philippians 4:3
[2] http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/195.html
[3] Acts 9:15.
[4] Ephesians 1: 15
[5] Galatians 3:1
[6] 2 Corinthians 12: 23-28
[7] John Barton A History of the Bible – The Book and Its Faiths Penguin Random House UK 2020 p15
[8] Ibid p179-181
[9] Fresh From the Word Rosalind Brown Canterbury Press, Norwich UK 2016 p397
© The Reverend Bill Crossman