Bound in Love

We celebrate today the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul rather than the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Why are they so important that their feast, which is always on June 29^th, overwhelms the regular Sunday cycle? Each Saint is important to the Church, and each has had another feast day in the Church calendar over the years. Earlier in the calendar, there was the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul and the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Today we celebrate their martyrdom. One was crucified on the Vatican Hill outside Rome and the other was beheaded on the road to Ostia. Together they give us a model for how to live as Christian disciples. And together they help to explain why we are Roman Catholics, for they both journeyed to Rome and both died as martyrs in Rome on this day.

St. Peter is the Rock upon which the Church was founded by Jesus. St. Paul is the preacher and teacher whose dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus led to a journey throughout modern-day Turkey and Greece preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to Jews and especially the non-Jewish nations: the Gentiles. We might look to St. Peter as a model of governance and St. Paul as a model missionary.

Both Peter and Paul had dramatic revelations of the majesty of God and the divinity of Jesus. Peter was there at the Transfiguration, when Jesus conversed with Moses the Law-giver and Elijah the Prophet, and he was shown in all his magnificence, such that the three Apostles were left dumbstruck. Paul was on his way to Damascus in his religious mission to eradicate what he saw as a dangerous and heretical sect of Jews. Suddenly, a voice from Heaven spoke to him and revealed himself to be Jesus. Paul could see and hear the vision speaking to him, while his companions could only hear. They could not see, and soon Paul could not either, as he was struck blind by Jesus to begin the conversion that would lead to Paul being the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Just as Peter was the one who spoke at the Transfiguration, here in Caeserea, he is the spokesman for the Apostles when Jesus asks them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, “you are the Christ.” As you might remember, “Christ” means “anointed one,” and there is nothing in that title to indicate anything greater than a great man called by God for something special. But Peter goes on. He adds, “the son of the Living God.” Peter sees past the surface and political level of what “the anointed one” might mean. His sight is greater than his understanding, but he trusts in it anyway. Peter had done that at Mount Tabor, when he said in response to the sight of Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus, “it is good for us to be here.” We get no suggestion Peter understood what was going on – they are described as terrified at the sound of God’s voice – his first response was to remain with Jesus.

In the scene at Caeserea, Jesus approves of Peter’s reply. He explains this was a heavenly revelation: “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” Then he gives him a new name and declares him to be the foundation of his Church. This naming is as significant as the time when Jacob received his new name of Israel. In Matthew’s gospel, this is the first time we read the word “Church.” The Church is the “ekklesia”, the assembly of the faithful. It is rooted in Peter and his leadership. Where Peter is, there is the Church of God.

The Church is those who stay close to Peter. Peter is entrusted with the keys, the binding and loosing. This is the sign of the king’s chief steward, and one of the titles for Peter’s successors as Pope is “Vicar of Christ,” or “Steward of Christ.” The binding and loosing refers to defining what is permissible and what is not. The Church’s Magisterium is deeply involved in explaining and reminding all of us what is permissible and what is out of bounds. This responsibility is given to Peter and his successors as the head of the assembly – the Church, the ekklesia –  and it is given to him rather than to everyone in the assembly.

At this point in the Gospel, Peter’s journey is still being written, and Paul’s has not even started. Peter will deny Jesus three times at his Passion, and Jesus will offer him a three-fold reconciliation after the Resurrection. Peter will stumble from time to time until the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles at Pentecost. From that point on, Peter really is the Rock.

Peter is the Rock, but when he stumbles Paul is bold enough to correct him. Paul is a strong character; his intensity comes through in his writings, and he regularly irritated his audiences with his teaching. After persecuting the Church, he was called by Jesus to expand the Church to include non-Jews. Even so, in each city he visited he generally went first to the Jewish synagogue. The Good News was always offered to both Jews and Gentiles. Paul helped everyone work out how the Church was the new Israel that all good Jews were expecting while also being a Church that did not observe Jewish laws.

Paul was a great preacher and teacher, working out the revelation given to him, and sharing that good news in his letters to local churches around the Mediterranean. When he returned to Jerusalem, his Jewish enemies tried to have him killed by the Roman authorities. But he used his Roman citizenship to appeal to Caesar himself. And to do that, he had to go to Rome.

Peter was already in Rome, and Paul journeyed to Rome for his final witness and trial. And both were killed by Nero in his great persecution of Christians. The Vicar of Christ and the Apostle to the Nations were killed by the Emperor in the imperial city as a sign that the Church is truly One.

In our lives, we can look to Paul for the courage to speak the truth of God when it might irritate people, even powerful people. In our defense of unborn children, of traditional definitions of marriage and sex, we are the sons and daughters of St. Paul. We can turn to him for perseverance when the world rejects our message.

In our lives, we can look to Peter for the courage to trust God when our senses are screaming, “Don’t!” Peter trusted the word of God when Jesus invited him to walk on the water, and he called out to God when his senses told him he was sinking into the water. We can trust the word of God even when we do not fully understand it, just as Peter did.

Peter at various occasions in the gospels looks like an idiot. But he became the Rock. We can dare to be idiots for Christ, with Peter as our model. Peter accepted the awesome responsibility for servant leadership of the whole Church. We can look to him as we try to accept the more limited responsibilities we have as servant leaders in our families and even our personal lives. Peter understood he was the steward of God’s gift. We should copy him in this understanding.

Peter and Paul gave everything that was theirs back to God. They did this through their ministries, and they did it at the end with their lives in witness to the truth and majesty of God. We all will give our lives back to God when we die. May the balance of our lives be as bold and as humble as the lives of St. Peter and Paul.