St Peter & St Paul
I took Peter for my confirmation name. I was eight years old and didn’t know at the time why I made that choice. Yet ever since that day I have come to love the character of St Peter presented in the Scriptures.
He was originally known as Simon, the son of John and brother of Andrew. He was a fisherman from Bethsaida, a small community just north of the Sea of Galilee, and was married. The formal change of name came later — when Simon confesses the divine sonship of Jesus.
In response, Jesus makes Simon the foundation of the future Christian community: I tell you, you are Peter [meaning ‘Rock’] and on this rock I will build my church. Hereafter he is known mostly as Peter or Simon Peter. He was not to be one apostle among others, but the one who ranked ‘first’ among the Twelve.
Yet even having experienced Jesus’ teaching and miracles over the three years, did not stop Peter from denying Jesus. After the Resurrection, there is a beautiful reconciliation. Jesus had foreseen this bout with cowardice, and encourages Peter to ‘strengthen’ the brethren, now having turned back again after his fall: Feed my lambs, feed my sheep.
Paul was a very different character from Peter. Born Saul, in the town of Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia, he was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, but also possessed Roman citizenship. At some point he was sent to
Jerusalem, where he studied ‘at the feet of Gamaliel,’ the famous rabbi, and became a zealous member of the Pharisees. Paul thus received an excellent education, and was one of the most erudite and learned figures in the early Church. He was present at the martyrdom of St Stephen and took a leading role in persecuting Christians.
On his way to Damascus he was stopped by a vision of the risen and glorified Christ. With overwhelming clarity he understood that this Jesus, who was worshipped by the Christians he had been persecuting, was the divine Messiah. This extraordinary event forever changed his life and mission.
He made three missionary journeys. Thirteen letters in the New Testament are attributed to Paul, but scholars generally agree he directly wrote seven of them. The authorship of the remaining six is debated, as they may have been written by his followers after his death. He was martyred around A.D.67 by Emperor Nero, most likely beheaded (as reported by Tertullian).
Paul was not an easy person to get on with. He publicly opposed Peter at Antioch, over a matter of religious hypocrisy, and had a major disagreement with Barnabas which ended them going their separate ways. Paul was deeply aware of his weaknesses and fallibility. What I found so attractive about Paul was his understanding that what was most important for him was Christ: it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). And we read (in 2 Corinthians 4: 7) that, we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Dear St Peter and St Paul, help us as a parish community, to be humble and faithful disciples of Jesus.
