"Peter and Paul"

“Peter and Paul”

Pastor Tom Johnson, June 29, 2014

Today we gather for worship on the anniversary of the deaths of Peter and Paul. Tradition says they were not only martyred on the same day but in the same hour. And so that is what brings Peter and Paul together on this Sunday. Peter was one of the original twelve chosen disciples. Paul became an apostle after Jesus died and rose again. Even Paul himself said it was as if he was added to the number of the Apostles as one untimely born. Like a late term birth of a child, Paul gained prominence in the first century Church. We know that Peter and Paul unintentionally caused a division in the early Church. Some preferred Peter. Others preferred Paul. We know that because Paul himself complained of this when he wrote in 1 Corinthians, “Some say I am of Peter, others say I am of Paul. What? Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor 1:12; 3:4). We think this is silly, but consider the fact that our church is “First Saint Paul” and the cathedral in the Vatican is the “Basilica of St. Peter.” There have always been some who have preferred Peter’s clarity and simplicity of teaching the faith. And there are those who prefer the depth and mystery of Paul’s letters.

There is plenty of evidence that Paul and Peter themselves had their run-ins. Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians that he had to get into Peter’s face. Peter refused to eat with Gentiles. Paul said that he was not just discriminating against other ethnicities but—even worse—compromising the Gospel. Peter mentions Paul once in his second letter. He specifically mentions Paul’s letters that he wrote to the churches. And he says, “There are some things in them hard to understand.” From the very beginning, Paul’s letters were challenging. But Peter does not dismiss Paul but says that “the ignorant and unstable twist [Paul’s writings] to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). Peter elevates Paul’s letters to scripture while at the same time acknowledging the difficulty in understanding his writings. It is interesting how little is said in the Bible about Peter and Paul and any interaction they had with one another. I’ve already mentioned all there is. It seems reasonable to assume that they may have not known each other very well at all. We know that Paul and Silas went on missionary journeys together. We know Paul was Timothy’s mentor. But we have no evidence that Peter and Paul ever actually worked side by side as coworkers in the ministry.

But Peter and Paul also had a lot in common with each other. Both were called to follow Jesus in a frightful encounter. While he was fishing, Peter told Jesus to depart from him because he was a sinful man. While on the road to Damascus, Paul was knocked of his horse and blinded. Both were humbled by God in their service to the Gospel. Everybody knew about Peter denying Jesus three times. Everybody knew that Paul persecuted the church early on. Peter is known as the disciple that opens his mouth over and over again and often needs to put a foot in his mouth. Paul calls himself the “chief of sinners.” Neither of them would claim that Jesus chose them because of their personal righteousness. They were both chosen in spite of their failings and shortcomings.

Both deeply understood and appreciated the grace of God. They both knew they did not earn or deserve God’s acceptance and love. It was free, unearned, and undeserved. Both had the assurance of eternal salvation Peter said, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Pet 3:18). Paul said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8,9).

What brought Peter and Paul together was “one Lord, one faith, and one Baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph 4:5,6a). Both served God imperfectly and stumbled and failed. Both got up again by the strength of God’s forgiveness and call to tell others about his love revealed in his Son, Jesus Christ. And by some ironic and tragic turn of events, both Peter and Paul find themselves together in Rome under the same sentence of condemnation. Peter is a citizen of Israel and so is crucified. Paul is also a citizen of Rome and so beheaded. But both are sentenced to death the same day, the same hour, for the same crime—preaching Jesus of Nazareth. I could not help but remember what Paul said in his letter to the church in Rome—the same city he would later meet his fate: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his...if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” Peter and Paul were united in their deaths. They (and we) are united in the death of Jesus. And if that is so, we will certainly be united in his resurrection and have the assurance that we will live forever together with Peter, Paul, Jesus, and the whole company of heaven.