Homily on the Holy, Glorious Apostles Peter and Paul in the Orthodox Church

 

2 Corinthians 11:21-12:9; Matthew 16:13-19

All of us have our quirks of personality, habits of speaking and acting, and strengths and weaknesses of character.  By living and working in close contact with others, we learn that we are not self-sufficient, which is a good thing.  From the struggles of sharing a common life we learn how much we need the companionship and gifts of neighbors for our own personal growth and the flourishing of our families and other communities, including the Church.  And contrary to what we often think, our weaknesses do not exclude us from sharing more fully in the life of Christ; instead, they provide opportunities for us to embrace more fully His gracious strength.

Today we celebrate two of the most glorious Saints of the Christian faith.  They are both pillars of the Church, apostles, and martyrs whose unique personalities and experiences have made decisive and permanent contributions to the Body of Christ.  Saint Peter was the head disciple whose confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” is the rock on which Christ, our true foundation, has built His Church.    The gospels describe Peter’s presence at so many crucial moments in the ministry of the Lord, including at His arrest when Peter, who had earlier said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and had vowed never to abandon Him, denied Him three times.  Then the risen Lord restored Peter by asking him three times if he loved Him and giving him the command to feed His sheep as a shepherd of the flock of Christians.  In the Acts of the Apostles, we see Peter boldly proclaiming the good news, performing miracles, and playing a key role in welcoming Gentiles into the Church.   After serving as the first bishop of Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians, then he went to serve in Rome.  Peter was crucified there upside down for his faith in Jesus Christ, for he considered himself unworthy to die in the same way as His Savior.

        That St. Paul plays a glorious role in the formation of the faith is obvious to anyone who knows the New Testament, for he wrote so much of it.   He traveled for decades founding and supporting churches, especially among Gentiles.  Paul had been a strict Pharisee who had persecuted Christians.  But on the road to Damascus, the risen Lord appeared to Him in a blinding light and called him to repentance and the shocking ministry of bringing Gentiles into the Body of Christ through faith and baptism, not circumcision and obedience to the Old Testament law.  Perhaps more than anyone else, Paul made clear that the Church is not a sect of Judaism for people of a particular ethnic and religious heritage, for Christ’s gospel is  good news for all people, regardless of their ancestry. 

        As today’s epistle passage reminds us, St. Paul’s ministry was not easy by any stretch of the imagination.  He was beaten, imprisoned, humiliated, and ultimately martyred in Rome for his faith in Jesus Christ.  He knew both the heights of spiritual ecstasy and the chronic challenge of a “thorn in the flesh” that God did not remove, despite his three-fold request.  Whatever that thorn may have been, Paul learned through his sufferings the sufficiency of God’s strength for him.  God’s “strength is made perfect in (Paul’s) weakness.“  As the apostle said of himself, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

        When we study the lives of these two great Saints, we see people with particular personalities who were not rich, famous, or at peace by worldly standards.  These were real human beings who famously fell short, repented, grew over time in their understanding, and faced such opposition that both suffered capital punishment at the hands of the pagan Romans.  They gained no worldly advantages by their faithful ministry, but their selfless service strengthened the Church in ways too numerous to count.  We are here today as Orthodox Christians because of what God did through them and countless other lesser-known apostles, martyrs, and evangelists across the ages.

         To commemorate the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul with integrity, we must go beyond praising them with our words.  We must become like them in a way appropriate to our callings and circumstances.  For just as God used an impulsive fisherman and a zealous Pharisee to His glory, He intends to do likewise with each of us.  As St. Peter wrote, “you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  (1 Pet. 2:9) As St. Paul wrote, we have become “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone…” (Eph. 2:19-20)

        Each generation is like a new story added to the building or a new branch growing on a tree.  Our life in Christ springs from the living history of what the Holy Spirit has done across the centuries in the life of the Church.  The Spirit empowers us to manifest faithfulness as unique persons called to grow in the divine likeness in our present circumstances.  Just as a fisherman and a Pharisee became radiant with holiness through their repentance and steadfast dedication to Christ, the same may be true of us.

We may think, however, that we are simply too weak and sinful to achieve such spiritual heights.  Remember, however, that Peter denied Christ three times at His arrest and Paul had persecuted Christians to the point of death.  If they can repent, follow Jesus Christ faithfully, and play such exemplary roles in the life of the Church, who are we to excuse ourselves from humbling accepting whatever calling God has for us in our families, our parish, our work, or any area of our lives? 

Today we face obstacles much smaller than those encountered by Saints Peter and Paul.   Nonetheless, our common and subtle temptations reveal our weaknesses because they overcome us so easily.  It does not take much to inflame passions that corrupt us spiritually and tempt our neighbors to stumble. That is why we must refuse to make such brokenness an excuse for despair and instead use it to fuel our humble trust in the One Whose “power is made perfect in weakness.” 

St. Paul found God’s strength precisely in his weakness, in his infirmities that opened his life to the gracious power of God after he had persecuted the Body of Christ and abandoned the self-righteous legalism of the Pharisees. St. Peter surely experienced tremendous weakness when the Lord said to him “Get behind me, Satan” and when he realized what he had done in denying Him three times.   

        When we realize how we have fallen prey to our weaknesses, we are in the perfect place to follow in the way of the fisherman and the Pharisee who in humble repentance found the divine strength that makes up what is lacking, heals infirmities, and even conquers sin and death.   Let us not use a false sense of humility to excuse ourselves from true discipleship as we celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.  Instead, let us follow their example as the unique people we are, with all our strengths, failings, and peculiarities, for from the very beginning of the faith, that is the only way that anyone has come to shine brightly with holiness. That is the only way that we will learn that we are not self-sufficient individuals but persons called to participate by grace in the eternal life of the Triune God.