Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 2008

OVER ON MY LEFT, YOU CAN SEE SAINT PETER HOLDING THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, THE GOLDEN KEY REPRESENTING THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS THAT COMES FROM JESUS SHEDDING HIS BLOOD, AND THE SILVER KEY THE PRIESTHOOD WHICH ADMINISTERS THE SACRAMENTS THAT HELP US TO UNTANGLE OURSELVES FROM THE WORLD, WHICH ALWAYS TRIES TO DRAG US DOWN. AND THERE IS SAINT PAUL HOLDING A SWORD AND A SCROLL, THE SWORD REPRESENTING HIS LIFE BEFORE HIS CONVERSION, THE SCROLL, HIS LIFE AFTERWARDS. TODAY THE FEAST OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL IS CONSIDERED BY THE CHURCH SO IMPORTANT THAT IT TAKES THE PLACE OF THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. CERTAINLY WE SHOULD HONOR THESE TWO GREAT MEN WHO FROM A HUMAN STANDPOINT, FOUNDED THE CHURCH. PETER WAS THE FIRST POPE, PAUL THE PRE-EMINENT MISSIONARY.
BUT THE CHURCH DOES NOT SET UP FEAST DAYS JUST TO HONOR SOMEONE. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING IN THE FEAST DAY THAT HAS SOMETHING FOR US TO THINK ABOUT, TO PONDER, TO PUT INTO OUR OWN LIVES. AND THIS FEAST IS NO EXCEPTION.
WE CAN THINK OF MANY PEOPLE WE CALL SAINTS WHO LIVED IN THE TIME OF CHRIST. THE APOSTLES, ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, SAINTS MARTHA, MARY, ELIZABETH, MARY MAGDALEN, SAINT JOSEPH – BUT THE ONLY ONES WE KNOW WELL, AS REAL HUMAN BEINGS, ARE SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. SAINT PETER WE KNOW THROUGH HIS WORDS AND DEEDS AS RECORDED BY THE GOSPELS AND THE BOOK OF ACTS, AND WE KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT HIM BECAUSE PAUL WROTE ABOUT HIM. SAINT PAUL WE KNOW PRIMARILY BY HIS WRITINGS, AND SECONDARILY FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS. WE KNOW THAT SAINT PETER WAS A LITTLE HOT-HEADED, IMPULSIVE; HE WAS PRONE TO MISUNDERSTAND JESUS. HE WAS UNEDUCATED, AND SPOKE WITH A HILLBILLY ACCENT, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE GALILEANS WERE TO THE PEOPLE FROM JERUSALEM. HE HAD A GREAT HEART. WE CAN ALL PICTURE PETER, AND WE CAN ALL THINK OF PEOPLE WE KNOW WHO ARE LIKE HIM. SAINT PAUL WAS SORT OF A FANATIC; HE WAS A PHARISEE, THE WORST KIND OF PHARISEE, THE KIND THAT JESUS WAS ALWAYS TALKING AGAINST. HE WAS A NIT-PICKER, HE KNEW HIS LAW, AND HE CONSIDERED HIMSELF BETTER IN DOING WHAT THE LAW SAID THAN ANYONE ELSE. HE WAS SO ZEALOUS FOR HIS RELIGION THAT HE STOOD BY WHILE STEPHEN WAS STONED, AND PROBABLY SAID, “GOOD RIDDANCE!” AND HE DASHED OFF TO ANTIOCH TO BRING BACK THOSE CHRISTIANS WHO IN HIS MIND WERE HERETICS, TO BE TRIED AND PUNISHED IN JERUSALEM, WHERE THE JEWISH AUTHORITIES HAD THAT RIGHT.
AFTER JESUS' DEATH PETER DOES NOT BECOME PERFECT, AND AFTER PAUL'S CONVERSION, HE IS STILL FULL OF FAULTS. IN FACT, I DON'T THINK PETER AND PAUL GOT ALONG ALL THAT WELL. PAUL SAYS IN GALATIANS, “WHEN I SAW THAT THEY WERE NOT ACTING IN LINE WITH THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL, I SAID TO PETER IN FRONT OF THEM ALL, "YOU ARE A JEW, YET YOU LIVE LIKE A GENTILE AND NOT LIKE A JEW. HOW IS IT, THEN, THAT YOU FORCE GENTILES TO FOLLOW JEWISH CUSTOMS?” I'M SURE PETER APPRECIATED THAT. AND PETER, IN THE SECOND LETTER, SAYS THIS OF PAUL: “HIS LETTERS CONTAIN SOME THINGS THAT ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, WHICH IGNORANT AND UNSTABLE PEOPLE DISTORT” WHICH WAS A CHARITABLE WAY OF SAYING THAT “I'M PRETTY SURE HE'S NOT A HERETIC”.
BUT HERE'S THE THING. PETER BY HIMSELF WAS A WELL-MEANING NOT OVERLY BRIGHT BUMBLER, WHO KNEW FISHING, BUT PROBABLY HAD AN OPINION ABOUT EVERYTHING; HE HAD A BIG MOUTH AND WHEN THE CHIPS WERE DOWN, HE HID. AND HE WAS JUST THE KIND WHO WOULD TELL JOKES ABOUT STUCK UP PHARISEES OVER A BEER WITH HIS FRIENDS, AND HE WOULD HAVE NEVER HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH PAUL. BUT PETER PLUS JESUS WAS A LEADER WHO HELD THE EARLY CHURCH TOGETHER, WHO FACED DEATH MORE THAN A FEW TIMES, WHO WAS ABLE TO STAND IN JESUS' PLACE AND PUT TOGETHER THE STRUCTURES THAT EVOLVED INTO OUR CHURCH; PETER BECAME WISE AND EVEN MANAGED TO FIND A ROLE FOR PAUL, WHO MIGHT NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LIVE IN THE JERUSALEM COMMUNITY. AND PAUL BY HIMSELF WAS A HUMORLESS FANATIC, WHO NOT ONLY PRACTICED THE HUNDREDS OF LAWS OF MOSES TO THE VERY LETTER, BUT REASONED THAT TORTURE AND DEATH WERE A FITTING REWARD FOR ANYONE WHO DEVIATED FROM THE LAW; AND HE WAS WELL EDUCATED, AND UPPER MIDDLE CLASS, JUST THE KIND WHO WOULD REALLY LOOK DOWN ON PETER; AND PAUL WITH JESUS DISCOVERED LOVE, AND WENT ON TO LIVE THE WORDS HE WROTE IN THE FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS: “LOVE IS PATIENT, LOVE IS KIND. IT DOES NOT ENVY, IT DOES NOT BOAST, IT IS NOT PROUD. IT IS NOT RUDE, IT IS NOT SELF-SEEKING, IT IS NOT EASILY ANGERED, IT KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS.”
SO PERHAPS WE DON'T SO MUCH HONOR PETER AND PAUL TODAY AS WE HONOR JESUS, WHO TRANSFORMED THEM BOTH, WHO TOOK THEIR WORST CHARACTER TRAITS AND MADE SOMETHING WONDERFUL FROM THEM. PERHAPS TODAY WE HONOR THE FACT THAT JESUS IS WILLING TO TRANSFORM US AS WELL – HE MAY NOT HAVE MUCH TO WORK WITH, BUT HE DIDN'T WITH PETER OR PAUL EITHER. SO ONE OF OUR PRAYERS TODAY SHOULD BE “COMPLETE ME, LORD, AS YOU COMPLETED PETER AND PAUL, AND USE ME TO BUILD UP YOUR KINGDOM.”
AND PERHAPS TODAY WE SHOULD HONOR THE FACT THAT WHEN WE LOOK AT OTHER PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE WHOSE PERSONALITIES CLASH WITH OURS, PEOPLE WHO CAN'T SEEM TO DO ANYTHING RIGHT, PEOPLE WHO WHENEVER THEY OPEN THEIR MOUTHS SAY THE DUMBEST THINGS, PEOPLE WHO HAVE STREAKS OF CRUELTY, PEOPLE WHO ALWAYS PUT THEMSELVES FIRST – YOU CAN ADD TO THE LIST – MAYBE YOU ARE ON MY LIST AND I'M ON YOURS – WE ARE LOOKING AT THE RAW MATERIAL THAT JESUS CAN USE TO CREATE GREAT SAINTS, AND IF THAT IS THE CASE, HOW CAN WE NOT HONOR THE POTENTIAL FOR HOLINESS THAT WE SEE IN EVEN THOSE WE CAN HARDLY STAND?
SO GET TO KNOW PETER AND PAUL, GET TO SEE HOW VASTLY DIFFERENT THEY WERE AS PEOPLE, AND HOW JESUS USED THEM BOTH, AND TRANSFORMED THEM BOTH, AND MADE THEM INTO SAINTS. AND PRAY THAT HE WILL DO THE SAME FOR YOU AND I.