Sermon for the Feast of SS Peter & Paul – 30th June 2024

Fr Benjamin Drury – St Paul’s Athens

 

The solemn feast we keep today, is one of our two feasts of title here at st Paul’s church,

In the red vestments we recall: The fire of the Holy Spirit and the blood of the martyrs.

They were filled with the holy spirit, they witnessed to the truth  that was in them by the shedding of their blood: St Peter on a cross, St Paul by the sword.

The feasts of these two great saints and Apostles (that is ones sent forth) could have been kept separately: indeed they have other fests that honour them, the feast of the Chair of St Peter, of the conversion of St Paul on the Damascus road:

But today’s feast of Ss Peter and St Paul is to show that at the heart of their lives for God, is a unity of purpose: at the heart of being sent forth for god, all the Apostles are united in Christ, united by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and no more so than Peter and Paul.

Perhaps in our church of st Paul and here in Athens where he preached on the areo-pagus we might focus more on St Paul, but on the seal of this church I am pleased to see both the sword symbol of the martyrdom of st Paul, and the crossed Keys of St Peter: a sign of the unity of St Peter and Paul in the love of Christ and in their calling to serve God in proclamation of the Gospel.

Our Gospel reading today has the famous question to St Peter which is of course also one for us all: Who do you say that I am?

This question is addressed to Peter, and with words perhaps beyond his own wisdom he gives answer: You are the Christ the son of the Living God

It is this confession by st Peter that Christ acknowledges and affirms by saying You are Peter (you are The rock) the firm foundation on which I will build my Church.

“The choosing of Peter teaches us a lesson. The Church’s foundation-stone and its first leader is not all-wise, all-knowing, good, heroic, and beautiful. He is a very ordinary man who makes about as many mistakes as we would in his place, and kicks himself for them just as thoroughly afterwards. “

St Paul too was chosen to go and debate with the Greeks! As a Greek jew he had the skills that God could call to his service, he too was given the gift of God’s love in calling beyond the first called people, to the Greeks or Gentiles or Pagans or he rest of us depending on how you translate.

Ss. Peter and Paul , did not have separate missions of their own: they were called by God to participate in his mission, unity of purpose came from not mere shared interests but a shared calling in service of the Risen Christ who had transformed their lives, whose spirit gave them both strength to overcome themselves as much as the world around them.

 

Peter loving but rash, Paul initially so hostile to the Church, a humble fisherman who went to Rome, an educated Jew who travelled the Roman world.

They were witnessed to truth, suffering for it yes but holding to it .

St Paul’s words to us today show the resilience of faith and courage , and confidence in the mission of God in which he shares. He speaks of his life poured out as a libation- the word for a drink offering- prophetic perhaps of his very blood poured out at his martyrdom. I have kept the faith I have fought the good fight. “fight the good fight with all thy might”: he knows the destination- Christ the risen saviour- whose appearing he longs for: He does not tell us that following Christ will be easy: only that it will be worth while: and that we will have God with us. I was rescued from the Lion’s mouth” The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts against me.

Peter too faced many dangers, many he was delivered from as in the escape from Prison and the clutches of Herod (the killer of st John the Baptist that is , the son of the baby killer king Herod “the great”).

 

Our reaction to difficulty must be that of the early church… then Peter was in prison “ The church prayed to God for him unremittingly”.

As Paul reassures us of  the rescue of God, st Peter in acts was indeed rescued – doors he thought closed to him were opened: he walked free from his locked cell, free through the city gates he supposed would be barred to him.

 

Christ opens doors for us  and gives us opportunities  that we can’t always foresee or imagine: trials yes and opportunities and joys too.

Let us build our faith on that answer that Peter gives: you are the Christ the son of the Living God.

If we acknowledge Christ in love as the God man who can save us, we are open to his love and salvation, but be warned the calling to follow Christ can be rocky: rocky as the life of the rock St Peter, full of trials as the life of St Paul: but if in god’s service our poor effort and minor defeats, are not wasted: for God is with us in them and we have Christ’s assurance of his victory in the Church in the second part of the affirmation he gives to Peter. On this rock I will build my Church and gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.

That is to say that whatever trials inflicted- be they the very powers of the evil one – the power of death of Hades of the underworld: the church that Christ built on the apostles will overcome. For She is his body, his bride, his Gathered People.