St. Peter & St. Paul, Apsotles & Martyrs

2 Timothy 4:6-8
John 21:17-19

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul is celebrated on June 29. With our midweek Eucharist falling on Tuesday, I’ve transferred our celebration to this day. This day is not just about these two men, but specifically about the martyrdoms, which according to tradition occurred at the same time under the Emperor Nero in Rome.

Sad as their deaths were, I find it strangely grace-full that they were martyred together. They were not always together in a shared consensus. The New Testament itself reflects that tension. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes of how he rebuked Peter for his continued insistence on Jewish exclusiveness (Note that Paul calls Peter “Cephas” in Galatians. That was the Aramaic word for “rock,” which in Greek is petros).

On the other hand, writing for Peter, the author of the 2nd letter of Peter warns his readers to read Paul’s letters carefully, for “they contain some obscure passages, which the ignorant and unstable misinterpret to their own ruin, as they do the other scriptures” (2 Pet 3:16). In short, Paul pushed the envelope of old rules, which he felt that Jesus had made irrelevant. Peter seems to have been concerned that this envelope-pushing might spill over to parts of the Old Covenant that could not be separated from the New Covenant.

But in spite of their disagreements, in the end, they were together in witnessing to the power of Jesus Christ, in life and death. Today, we are hardly free from disagreements about the teaching of the Church. But we need not fear the debate. This conversation about the faith that brings us together is crucial if we are to understand more deeply the Good News we must communicate, together. So, let us give thanks for Peter and Paul, for their sometimes heated conversation, and their final unity of witness.