They say it takes all kinds...and the Christian Church is certainly an example of that!

The variety of people you meet at a large church gathering, you aren’t likely to meet in any other scenario.  A true cross section of personalities and types, and that has been true since the very inception of Christianity.

A true cross section of society with each member valued and unique.

“12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves[a] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts,[b] yet one body.”

 

Today we celebrate Sts. Peter and Paul who truly seem to embody that diversity of the body of Christ.  Never were there two such different persons working towards the same goal.

Paul was from Tarsus, a cosmopolitan city in what is now Turkey, along the great trade routes of the Roman Empire.  He was a well educated, Jewish man and a Roman citizen which meant he was part of an elite social class.  Paul was also so academically and theologically competent that he moved to Jerusalem and became part of the Pharisaical sect., all in all...a goal driven career man.  Paul, we read in Acts had a blinding vision whilst on the way to arrest Christians for heresy, wherein it was revealed to him that Christ was the Messiah.  A truth so shocking it knocked him to the ground and left him blind and weak.  But not defeated.  Paul received healing and instruction from Cornelius and then dedicated all that zeal towards his mission to the gentiles.

Today, we read about how Paul shifted his focus from fighting against Christ, to fighting for Christ.  Directing his passionate zeal towards maintaining the integrity of his teaching against all heretics, determined that his understanding of the Christian faith would be upheld and honoured. 

Paul spent his ministry in missional travel, spreading the Christian faith, and  founding churches in the gentile territories. Paul, over time founded several Christian communities and followed up with many letters and visits.  Out of the 27 books of the New Testament, 15 are said to have been authored by or inspired by Paul who wrote many of his letters problem solving for the new Christian communities. 

Peter, on the other hand, lived in Capernaum a fishing village on the lake of Galilee.  Peter was an uneducated Jewish fisherman, from a family so poor... they didn’t own their own boat.  Peter lived and married in his rural town and would likely have stayed there to the end of his days, had Jesus not called him to be one of his disciples.

And Peter gave it his all; we are all familiar with Peter’s passionate antics.  Not as well trained or disciplined as Paul, Peter was just as fervent and zealous...quick to name Jesus the Messiah and prone to passionate displays of faith....whether that be stepping out of the boat on to the water, wanting to build shrines to commemorate the Transfiguration      

or reaching for his sword when Jesus is arrested. 

Peter is almost stereotyped for his courageous and bold, act before you think passionate nature.  He was always listed first among the lists of the Apostles, one of the closest disciples to Jesus and often spokesman for the 12 disciples.  Jesus himself, gave Peter authority and commissioning unique from the other apostles and appointed him ‘the rock on which the church will be built’.  It’s no surprise that Peter quickly became the leader of the new Christian church in Jerusalem.

Both Sts. Peter and Paul were commissioned by Christ, but they their calls in very different ways.  They also each had very clear and different missions, which we read in scripture often caused conflict with one another.

Peter was focused on Jewish Christians and the community of new believers in Jerusalem.   He was an authority among the leadership and struggled to lead this passionate emerging church.  The biggest issue of the time being whether Gentile converts needed to become Jewish to become Christian.

Peter, like Paul, had received a vision from Christ.  Peter’s vision spoke of the inclusion of Gentile members of the Church and the relaxing of the Jewish dietary laws, so that everyone could be on the same footing.  However, we read in Galatians that Peter’s community had fought against the changes, in favour of tradition and law, persuading Peter to keep the separation between the Jewish and Gentile communities...in spite of his vision. 

Peter faced the challenges of transitioning an established community into a new expression of faith and he spent his entire ministry in the context of changing an established community; teaching, preaching and leading the Christian Jewish Church.

Paul had the same goal of leading the church towards Christ, but a very different way of doing it!  Paul was an evangelist first and foremost, he traveled and preached and established new communities along his own understandings of theology.  We see in many of his letters that there were in fact, other Christian evangelists out and about but Paul was quick to condemn their work and theology.  He was fully convinced of his religious convictions and would powerfully condemn any that disagreed with him. 

Several of his letters are meant to correct the theology or put back in line the communities that he had previously established. Paul firmly believed that Gentile Christians did not need to follow Jewish laws at all; indeed Jewish Christians didn’t need to follow Jewish laws either, as Jesus had become the fulfilment of the law and faith in Christ was sufficient.

This lead to several conflicts with Paul met with Peter in the various councils that we beginning to take place in the church.  As seen in  Galatians: 

“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 … he used to eat with the Gentiles. But …(Peter), he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.

 

Paul’s passionate confidence also led him into conflict with those who were closest to him, including Barnabas his long time fellow missionary with whom he had

“such a sharp disagreement that they parted company”.  Clearly, St. Paul was not easy to get along with, and yet his ministry shaped the church.

Saints Peter and Paul were two sides of the same coin.  Each devoted apostles of Christ and each with their own mission and each blessed in their mission by the church at large.

“they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,[a] just as Peter had been to the circumcised.[b] 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles” (Galatians 2)

 

“12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”

 

There is no single way to serve God.  Each of us have our own calling and our own personalities with which we fulfill that calling.  It’s one of the unique and wonderful ways the church can be an example to the world in this present culture.  No one is allowed to chose who enters the church, and we cannot simply ‘unfollow’ those we disagree with.  All of us are one body and in need of each other.  Each of our ministries and each person is a vital part of Christ’s work…  regardless of how personalities may clash.

Today as we celebrate the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, we acknowledge that wonderful mystery that we are all members of the body of Christ and that we all have a true call in Christ’s mission.

Each of these two men began life in completely different places and with completely different goals, but through Christ they became key leaders in the growth of the early church, changing forever how Christianity was developed:  Paul by writing a large part of the New Testament, and Peter by leading in tradition and faith in Jerusalem so well he was acclaimed as the first bishop of Rome. 

We too have the opportunity to become leaders in the development of the church in our time ...guiding lights in our community.  It doesn’t matter what our beginnings are, or how we came to faith.  One thing these two saints can teach us, is that God can make amazing use of anyone... We each have a role to play

and as I said...it takes all kinds.

amen