When you think of St. Peter, what comes to mind?
When you think of St. Paul, what comes to mind?
When I think of St. Peter, I often think of a rough and tumble fisherman, a big guy, with muscles, a quick temper and rough tongue. Or, I think of what a great contribution he made to Christianity - he was such an incredible leader, St. Paul refers to him as one of 3 pillars of the Church. Galatians 2:9-10 reads; "James, Cephas[a] and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship..." And the final thing I think of, when I think of St. Peter is that he has the biggest tombstone in the world. The pharaohs and their pyramids don't even begin to compare. The Vatican is built on top of St. Peter's grave - the whole Vatican!
When I think of St. Paul, what comes to mind is his mighty intellect. He was an incredible scholar and a teacher. I don't know where he's buried, or what kind of literal tombstone St. Paul has, but the fact that he'd written 2/3rds of the New Testament is it's own monument to his vital contribution to Christianity. He, too, is a pillar of the Church.
So what we have here, on this feast of St. Peter and St. Paul are two of Christianity's greatest characters, bigger than life and really, I couldn't think of two more different men. Peter the uneducated, Paul the scholar. Peter the big, rough and tumble fisherman with calloused hands. Paul, as a scholar, may not have had calloused hands. Peter the man with a quick temper and cussing tongue. Paul, the man of eloquence, who debated with kings and Greek & Roman philosophers... How do I fit these two men into one sermon? What in the world do they have in common?
The C.O.S. motto, from the book of Micah, 6:8 reads; "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." We often hear sermons of justice and mercy here, in this hallowed space. But we don't often hear sermons on humilty. I would imagine the reason for that is because it's most often "the least of these" that fill these pews. Still, it is humility that Peter and Paul have in common. And I'll give you a few examples or portraits of that humility.
Peter, the bold, the brash looks at Jesus, falls to his knees and says; "Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8)
And how do you suppose it is that we know about the story of Peter denying the Lord three times, after the Last Supper and before the Crucifixion? How do you suppose we know that after Peter's third denial and the rooster crowed, that Jesus turned and looked at Peter. I'm going to propose that the only way we could know this, is that Peter was humble enough to tell the story, over and over again, so that it became well known to the 1st Century Christian community. Known well enough that Luke wrote it down in his Gospel, where it has been preserved for 2,000 years.
Peter, pillar of the Church, humble enough to accept Gentiles into Christianity and humble enough to make room for St. Paul as another Apostle. These are no small things! And they were not easy things! Gentiles were considered by Jews to be unclean, an obstacle to purity and holiness - but when Jesus came to Peter in thrice-fold vision and said; "“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Peter says; “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” And even though all the Apostles and all the Christians were afraid of St. Paul, the man who had executed and martyred many Christians, Peter would not condemn him. Indeed, Peter generously gave Paul the right hand of fellowship. Humility enabled Peter to do these things. Humility allowed him to learn, to change, to grow and develop. Humility enabled to him keep from grasping at power, authority and prestige - humility allowed him to share the lime light with anyone who was willing to work to proclaim the Gospel.
Now, Paul... He was another terrific example of humility. After Paul's conversion experience, where he meets Jesus face to face, one of the first things that Paul does is seek out the Apostles. Acts chapter 9 tells us; "When Paul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles... Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord."... After having martyred many of their friends, this took great courage, but it also took great humility. And Paul really didn't have to do this, he didn't need their blessing or acceptance - he had the blessing and acceptance of Jesus Christ. He didn't need to be taught by the Apostles, he had received divine revelation first hand. But Paul didn't feel the need to grasp onto that kind of egocentrism, he didn't feel the need to seize authority or power. Paul was humble, he knew that each and every member of Christ's community needed one another. He knew that we are, each one, part of a whole.
Like Peter, he refused to think of himself as figure of authority, he refused to grasp after power. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul writes;
"My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name."... That is humility. Everything is done for the glory of Christ and if Paul thinks, even for a second, that people will lift Paul up (instead of Christ) then Paul takes himself out of the picture. Paul would probably be mortified that I'm talking about him now, if he were here, I would imagine he would be pleading with me to speak about Jesus.
In 1 Timothy 5, Paul writes; "17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,”[a] and “The worker deserves his wages.” So, what Paul is advocating here is that we pay our preachers and ministers for the work that they do for the Church. But, Paul often did not accept a salary for the ministry work that he did. Three different times, the scriptures tell us that he was a tentmaker and often supported himself with that trade. That is humility.
And my final words tonight are the words I'd started with, the C.O.S. motto, from the book of Micah 6:8; Through the example of St. Peter and St Paul, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
