Sermon for the Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul, preached by Jenny Pittaway (LLM) on 29 June 2025

Readings: Acts 12:1-11.2; Timothy 4:6-8,17-18; Matthew 16: 13-19.

Today we celebrate a special feast of the Church, symbolised by the two great Apostles, Peter, and Paul. In the Ashmolean Museum hangs an icon called “The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and Paul”. A print of this is sitting on the stands either side of the entrance to the choir stalls. It depicts the two Apostles embracing, their faces touching, yet their eyes fixed on Christ, the true centre of their lives.

This image reminds us that despite differences, love and faith can bring us together, and is a testament to the transformative power of grace and forgiveness.

Peter and Paul, had very different temperaments. They both ministered to two mutually opposed groups of people, (the Jews and the Gentiles).

In spite of the apparent tension between them, we see today an example of how we are to live with each other both within the Church and in the wider community. Certainly, as people from all walks of life and needs we will all have our differences. However, today’s feast shows us that the Church is first and foremost a place where God’s Divine Grace prevails and Heavenly love rules, and as the Lord said, ‘That the world will know us by the love we have for one another’. (John13:34-35)

It is this love from God that enables us to overcome our interpersonal difficulties and it is this love that reminds us that with God all things are possible, and hence, when Christ commands us to ‘love our enemies’, it is with the full knowledge that His love and grace that will empower us to do so. God does not ask us to like our neighbours and enemies. He commands us to love our neighbours and our enemies, a task which is far greater and is not predicated on how we feel, but it is a choice; it is a conscious decision on our part to will the highest good for everyone we come in contact with.

Love is therefore a choice. It is how we choose to act or respond.

We are also reminded today that we cannot live our Christian life alone. Peter was one arm of the Body of Christ and Paul the other, both of which the Lord used to build a foundation which stands to this very day. They were two of the greatest Apostles. And yet they both had been exceedingly humbled by circumstances in their lives, and thereby also became two great examples of repentance.

Peter denied Jesus not once but three times. However, Peter by his sincere repentance was reinstated after the Lord’s Resurrection and was empowered by the Holy Spirit. The once fearful disciple became a Light to the world.

We recall Paul persecuted and even killed Christians before he received His call from on high, when he saw the Lord in the blinding light that darkened his eyes but enlightened his soul.

They were like the Sun and the Moon providing the light for the church. Both of these teachers and luminaries had two essential wings by which they flew to heaven: the first, the life-giving repentance for their past sins, and second the real contact they had with the Lord Jesus Christ, which gave them a life-giving faith in His True Divinity.

Yes, we can see the central place of Peter and Paul in the history of the early church, but what might they say to us today.

One thing that comes through from the New Testament is their humanity. They were people like us. Peter getting things wrong and promising more than he can deliver. Peter and Paul had their disagreements, something Paul brings out in his letters.

Paul is someone who we see getting angry and frustrated with his converts. He is someone who admits his own weaknesses and comes to recognise that it is precisely in his weakness that God is at work. This gives us courage to accept our own mission whatever way God may have chosen for us to live out and share the Gospel we have received. Yes, we get things wrong, we get frustrated and disillusioned, we can even find ourselves denying Christ in various ways. However, God is at work in and through our weaknesses as he was for Peter and Paul.

This leads us on to something we see in each of our readings today,

which emphasise the presence of God in the work of his church.

In our gospel we hear about Peter’s faith and acknowledgement of Jesus as the Messiah, and being rewarded by being made the foundation on which Christ will build his Church. Through Peter, Jesus gives his church the promise of his unending protection. Jesus gives Peter the power that he had received from the Father, which is symbolised in the keys of the kingdom.

In the first reading we read Peter being thrown into prison for preaching the message of Christ and the kingdom. As Paul, who was himself in prison more then once, will say later in his writings ‘the word of God cannot be bound’ (2 Timothy 2:9).

Peter finds release and then goes back to the only thing he can do – proclaim the message of his beloved Master. The miraculous release from prison symbolises that protection over his Church which Jesus had promised in the Gospel.

Our second reading from Paul’s letter to Timothy speaks first with gratitude of how his life has been spent in the service of his Lord and affirms the importance of persevering in one’s living faith.

St. Paul claimed to have fought a good fight, to have held onto his faith until the end. Consequently, he affirmed that there was reserved for him in heaven the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will give on that day to those who have longed for his appearing. Paul further proclaimed that the Lord stood by him and gave him strength so that through him the message, the Good News of the Gospel, may be fully proclaimed to the Gentiles.

Just as the Lord called St. Peter and St Paul in different ways,

we are also called in our many different ways to follow the Lord throughout our lives. At this time the Church ordains new deacons and priests. People from all walks of life take a step forward for Christ into an unknown future and put themselves forward for all kinds of ministries according to their God’s given gifts.

It is appropriate that we remember Peter and Paul at such a time, who themselves stepped forward and said ‘We are the Church’

We too are members of the Church, through our prayer and worship, through our acts of service and our community life.

Whilst we may not be called to be ordained, we are all are called by virtue of our baptism to be a living stone.

We have a part to play, something to offer.

Inspired by the teaching and the example of Peter and Paul, perhaps today is a good time to think about our contribution to the life of the Church and consider what God is calling us to be and to do in His name.

As we draw near to receive Communion at Christ’s Table, we pass by the embrace of Peter and Paul – once divided, now united in love and mission. May their embrace remind us that grace is stronger than disagreement, that reconciliation is always possible, and that in Christ, we are one body, and as we receive the Body of Christ may we also be drawn into His reconciling love. Amen.