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Catholicism Week 9St. Peter and St. Paul Part 1

Bishop Barron starts this video naming many of the key players in the early Church, Timothy, Barnabus, Aquilla and Priscilla, Silas, John Mark, Luke and the list goes on and on and on. But the two giants Bishop calls indispensable, the two sets of shoulders that the rest of the Church stands upon are none other than Peter and Paul. They are essential to our salvation history and the birth and spread of Christianity as we know it today. Bishop asks the question, “Why these two”? And with no hesitation he answers his own question, Peter was the unwavering witness to the resurrection of Jesus, and hand picked by Jesus to lead this New Israel, the Church of Jesus Christ. He was given the keys to the kingdom and declared to be “the rock” upon which the Church would be built. Paul was the first to capture the full vision of the mission of the Church, taking the good news of the gospel to the whole world, both Jew and Gentile. He not only saw the vision, he lived it out in his many missionary journeys across the known world. Paul, taught by Jesus Himself, was also the first of many important theologians who could put all the pieces together and understand the Church as the Body of Christ, with Jesus as the head of the Body.

I did not realize that every Catholic bishop is required every five years to make a pilgrimage to Rome, to meet with the Pope, but also to pray in front of the bones of St. Peter and St. Paul. The makes perfect sense to me, first to stay in close communion with the successor of Peter, and then to ask for the intersession of the two giants of the Catholic faith drawing wisdom and strength from them. Jesus sent all the apostles out to preach the gospel to the whole world. Where

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would you go first and foremost to impact the whole world at that time in history? Peter and Paul went to Rome, others went to India, Spain, France, and England long before they were nations and mankind had names for those parts of the world. That speaks to the power of Jesus being raised from the dead. That core event, the resurrection on the 3rd day that all of Christianity is built upon, gave them the commitment and the strength to overcome the resistance of the enemy and the pagan world to turn their world upside down. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, none of this would have happened…none of it.

Peter was raised in the small community of Capernaum, on the north shore of the Sea of Nebraska…Bishop calls it the Sea of Galilee. He was named Simon bar Johana, Simon Son of John at his birth and he was a fisherman by trade. He was bold and brash and a risk taker no doubt, head strong, but a friend for life if you got to know him. Not well educated but he knew

three languages, Aramaic from his cultural upbringing, Hebrew for the Jewish synagogue he attended, and Greek for business purposes…how many of us know three languages. He seems to have had good fishing business, not well to do, but certainly not poor. And then one day a man named Jesus of Nazareth showed up…

Matthew 4:18- (RSV2CE) 18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 23 And he went about all Galilee, teaching

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in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.

Luke’s account shares a slightly different view, Luke 5:1–11 (RSV2CE) 1 While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. 2 And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he

sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, 7 they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

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Bishop went immediately into homily mode, and pointed out that this is passage says a lot about our relationship with Jesus, first he wants to climb into you boat, he wants to invade your space and with your permission lovingly get in your face. And it seems to happen at some of the most difficult times in our lives. That is when he wants to take us out into the deep. These guys had been fishing all night and caught nothing, they were exhausted and yet there was something about the Nazarene that captivated Peter and so he put out into the deep and let down the nets. Bang, a net busting catch that almost sunk the boat. Peter’s reaction to all of

this should be ours as well, 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” The question this morning is this, have you let Jesus into your boat, and have you sailed out into the deep with Him, have you obeyed what Jesus has directed to do, have you

taken the risk to put your nets down in waters where you have already failed. Peter left everything and followed Jesus, and this simple fisherman was with Him at the major events of His ministry on this earth.

He was there with Jesus at the mount of transfiguration, when Jesus became clothed with light brighter than the noon day sun, conversing with Moses and Elijah. Peter wanted to camp out right there and never leave that place. Thomas Aquinas asked the question, why was Peter even there that day, his answer…because Peter loved Jesus the most of all the disciples. I think I have to agree with Thomas. That begs the question for all of us this morning, how much do we love Jesus…truly love Him? There are millions of people this morning that know about Jesus, but do they really know Him…Peter loved Him, and Peter knew Him. Risk taker…Peter was the only one to step out of that boat that stormy night and walk on the water toward the Master. He was doing fine, until he took His eyes off of Jesus and saw

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the angry waves and he began to sink. What a life lesson for all of us, if you want to stay above water, keep your eyes on Jesus. Listen to this passage, Hebrews 12:1–2 (RSV2CE) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

As Jesus entered His Passion, and the angry accusing crowd gathered in the presence the Sanhedrin and the High Priest, several in the crowd recognized Peter

as one of His disciples. Three times they confronted Peter and three times he denied that he even knew Jesus, and then the cock crowed, as Jesus had prophesied. None of us here I doubt have ever been confronted in an angry crowd like that, but again, it makes us examine our own lives just to see how committed we are to Jesus of Nazareth. We have more martyrs today than ever before, in far away places with names we have never heard of,

but even in America, paganism and secularism are on the attack…religious freedom is in jeopardy. Who knows what the next 20 years will bring?

It is hard for any of us to imagine the utter devastation that Peter experienced in denying that he even knew Jesus. That black hole he fell into had to be suffocating and I am sure he thought all was lost. But this passage in Mark’s gospel always makes me smile. The angel tells the women, tell his disciples…and especially Peter, to meet Jesus in Nebraska.

Mark 16:6–7 (RSV2CE) 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where

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they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.”

Peter probably thought his relationship with Jesus was damaged beyond repair, but Jesus was only getting started with Peter. Three times Jesus asked Peter, “do you love me”? Why does ask Peter the same question, do you love me, three

times…because Peter denied Jesus three times. We only have one word for love in English, but Greek language has at least three different words for love, all having different

meanings. In the original Greek this conversation between Peter and Jesus takes on very different meaning. Here are the notes from the Ignatius Study Bible about this passage.

21:15–17 Three times Peter reaffirms his love for Jesus as personal restitution for the three times he denied him (13:38; 18:15–18, 25–27). The dialogue in Greek makes use of several synonyms: two different nouns are used for sheep, and two different verbs are used for feed, know, and love. Although this may be a stylistic feature to avoid redundancy, others think it more significant, especially with the verb love. In his first two questions, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him with “willing love” (Gk. agapaō), but in the third question he asks if Peter loves him with merely “friendly affection” (Gk. phileō), which is the word Peter uses in all three of his responses. An intended distinction between these terms would indicate that Jesus, desirous of a complete and heroic love from Peter, was willing by the end of the conversation to settle for his friendship. Mitch, C. (2010). Introduction to the Gospels. In The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament (p. 201). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

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The passage that really clarifies why Peter was chosen to be the first Pope of the Church is found in Matthew chapter 16, Matthew 16:13–20 (RSV2CE) 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the

Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you

the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Yes, Jesus knew that Peter would fail him, but He also knew that Peter was the one among the twelve that was completely convinced that Jesus was not only the Messiah, Peter knew He was also the Son of the Living God. Not many days after Jesus pressed Peter three times with the question, do you love me, Peter had assumed leadership of over 120 brave souls, including Mary, waiting and praying in an upper room in the Temple and suddenly… Acts 2:2–4 (RSV2CE) 2 And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.

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4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

At this very moment we see the transformation of Peter, as the Spirit of Jesus comes up and overflows out of the very one who denied Jesus three times. Acts 2:13–16 (RSV2CE) 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” 14 But Peter, standing with the Eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

And now it all begins, Peter begins to street preach out of the Book of Joel, to a huge crowd that had gathered on Pentecost, this birthday of the Church. Peter let it rip, and it had a dramatic effect. Acts 2:37–42 (RSV2CE) 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what

shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40 And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they held steadfastly to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.

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Peter and eventually Paul both made their way to Rome, the center of the known world, to continue preaching the good news of the gospel to the nations. There Peter was crucified, tradition says up-side-down at his request, during the fierce persecution of the Emperor Nero. The Roman Empire made a fatal mistake, they could not have imagined that the blood of the martyrs would become the seed of the Church. This simple fisherman became one of the giants of our faith, and I love this passage from one of St. John’s letters. 1 John 1:1–4 (RSV2CE) 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2 the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing this that our joy may be complete. Imagine what this passage is saying, we held God in our arms, we touched Him, we saw Him with our own eyes, and heard

Him speak. We saw the lame walk, the blind see, and the dead come back to life. We were best friends with Him, saw Him die on a Roman cross, we saw the Son of God die…only to be raised from the dead three days later. And everything changed from that moment on. He told us to tell everyone…and baptize them into the Church and so we did. Now it is your turn…time for you to take that overwhelming joy of the good

news of gospel to your generation and turn your world upside. Go on…get to it!