Feast Day of Peter and Paul 2025

Sermon: Feast Day of Peter and Paul 2025

Texts: John 21:15-19

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we celebrate today the ministry of Peter and Paul, our ancestors in the faith, we are reminded of our own mission. Because in the same way in which they were called by God to preach the gospel, we are also called in our own time and place. Peter and Paul labored and endured so that the flame of faith could pass on to the next person who God will send out to plant the seeds of the Kingdom. So you that are here, that same faith and seed has been given to you to plant and scatter. When we realize that this faith we have needs to be exercised, as Peter and Paul did, we often start to take stock of our own abilities to be good disciples of Christ. It can become another job interview to which we need to provide a resume, and often we don’t have the years of experience or the skills to bring about God’s Kingdom. How often does God, like the teacher looking for an answer or a volunteer and suddenly you are under the teacher’s gaze to answer the question, how often we tell God, “don’t look at me, I don’t have the answer you are looking for”. The greatest impediment in discipleship is thinking we have to be professional disciples. Not recognizing that God is calling you in your uniqueness, which includes your strengths and weaknesses. God desires your very being, not your qualifications.

In the Gospel we read today, the risen Jesus asks Peter the most important question in discipleship: “Peter, do you Love me?”. What a beautiful reminder that when it comes to Christ building His church, the question at the root of such a life is “Do you Love me?” And this is a Love that is not simply this abstract and isolated adoration of Jesus; it is a love and adoration of the life of this Jesus which in turn leads me to “feed and tend His lambs”, meaning to follow Him faithfully in loving and caring for the neighbor. And let me tell you, every one of us can love and care, it is a gift that God has placed in every human heart. It is always about how you can love your neighbor best, to which our only task is to trust God to lead us in living fully into this love He has already placed in our hearts. “But what if my love is not good enough?” “What if my failures catch up to me?” What if my talents are not as numerous?” Beloved, do not be discouraged by that resistance we feel, of course the enemy wants us to think that we are not able, when the truth is that God believes in us to live into the fuller life He calls us to live. That is why Paul used those athletic terms: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race”. We are called to endure and keep faith, to see God working in us the arrival of His Kingdom of love and mercy beyond the weaknesses we might have.

There is a wonderful detail in this passage that gives us assurance of God’s provision despite our weakness. Jesus puts on Peter a great responsibility, yet we know from the story, that Peter is not necessarily the most admirable in human terms. Remember, he denied Jesus three times. But by grace, Jesus is overturning the dynamic, giving Peter a path forward: instead of recriminating Peter for denying Him, He gives Peter another opportunity to re-trace his steps and get back at the essential question and task: “Peter, do you love me?” Now instead of denying and abandoning Jesus to save his own skin, now Peter gets to profess his love for Jesus, which Jesus knew he had! Peter’s weakness was not the end all of his discipleship. On the contrary, it was the beginning and very much a part of the foundation of Peter’s ministry. Because Peter is not the one bringing the Kingdom about, it is neither Paul, nor you or me. It is God who has promised to show up in the midst of our striving, it is God who will complete and bring fruit from our labors. So we do not celebrate Peter and Paul because of their great achievements, we celebrate them because despite their limitations, they trusted God and followed Him to the end, bringing about much fruit in the process.

I confess, but you probably know already, that I myself as your pastor have my own limitations and weaknesses, and some I know well and others not so much. The person I most often tell these weaknesses to is of course, my mother, and she always advises me well in this regard. When I’m in that mood that I’m running myself through the mud, she always reminds me of the God-focus in my life. “Why are you so stuck in that “no” or “I am not”? Focus on God, and what He requires of you and say yes. He will provide!”. And in that, Beloved, I believe rests the crux of discipleship. We are not to drown in negative self-talk, even though a healthy estimation of one-self is always warranted. We are to trust God with our lives, that by His love and grace, focusing on our love for Him, we will receive the strength to fulfill our calling in this life. Love the Lord, tend the sheep. This is the simple progression of our discipleship. To do everything for love of the Lord and our neighbor. The French friar Brother Lawrence once wrote: “ We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.” Indeed, it is the center of our ministry to live in the spirit of love, because the One we follow loved us first.

Now that today we are celebrating the First Communion of Kyle and Avery, we can be reminded that to be part of the body of Christ and to follow Him is not a competition of the worthy. We are not here receiving communion with Christ because we are the best. On the contrary, we are here because we are hungry and yearning for the world God brings about, we are yearning for a love that breaks barriers and unconditionally loves us by no merit of our own, we need that voice that reaffirms us in our meaningfulness.