St Peter’s Church Patronal Festival

Acts 12: 1 – 11 Matthew 16: 13 –19 1 Peter 2: 19 - 25

Certain people just seem to attract, or perhaps, create, drama, wherever they go. They seem to be accompanied by a buzz or a crowd, or loud voices, whether laughing or shouting. Peter was one of those people. Throughout the three years covered in the Gospels recounting stories of the life of Jesus, Peter stands out as a leader among the disciples.

Peter, along with his brother Andrew, and two other brothers, James and John, were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. At times, Peter used his boat to ferry Jesus from town to town, and once to take Jesus a little way from the shore so that he could preach to the crowds that had gathered at the edge of the Sea.

But Peter was a strange choice as leader and close friend of Jesus. He was impulsive, as when he jumped overboard into the sea when he saw Jesus walking towards him across the water. He was hot-headed and could be violent, as when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter attacked one of the guards, cutting off his ear with a sword.

For all his bravado, Peter showed himself to be unstable and at times lacking in courage, sometimes doubting what Jesus said and taught and, most infamously, on the night of Jesus’ arrest, aftercutting off the guard’s ear, going on to deny Jesus three times.

Why then, would Jesus choose Peter to be the ‘rock’ on which to build his church, the body of people who would form themselves into a community of those who believed in Jesus and followed his teachings? Sure, Peter had a lively, charismatic personality and was a natural born leader, but could he be trusted?

I think the answer lies in what Jesus knew about Peter, what was really in his heart and soul. Jesus often warned his disciples not to judge others and said that what mattered what was in a person’s heart. I think Jesus knew that Peter was passionate about him. Although Peter’s courage and loyalty faltered at times, and he sometimes made unwise decisions, Jesus could tell that, at heart, Peter was all out for him, and that his love for him would mature and deepen and stand the tests of opposition and time.

Jesus proved to be right about Peter. Peter went on to lead communities of Christians in places like Corinth, Antioch and Rome. For many years he was the leader of the church at Rome, until Nero had him crucified, probably sometime between 65 – 68 AD. Some accounts tell of Peter asking to be crucified upside down, not wanting to take the same position as Jesus had done when he was crucified. Peter was buried in Rome, where a casket of some of his bones still lies beneath the high altar of St Peter’s Basilica, built on the site of his crucifixion. Peter, the illiterate, impulsive fisherman, had become the man who Jesus always knew he could be, a loyal, loving rock, faithful to the end.