Unity in Diversity
Saints Peter and Paul Scripture Readings
It’s interesting that these two foundational apostles, Peter and Paul, should be remembered together in today’s celebration. In many ways, the two men couldn’t have been more different, united principally by their faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Peter was a simple Galilean fisherman, while Paul was a Judean Pharisee who studied under the great rabbi Gamaliel, who himself was both a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. Peter was one of the first disciples to be called to follow Jesus, whereas Paul was a latecomer, having spent much of his adult life before his conversion, persecuting the Church in Israel and beyond. Their respective missions in the Church were opposite but complementary; Peter became the spokesman for the Hebrew Church centered in Jerusalem, while Paul assumed the role of apostle to the Greeks. I believe, however, that the clearest distinction between these two men can be found in the specific charisms that each exercised in the course of their ministries.
Peter—perhaps surprisingly—was the theologian. Whether it was despite his impulsive nature or because of it, Peter saw things with a depth and clarity few others possessed. In a sense, it began with the moment described in today’s gospel reading, where Jesus challenged his disciples to take a stand with regard to the master they’d followed. “Who do you say that I am?” The synoptic gospels agree that Peter responded, “You are the Messiah,” but only Matthew adds the additional phrase, “…the Son of the living God.” It’s impossible to tell how much Peter understood about the nature of the Messiah when he made his profession of faith, but Matthew suggests strongly that, if not at that time, then over time, Peter came to understand and profess his faith in Jesus as the Son of God.
That may have been the first time we saw Peter intuiting a deeper spiritual reality beneath the surface appearances, but it wasn’t the last time, by far. In Chapter 10 of the Acts of the Apostles, we find the Church facing one of its earliest dilemmas: namely, what to do with the Gentiles who believed in Jesus. Could they become full members of Christ’s Church even if they were not officially Jewish and heirs to God’s promise to Abraham? It was Peter who had a vision of a great sheet lowered down from heaven containing both clean and unclean animals according to the Law of Moses. A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat! … What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” [Acts 10:13,15] That not only marked the end of the Jewish dietary restrictions for Jesus’s followers, it also opened the Church fully to Gentile believers.
Yet another time, when a controversy arose in the communities where Paul was preaching, Peter resolved it. Some Jewish converts insisted that the Gentiles also be circumcised and subjected to the Law of Moses. When Paul appealed to Peter and the Apostles in Jerusalem, it was Peter who made the determination that, through faith, God had purified the hearts of the Gentile converts and that God made no distinction anymore between Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles should not have to be burdened by becoming subject to the Jewish Law. It was Peter, therefore, who brought to the early Church the heartfelt understanding of the depth and breadth and universality of Christ’s love. [cf. Acts 15:7-11]
Paul’s role was very different. As a scholar and intellectual, after his conversion on the road to Damascus, he quickly became the apologist for the faith, arguing convincingly in the very seat of Greco-Roman philosophy, the wisdom of God, which surpasses all understanding, and that was made manifest in Christ. He not only preached the gospel—the good news of the coming of the Messiah, for the Jewish people, but for the world—he also argued convincingly to Jews and Greeks alike that salvation could be found through faith in Jesus and his cross and resurrection. It was he, more than any other, whose teachings formed the outlines of the community of believers we call the Church. And he didn’t hesitate to confront and critique the issues he found in the beliefs and practices of the local churches, many of which he himself had founded. It’s this work that Paul writes about in today’s second reading, where he looks back with satisfaction on the fruits of his tireless labors.
Peter and Paul—two men from radically different backgrounds with radically different personalities and talents, carrying out radically different missions. Yet, they are the twin foundation stones on which the community of believers, the Church, was built. In their diversity, both were essential to that mission. Neither one was expendable. Like God’s world, Christ’s Church was founded in diversity. There’s no uniformity of leadership, language, culture, custom, or expression in Christ’s Church. There’s only unity. “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…” [Ephesians 4:5-6] In Christ’s Church, diversity isn’t a dirty word. Rather, it’s as essential to the nature and the mission of the Church as it is to the very fabric of the universe. May we come to embrace the infinite diversity which is our God made manifest in Jesus Christ and in his Church with the spiritual fervor of Peter and the boundless wisdom and zeal of Paul.
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