A bold claim

Father Ed Witt, SJ
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul
June 29, 2025

Central to today’s Gospel reading is the question from Jesus. It’s addressed really to all of us. “Who do you say that I am?” 

How would we answer this question? Maybe we’d respond like some of those referenced by the Apostles — Jesus is a nice guy, good moral teacher, another prophet, someone who tells us to just get along. On the other hand, maybe, we repeat some formula from the Catechism or theology textbook saying that Jesus is the second person of the Blessed Trinity — two natures in one person and so on. Peter finds that Jesus is not satisfied with such an answer from others. So, Jesus probes further. “Who am I to you?”

Peter knows his response. He tells him, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

A bold claim. A bold profession of faith and one that will have consequences for the rest of his life. 

Today is a Solemnity because of the significance of both Peter and Paul — two of the most important figures in the early Church. Who would have guessed that a Galilean fisherman who denied Jesus three times, and a pharisee from Tarsus who persecuted the Church could change the course of world history. Together these great Saints route the church firmly in the city of Rome. Both ministered there and were killed there. They are inseparable as leaders in the early Church. 

They’re also called; they are the proof that God qualifies the called rather than calling the qualified. Even as Peter professes Jesus to be the Christ, his faith is by no means perfect. Immediately following this Gospel passage today, Peter is rebuked by Jesus for his inability to understand Jesus’ prediction that he must die. Peter famously denied Jesus three times after the Last Supper. After the resurrection and descent of the Spirit of Pentecost Peter is emboldened to proclaim Christ crucified and risen such that he is ultimately martyred for the faith — according to tradition upside down feeling unworthy to be killed in the same manner as Jesus. Peter lived and died in response to his claim in today’s Gospel that Jesus is the son of God.

When we first meet Saul, he’s depicted as trying to destroy the Church and is forcibly sending Christians to imprisonment. In a drastic transformation he’s knocked to his knees on the way to Damascus for the surprise of encountering the risen Christ. In this moment Paul recognizes who Jesus is and this realization changes his whole life. Following this experience and given a new name, Paul repurposes the fervor he had for persecuting Christians to spread the Gospel to the gentiles. Like Peter, Paul is also martyred for his faith, witnessing and death to the same Christ he witnessed to in his life and writings.

Are we willing to let an encounter with Jesus Christ transform our own lives regardless of where he leads us. Whether our own journey of faith is something like Peters or like Paul’s or something probably uniquely our own, we can take consolation knowing that God chooses to love us and call us for mission as well. Celebrating today’s feast, we honor two people who lived in service of Christ and of the Church, and we asked for their intercession and living lives fully committed to the Gospel.