Sermon preached on Sunday 29th June 2025 – St Peter and St Paul based on Acts 12:1-11, Matthew 16:13-19
May I speak and may you hear through the Grace of our Lord: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today the church celebrates Peter and Paul, hence our very brief foray into back into red vestments. Two men, both in their way founders of the Christian church. Peter an original disciple and Paul the visionary missionary. However, our texts on this occasion focus on Peter or Simon Peter or Cephas.
They also feature the most amazing jail break ever. Not one for cinematic viewing, with explosions, masked accomplices and a speedy get away car, but an unopposed walk out to freedom, or at least for the moment, freedom.
A week or so ago, Charlie and I accompanied some 90+ Year 6 pupils to their annual Year 6 Leavers’ service. The coach journey was noisy, with excitement and anticipation, and the day was very warm as we threaded our way through to the cathedral from our drop off point, to the great West door, or doors to be more precise.
For many students, this was their first visit to the cathedral, and it’s always great to see their expressions change from their normal everyday ‘we’re too ‘grown up’ for this now’, to a real ‘Wow!’ moment as they step through the door.
Of course, when they look back at the jigsaw puzzle that is the West window, and hear about its destruction at the hands of the Cavaliers during the English Civil war – although the legend of masses of Cavaliers on horseback entering the cathedral and shooting their guns or lobbing the bones of the saints and bishops to break the window is not supported by specific records – it becomes even more amazing.
However, standing in front of the Great Screen behind the high altar and seeing all of the figure sculptures, most of which had been removed in the Tudor reformation and thus spared this destructive mayhem, a real sense of the majesty of Christ at the very centre of those who were part of his story and who took up and continued the work he had started on earth become apparent.
There, placed above Jesus’ head to the left, or at Jesus’ right hand is Peter, holding an exceptionally large key. In fact if we look at our very own East Window we can see Peter in the top left hand corner – with Paul, holding those keys.
The East Window at St James’ Church, West End, Southampton
Peter, the disciple, who so often gets it wrong as he works his way through coming to faith, but whose faith and trust in God, in the person of Jesus is unshakeable. His is a journey of transformation, and our two readings this morning reveal that journey. In fact, these two moments, separated by a few years, reveal a shaping of faith that many of us can relate to. Peter is not perfect, but he is faithful—and more importantly, God is faithful to him.
In our gospel reading, Jesus asks a pointed question, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ and it is Simon Peter who answers with boldness and clarity, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ This is Peter at his finest, as moment of divine insight; and Jesus responds not with mere affirmation but with a calling: ‘‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! … I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church… I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’.
People often wonder when and why Simon becomes Peter, and here we have the moment. The name Peter or Petros in Greek. literally means ‘stone’ or ‘rock’. The term ‘rock’ in the Bible often symbolizes strength, stability, and reliability, yet we know Peter was not always any of these things. He would deny Christ. He would falter. But Jesus sees the finished product even while Peter is still under construction. And God doesn’t wait for us to be perfect to call us. He calls us, then perfects us.
We also have to remember that whilst Peter was the ‘rock’, Jesus remained the cornerstone, the foundational stone in a building, acting as a reference point for the rest of the structure. Again, holding symbolic significance, representing that strength and stability, and the beginning of a new endeavour. Later in Ephesians 2, we hear of the Jews and Gentiles coming together as God’s people, ‘built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone’.
But now let’s turn to our reading from Acts. Here we see Peter, no longer the impetuous fisherman, nor the fearful denier by the fire. He is a leader of the church. And he is in prison. King Herod has killed James, and Peter to be next. He is chained between soldiers, guarded by sixteen men. The situation is hopeless from a human standpoint.
But the passage says, ‘the church prayed fervently to God for him’. And in the darkest hour—the night before his execution—God sends an angel. Chains fall off. Iron gates miraculously open. And Peter walks out, dazed, into the freedom only God can give.
This is the same man who once sank in fear on the water. This is the same man who once wept bitterly after denying Christ. but who at the beginning of the passage is sleeping in peace on the eve of death. What has changed? Well, Peter has learned to trust God completely. He doesn’t panic. He doesn’t beg. He rests – knowing now, after years of walking with Jesus, that even in prison, God is in control.
So where does that leave us? Where are we on our own journey of transformation? Some of us are like Simon in Matthew’s gospel—full of zeal, making bold confessions, still growing. Whilst some of us are like Peter in Acts – learning to be at peace and placing our trust in God in all eventualities.
And God sees us not as we are, but as the people we are becoming. He is building His church—not on perfect people—but on those who confess him truly and trust him deeply. And Peter’s journey, from bold confession to miraculous deliverance, reminds us that no one is beyond God’s reach, and no situation is beyond His power. So let us place our complete trust in him now, because God is still writing our stories. Amen.
boruachelohim 