WHY JESUS ASKED PETER AND PAUL TO BE HIS WITNESSES?

WHY JESUS ASKED PETER AND PAUL TO BE HIS WITNESSES?

What magnificent witnesses to Jesus were the Apostles Peter and Paul.  Jesus was the centre of their lives.  They breathed Jesus.  Their preaching took them on missionary journeys and to Rome itself.  In Rome they gave their ultimate witness, offering their lives as martyrs.  If we go to the heart of that testimony, we can see them as witnesses to life, witnesses to forgiveness and witnesses to Jesus.

Following Jesus was not easy.  They both made great mistakes Peter denied Jesus, while Paul persecuted His Church.  Both were cut to the core by questions asked by Jesus, Simon, son of John, do you love Me?  (Jn. 21:15); "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? (Acts. 9:4).  I am sure there were tears in Peter's eyes and a lump in his throat when Jesus asked the third question, ‘Do you love Me?’  Paul was thrown from his horse and blinded by Jesus' words.  Jesus not only changed their names, He changed their lives.  No matter how they had treated Him, Jesus had plans for them and trusted them.  He knew they were two repentant sinners.  One could ask why didn't Our Lord choose two witnesses of utter integrity, with clean records and impeccable lives?  Why Peter, when He could have made John His leader?  Why Paul, and not Barnabas?

What is Our Lord telling us?  He is teaching us that the starting point of the Christian life is not our worthiness; but the fact that the Lord is able to accomplish much with people who are aware of their sinfulness and fraility.  Jesus does not want people who consider themselves better than others.  Jesus can perform miracles not with those who those who consider holy, but with those know themselves to be needy.  Jesus loved these two men because of their honesty and sincerity.  Peter said to Jesus, "I am a sinful man (Lk. 5:8).  Paul wrote that he was least of the Apostles, unfit to be called an Apostle".  (! Cor. 15:9)

Throughout life, they preserved this humility, to the very end.  Peter died crucified upside down since he did not consider himself worthy to imitate his Lord.  Paul was always fond of the name Jesus gave
 
 
 
 
him, which means ‘little’.  He left behind his birth name, Saul, the name of the first king of his people.  Both understood that holiness does not consist in exalting, but rather in humbling oneself.  Holiness is not a contest, but a question of entrusting our own poverty each day to the Lord, who does great things for those who are lowly.  The secret that made them persevere amid weakness was the Lord's forgiveness.

In their failings, they encountered the powerful mercy of the Lord, Who gave them rebirth and encouragement.  In His forgiveness they encountered irrepressible peace and joy.  Looking back over their lives, they might have experienced feelings of guilt.  How many times might Peter have thought back to his denial!  How many scruples might Paul have felt at having hurt so many innocent people!  Humanly, they had failed.  Yet they encountered a love greater than their failures, a forgiveness strong enough to heal even their feelings of guilt.  Only when we experience God's forgiveness do we truly experience rebirth.  From there we begin again, and rediscover who we really are.

In today's Gospel, Jesus asked His Apostles, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”   The answers evoke figures of the past "John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  Remarkable people, but all of them died.  Peter instead replies, "You are the Christ" (Mt. 16:13-14.16).   The Christ, that is, the Messiah.  A word that points not to the past, but to the future:   the Messiah is the one who is awaited, the One who brings God's anointing to the world.   Jesus is not the past, but the present and the future.   He is not a distant person to be remembered, but the one to whom Peter can speak intimately:  You are the Christ.   For those who are His witnesses, Jesus is more than a historical person, He is a living person.  Peter is not someone who knows the story of Jesus, but someone who has experienced a love story with Jesus.  The witness, in the end, proclaims only that Jesus is alive and that he is the secret of life.  Indeed, Peter after saying, "You are the Christ, " then goes on to say, "the Son of the living God" (v. 16).  Witness arises from an encounter with the living Jesus.

At the centre of Paul's life too, we find that same word that rises up from Peter's heart Christ.  Paul repeats His name constantly, almost four hundred times in his letters!  For him, Christ is not only a model, an example, a point of reference:  He is life itself.  Paul writes, "For me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21).  Jesus is Paul's present and his future, so much so that he considers the past as refuse in comparison to the surpassing knowledge of Christ. (cf. Phil. 3:7-8).

And so, in the presence of these witnesses, let us ask, "Do I renew daily my own encounter with Jesus?  We may be curious about Jesus, or interested in Church matters or religious news.  We may open computer sites and the papers, and talk about holy things.  But this is to remain at the level of what are people saying?  Jesus does not care about polls, past history or statistics.  He is not looking for religion editors, much less "front page" or "statistical" Christians. He is looking for witnesses who say to Him each day: "Lord, you are My life".

Having met Jesus and experienced His forgiveness, the Apostles bore witness to Him by living a new life:  they no longer held back but gave themselves over completely.  They were no longer content with half-measures but embraced the only measure possible for those who follow Jesus:  that of boundless love.  They were "poured out as a libation" (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6).  Let us ask for the grace not to be lukewarm Christians living by half measures, allowing our love to grow cold.  Let us rediscover who we truly are through a daily relationship with Jesus and through the power of His forgiveness.  Just as He asked Peter, Jesus is now asking us: "Who do you say that I am?, "Do you love me?”

Lord Jesus, let us allow these words to penetrate our hearts and inspire us not to remain content with a minimum, but to aim for the heights so that we too can become living witnesses to You.

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