Gospel Reflection for Sunday June 30th 2024 – 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Fr Brian Maher OMI

Gospel Reflection for Sunday June 3oth 2024, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Matthew 16:13-19

This week I spent a good deal of time thinking about Peter and Paul. Two very different men who would never, in the normal run of things, have even met, let alone become colleagues, friends and occasionally adversaries.

Both of them, in their own particular way, are responsible for the Church we have today. It is not an exaggeration to say that wherever in the world we are reading this, we do so thanks in great measure to Peter and Paul. This does not in any way downplay the work, prayer and ministry of so many other great women and men of the early Christian churches. It simple acknowledges the leadership of both Peter and Paul.

I began my reflections thinking about those moments when their work with Jesus began. For Peter it was the moment when Jesus said to him and his brother Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” For Paul it was that dramatic moment when he was thrown from his horse and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me.”

I found myself wondering how it was that Jesus stopped at Peter’s boat as he walked by the lake. It was a bit like some heavenly GPS system brought him straight to Peter’s boat, and it was as if Peter was just waiting for the call so he could leave his nets and follow him.

Could it have been that simple? Surely not! Peter was a married man, probably with a family (and a mother-in-law!!) to look after. He was also a professional fisherman, in partnership with another family (that of James and John) and clearly building a business with them. It would be irresponsible, not to mention selfish, of him to down tools and away with Jesus. Doubly so, since his brother Andrew went with him! Likewise, I find it extremely difficult to imagine Jesus – a man who exuded love and compassion from every pore of his being – expecting this of anyone.

So what was I missing? Then it struck me that every statement we make about ourselves has a backstory – a set of events, conversations, ideas, questions and decisions that lie behind what we say. For example, in 2001 I moved from Ireland to Australia and worked there for twelve years in secondary education. As a statement it is true but behind it lies a whole backstory of meetings, discussions, reflection, questions, hopes and dreams which led to that decision. In other words, I didn’t just up and go, ever if the statement might imply that I did!

Peter was a real man, with a wife and children to care for. He had a living to make in order to feed his family and he had responsibilities to his business partners. Even though it is not said, we can presume a backstory which explains what Jesus said and Peter’s response.

Maybe Jesus had walked by the lake many mornings as the fishermen mended their nets and discussed their catches? Maybe Jesus stopped and spoke with many of those working by the lake, befriending some of them and possibility sharing with them something of himself? Maybe the call to ‘Come, follow me…’ was not a surprise, coming out of the blue? Maybe, within Peter and Andrew the call and their response had built up over time, so that the decision to ‘follow him’ was well discussed and planned?

It is also worth remembering that in all of his ministry Jesus never travelled more than sixty or so kilometres from Jerusalem. Peter, Andrew – indeed all of the disciples – had homes which were never far away. Peter could well have looked after his family, and continued his business as a fisherman even as he ‘followed Jesus.’ A time came, after the resurrection of Jesus and Pentecost when the call ‘to follow him…’ became a burning necessity for Peter and he did leave his nets and set off with others to preach the Kingdom of God just as his friend Jesus had preached it.

You see, the words of Jesus, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” was a call Peter heard and it is true that he did leave his nets and followed…and died…for Jesus. But as with every ‘true’ statement there is a backstory which explains the call and the response. That backstory is not important to the point the Gospel writers are making and so it is left out.

Sometimes, I fear, we read and preach the Gospels as if they are somehow ‘fairy stories’ where things happen by magic – like all of the apostles and first disciples abandoning families and responsibilities to follow Jesus and those families continuing as if husbands, brothers, sisters, had never left them.

For me, this is not the way things happen in the real world, and Jesus and his followers surely lived, and died, in the real world. I think we will understand the Gospel story much better and we will come to know the person of Jesus much better when we presume a backstory, a history of events, which situate the Gospel stories in the real world.

Nor do I think the Gospels call for anything else. On several occasions after the apostles were called to follow Jesus, we hear stories of them fishing, using their boats to take Jesus across the lake (last week’s Gospel), etc..

After the death of Jesus we are told that Peter and the other fishermen returned to Galilee – to their homes and nets.

The reason I think all of this is important is because, out of all the fishermen working along the shores of the lake, Jesus called Peter and his brother, and a bit later, their partners James and John.

In some way Peter saw something in the person of Jesus that attracted him. Something in what Jesus said, or even the sincerity with which he said it, attracted him. He wanted to hear more, see more of Jesus, and as he did he wanted to share in the hope and joy Jesus talked about. So when the call came Peter was ready to respond and he did so fully and completely.

At times, as the Gospels and letters of Paul starkly tell us, he was unsure and vacillated; at times he was rash and hasty; at times he was irritable and angry; at other times we see him gentle and sensitive and above all he loved Jesus with a loyalty and affection which never wavered.

It would be lovely to know what exactly it was that attracted Peter to Jesus. I would be lovely to ask him, “….What brought you to Jesus? What was it you saw in him as he walked by the lake and spoke to you?” It is nice to reflect along these lines but, unfortunately, all we will ever have are guesses at the answers.

This led me to something which is hugely important, and something to which I do have the answer within me.

I call myself a Christian, a follower and disciple of Jesus. In the creed each Sunday I acknowledge my belief in his life, death and resurrection from the dead. I acknowledge that he is God and that he will come again “to judge the living and the dead; and his Kingdom will have no end…”

So, I ask myself, what was it which first attracted me to Jesus and his message? Family, friends, school, special individuals, a sudden event or trauma (like being thrown from your horse…!)?  Many of those I grew up with, many of my friends, even some of my family do not find themselves attracted to Jesus or his message.

So why do I proudly profess myself a Christian? What first attracted me to Jesus and why did I remain a follower through good times and some bad times? I can, and this week I did, reflect on this, and I can say that even at my age, thinking I have nothing new to learn about myself, I came across some surprises and some unexpected people and moments the brought me to Jesus. For that I am thankful.

Did I also reflect on the call and ministry of St. Paul. Yes, I did, but it would take another fifteen hundred words to recount it all and I will spare you that!

Paul’s discovery of Jesus was sudden and dramatic. He was struck from his horse, heard Jesus speak to him, was blinded and had to wait alone and in darkness until Ananias came to him with baptism and new sight.

Paul, too, had a backstory. Being struck from his horse was not the first time he heard of Jesus. Paul, in fact,  thought a lot about Jesus and his message and he rejected it – completely and utterly – and committed himself to stamping it out of existence.

It is a totally different backstory to that of Peter and yet, in some strange way what Jesus was saying when he struck Paul from his horse was, “Come, follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.”

As with Peter, I would love to ask Paul what his days of blindness were like after his fall. Everything he believed in was turned upside down. His darkness must have been blackness. Fear, confusion, endless awful questions; then guilt and shame as what he had done dawned on him. I would love to ask him, “who was the Jesus who introduced himself to you on the road to Damascus? What was it that broke through all that anger and hate and brought you to the Jesus who was now saying “Come, follow me…”

Again, I can only guess at the answers.

But Paul’s backstory can also help me discover of my own story. I had moments when I was knocked from my horse; when complacency and pride were shattered and I experienced darkness. In reflecting on this I found some surprises – good and not so good – and enough food for many more reflections.

In celebrating the greatness of Peter and Paul we are, in fact, celebrating the greatness of God. In totally different ways he called them to “follow him…” and they, in different ways responded to that call.

Probably the greatest compliment we could pay Peter and Paul today, is to reflect on our own call to “follow him”.

Something in our backstories brought us to Jesus and his message. Something attracted us to Jesus in a way others did not feel themselves attracted to him and his message. They were the “follow me…” moments and they were truly encounters with Jesus. Peter heard the call when he was relaxed, mending his nets by the lake. Paul heard the call when he was bubbling over with self-righteous anger and hatred, and it knocked him into darkness.

The call of Jesus to each of us is just as real and just as important as the call of Peter and Paul. Jesus wants us to respond just as Peter and Paul responded. The wonderful thing is that in calling ourselves Christian, and proudly professing the Creed, we already have responded and we already are “following him….”

For that alone we can be truly thankful.

Many thanks,

Brian.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church