Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul
June 28-29th 2008
"Peter and Paul"

One was a scholar; the other blue collar. One was married and really didn't travel a whole heck of a lot, although he did make one very important trip to Rome. The other was unmarried and went all over the place, just about every known port at the time. One was with Jesus from the very beginning when Jesus was first gathering his apostles, disciples, together. The other never knew that Jesus of Nazareth who walked the streets of Galilee - he only knew the resurrected Christ. Both would die a martyr's death. Both had betrayed Jesus. One by denying him at his greatest hour. The other by persecuting him, binding him in chains, dragging him out of households to drag him back to the authorities in Jerusalem - his Body, the church.

Weak mean really. So why did God choose them?

I was watching just about my favorite TV show, only because I think the Office is in reruns or something right now. But the Colbert Report on 59. Love that show. He's Catholic you know. He lets everybody know that all the time. And the other day he was interviewing a scientist that has started a new television show with Nova. I love that station too and that show too, because it takes the universe and it makes it understandable to me. He was talking about this new show on Nova that they're going to have where basically they are going to do 12 minute segments, and in each 12 minute segment they are going to take some huge aspect of the universe and make it intelligible to the likes of me. And he was all very proud of that. But Colbert said, "Well heck. I can do it under 12 seconds. God did it!" And I just sat on my couch laughing saying, "You tell ‘em Colbert." Because the fact of the matter is God is strong. God is all-powerful. God did it!

So why would this God of ours who did it choose the weak, the broken?

Well, we can look through scripture and see that it's a pattern of God's. God likes to choose the weak. He's done it all along. Whether it be the younger brother in the family, which back in that day that person was a nobody, and yet God would choose that one. Whether it be the runt of the litter to become the King of Israel. Whether it be the women who society had just assumed that they would stay in the shadows taking care of things, yet God would reach into those shadows and use them, like Rachel. Or take the really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really old people - like Abraham and Sarah and Elizabeth. And God would use them. It's a pattern of God.

Then Paul in his own writings when he was talking about his weakness revealed to us another reason why God chooses the weak. Because as St. Paul relays to us, it is in weakness that power is made perfect.

So why does God choose the weak? I think for those reasons. It highlights God's power, and it makes power perfect in us. But in my prayer this week, another thought came to me. That perhaps, just perhaps, it's our weakness, not our strength, that can give the greatest glory to God.

We're very used to thinking, okay, what talent do I have? What strength do I have? What gifts do I have? And then, okay, I'll take that and God, you can work with me because I'm going to give you the gift of my ability to serve, or my ability to preach, or my ability to raise funds, or my ability to bring people together, or my ability to - fill in the blank. And we can get this arm-length's long list of our strengths and why God should use us.

But when was Jesus at his greatest? It wasn't at Cana, the wedding, when he changed water into wine...at the beginning of his journey, at his mother's request. And it wasn't really towards the end of his journey when he actually raised Lazarus from the dead. That's pretty powerful. The gospel of John tells us that the point, the high point, the climax of Jesus' glory was when he was on the cross. It was when he was "empty," weakest, powerless. And it seemed as though God was silent. That is the point of the greatest glory that John tells us in his gospel - so much so that the centurion would look up and say, "Truly that was the Son of God."

Today on the Feast of Peter and Paul, the bedrock of our church's existence, let's take a little time to think about what is our greatest weakness. What is that thing or that aspect about ourselves that we just as soon nobody knew? That we just as soon God doesn't want to use? Can we put even that into God's hands?