The Odd Couple

St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles

June 29, 2025

Galatians 2:1-10

 “The Odd Couple”

In the midst of all the streaming platforms that are out there and available for our viewing pleasure, some of you may remember a time when there were only three channels on TV. Those who remember when there were only three channels on TV will likely also remember a TV sitcom series from the 1970s entitled, “The Odd Couple,” starring Jack Klugman as Oscar, and Tony Randall as Felix. It’s the story of two divorced friends who are very different people, and because of life circumstances they come to live in the same apartment. The TV series was based on a play by the same name, written by Neil Simon. Oscar is a complete slob while Felix is an obsessive neat freak. The show revolved around their lives with all the challenges that come when two such people live under the same roof. We have a bit of an odd couple today on this feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul. They also were very different people, but under the lordship of Jesus they both were used in powerful ways to point all people to the redeeming love of Christ. Based on the Epistle lesson for today, the theme for the message is entitled: “The Odd Couple.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

On the church’s calendar, June 29 commemorates these two great apostles whose ministry embraced both Jewish and Gentile worlds. Since the middle of the third century A.D., this day has been observed and so is one of the oldest commemorations of God’s saints. Peter, whose real name was Simon, was the son of Jonah. He was re-named Peter by Jesus after his confession of faith about who Jesus is (Matthew 16:17-19), which we heard in today’s Gospel: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13-19), to which Jesus replied: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  On this confession of Peter’s, not on Peter as an individual, Jesus has built and continues to build his church. Peter’s shield with its two keys reminds us of Jesus’ words and the teaching in the catechism on the Office of the Keys and Confession (Luther’s Small Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther). The upside-down cross reminds us of Peter’s martyrdom. According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside-down as he did not himself worthy to die in the same manner as the Lord Jesus. The name Peter comes from petros in the Greek (cephas in Aramaic), meaning “rock.” Peter was from up north in Galilee and was a fisherman together with his brother, Andrew, working in partnership with James and John, sons of Zebedee, on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11; John 1:35-42). Peter was married, and we read that his wife accompanied him on his missionary travels (1 Corinthians. 9:5). His mother-in-law was cured of a fever by Jesus (Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:29-31; Luke 4:38-39). Peter was a blue collar, ordinary kind of guy, called by Jesus to be an apostle.

Paul, on the other hand, came from a very different background. His Jewish name was Saul, but he is better known by the Greek form of his name, Paul. He was born in the city of Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia, which today is at the far southeastern corner of modern-day Turkey. Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin, probably attended the local synagogue school, and later studied in Jerusalem under the well-known rabbi Gameliel (Acts 22:3). Paul had his feet in two worlds: the first world was strict adherence to Jewish law and life through the party of the Pharisees. The second world was as a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25-29). Paul was given this privilege by birth through his father. Paul’s shield is a sword with the Latin inscription, Spiritus Gladius, meaning “the sword of the spirit,” which Paul wrote is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). As a Roman citizen, Paul’s martyrdom came about through the sword. He was cosmopolitan in outlook, having been born and raised outside Israel and was exposed to Roman and Greek culture and learning. Paul was a tentmaker by profession (Acts 18:1-4); he was a single person – never married (1 Corinthians 7:8-9). His dramatic conversion to faith in Jesus on the road to Damascus changed the course of his life, from persecutor to proclaimer (Acts 9:1-19; 22:4-16; 26:9-18). Peter and Paul were two very different people from very different backgrounds – an odd couple, if you will. But maybe not so odd at all. God had a plan for both of them to use them to proclaim the saving Name of Jesus to the world. This is what Paul writes in our Scripture memory verse for today: “For he who worked through Peter for this apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:8).

Peter had a special place among the apostles chosen, called, and sent out by Jesus. Peter, James and John, were Jesus’ inner circle, and Peter often served as spokesman for the Twelve. After Pentecost, he emerges as a confident missionary whose outreach work was among his fellow Jews. The Scriptures are silent about his later years, but tradition holds that Peter left Antioch around 55 A.D., and went to Rome. It is widely believed that Peter is the source behind Mark’s Gospel, and that it was in Rome that Peter dictated his account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to the young John Mark (cf. Mark 14:51; Acts 12:1-25; 15:36-41), whose name has come to be associated with the second Gospel in the New Testament. Peter is known as the apostle to the Hebrews, and Paul is known as the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul traveled throughout much of the Roman Empire on three missionary journeys (Acts 12:24ff.) as an ambassador of Christ, preaching about Jesus to whoever would listen, establishing churches wherever the Spirit directed. Like Peter, Paul ended up in Rome, having appealed to the Roman emperor about the charges against him of provoking riots (Acts 25:1-12). From the earliest days, it has been believed that Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom on the same day, June 29, in ca. 64 A.D. The red paraments and vestments remind us not only of Christ’s blood which cleanses us from all our sin (1 John 1:7), but also of the blood of Christ’s people which was shed for bearing his Name. Tradition asserts that Peter refused to be crucified right side up as his Lord was, and so was crucified upside-down, giving his life for the One who gave his life for him. Paul is believed to have been beheaded near the Via Ostia, south of Rome. Two churches in Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul’s outside-the-walls, are said to contain the tombs of the two apostles.

Looking at Peter and Paul, we might think: “There’s no way I can measure up against these two. They are apostles, but I’m not.” Compared with them, we feel small and inadequate. We think that our response of faith pales in comparison with all that they did for Jesus. Comparisons get us in trouble on all sorts of levels. The point here is not for us to compare ourselves with Peter and Paul, or any other disciple of Jesus for that matter. The point is for us to see how God used flawed and sinful people to do great things for his kingdom. God used impetuous, stick-your-foot-in-your-mouth Peter to boldly speak for Christ. God used Paul, who was dead-set against the Gospel, actively working against it, persecuting followers of Jesus with a passion, to become a passionate spokesman for that same Jesus, transforming Paul into a model missionary. These were imperfect people who didn’t have it all together, or who thought they did, and were dead wrong. If the Lord Jesus could use people like Peter and Paul, he is able to use people like us today. That word “apostle” does apply to us. We often use the word “apostle” only in reference to Peter, Paul, and the others who were eyewitnesses of Jesus. The word apostle literally means “one who is sent.” We are sent out today just as Peter and Paul were in their day. We are sent out in Jesus’ Name and with Jesus’ power to share the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to a hurting world that desperately needs Jesus. That same Lord Jesus who gave his life upon the cross for this hurting world can use each one of us with all our inadequacies, flaws, and imperfections. Jesus is more than able to shape us, mold us, and use us to be his sent ones today. As Peter declared in today’s first Scripture reading (Acts 15:1-12), so we affirm: “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus…” (Acts 15:11). Thanks be to God. Amen.