Confession of St. Peter Homily, 01/17/2023
Preached for a Vigil Mass at St. Mark's Anglican Church
Tonight, we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter’s confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. It is a fascinating feast, commemorating an apostolic event, rather than an individual. The same thing will happen exactly a week from today when we commemorate the conversion of St. Paul. And then, almost exactly 6 months from now, we will have a combined feast of these two apostles on June 29th.So tonight, we have the only standalone feast of St. Peter – chief of the Apostles – and yet, it isn’t focused on Peter, per se, but on his confession.
And the reason we celebrate this confession, is because – in one sense – it is the summation of the entirety of the Christian life. It is the fundamental call of the Christian, to say with St. Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter’s confession is the first human acknowledgement of the divine mandate of Jesus. It is the first open submission to Jesus as the anointed one of God; and not just the anointed one, but the Son of the Living God.
In response, Jesus changes Peter’s name. Formerly he was Simon, son of Jonah. Now he is Πέτρος, a stone hewn from the rock – the πέτρα; and upon that πέτρα, the rock of his confession. God will build his church. Peter, therefore, can rightly be called the apostolic foundation of the church because he was the first to utter the confession upon which the church is built. It is this confession which will batter down the gates of hell. Why? Because Christ is the Son of the living God and hell is the fortress of death. That which is truly alive, cannot be held by death; death has no power over it. Therefore, only the living God can destroy death; and only those who confess the faith of the living God can withstand the forces of death and destruction. And not just withstand, but prevail against them.