Every sinful, unreliable and cowardly Catholic is called to be an evangelizer

A Reflection for Thursday in the Octave of Easter

Find today’s readings here.

A famous Gospel story recounts Jesus’ return to Nazareth after he accepted his mission to proclaim the Kingdom of God. It didn’t go well. The townspeople of Nazareth—his former neighbors and childhood community—are offended by his presumptuous tone: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” (Matthew 13:54-58)

Peter must have felt something similar when crowds gathered around him and John in the temple area after they healed a disabled beggar in Jesus’ name. Acts 3, which we read today, recounts Peter’s confident and piercing speech to them, culminating with a call to see reality in a new light after Jesus’ resurrection. But wasn’t this Peter, the Galilean fisherman, who not long ago vehemently denied his fellowship with Jesus? Who does he think he is?

To me, Peter is the most intriguing character in the New Testament. The reason is simple: The Scripture lays bare his inconsistencies and inadequacies. Peter is a work in progress from beginning to end, a human being, just like us.

The Gospel tells us his real name is Simon Bar-Jonah, meaning Simon son of Jonah (John), which we would translate today as “Simon Johnson” (John 1:42). But Jesus gives him a nickname, “Cephas” in Greek, which means “rock” or “rocky.” The Redemptorist scholar Denis McBride points out the appropriateness of this nickname for Peter, who is simultaneously the solid foundation of the church, but also shaky, inconsistent, unreliable and contradictory.

When, in his first major interview, Pope Francis said the most accurate definition of himself was “a sinner,” he was echoing his predecessor, Peter. Matthew the evangelist tells us the story of Peter’s first encounter with Jesus, which provokes a rather honest, self-reflective response: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Matt 5:8)

Later, when Jesus proclaims Peter as the rock on which he will build his church (Mt 16:18), he infuriatingly rebukes Peter for misunderstanding the mission. Peter is the only person in the New Testament whom Jesus calls “Satan.” (Mk 8:33)

I already mentioned Peter’s most famous betrayal at Jesus’ trial. But even after the resurrection he continued fumbling along. Paul recounts an instance of Peter’s blatant hypocrisy in his letter to the Galatians. This took place at a key moment in the early history of the Church, when a debate was raging over the inclusion of gentiles in the Jesus movement; an inclusion Paul championed but the apostles in Jerusalem viewed with suspicion. Peter had come to Antioch and was eating freely with gentile converts. But when Jewish Christians from Jerusalem came, Peter withdrew out of fear of criticism. For Paul, this was a betrayal of the Gospel: “I opposed him [Peter] to his face, because he stood self-condemned.”

What does it mean for the Catholic Church that the figure of Peter and the ministry that continues in his name has remained a point of reference, the principal authority and guarantor of unity and communion? The first and most obvious takeaway is that participation in Jesus’ mission as a disciple is not limited to those who have it all together. It’s the sinful, broken, doubting and cowardly who, in spite of their glaring weaknesses, are called to be protagonists in the Christian mission.

As Pope Francis memorably wrote in his programmatic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium”: “Everyone can share in some way in the life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community.… Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators. But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.”

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