The Politically Incorrect St. Peter

At Mass for the Friday within the Octave of Easter, the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes Peter making some incredibly bold statements which would make any religious or cultural relativist blush. Having just cured a crippled man at the Temple gate by invoking Jesus’ name, Peter stands before the elders, scribes and high priests and testifies that “it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:10-12, italics mine). After being struck by Peter’s boldness in speech, I laughed to myself and imagined Peter making that same profession of faith in front of Congress, on a popular talk show or on a mainstream news interview. Imagine the op-eds that would be written or the Twitter posts and hashtags that would be shared (#bigot, #offended)! If Peter were invited to speak at a college campus to share this message, would be there student riots to impede his speaking? Now I confess that I am poking fun at certain tenets within contemporary Western culture that balk at universal truth claims, but in all fairness, Peter’s confession of Jesus Christ’s unique position as the Savior, not just “a” savior, has been uncomfortable from the beginning.

                It should also be noted that this confession of Peter is not just the strange position of one peculiarly “unenlightened” Christian, but it is the confession of Christian faith itself. Before he makes this claim, the author of Acts describes Peter as “filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 8), so the Holy Spirit, God Himself, is leading Peter to speak these things about Jesus. Even as the Church affirms her respect of all that is true and good in other religions (Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) and as she upholds the rights of individuals and groups to religious liberty and protection from coercion (Declaration on Religious Liberty), she “proclaims and must ever proclaim Christ, ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6), in whom men find the fullness of religious life, and in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself (cf. 2 Cor. 5:18-19) (Nostra Aetate 2).

                Imagining Peter causing a huge social media scene with his affirmation of Jesus Christ as the unique Savior and Lord of humanity made me wonder: what would happen if the Church really led with this powerful, uncomfortable proclamation? What if you, me and other individual Christians really shared this truth, confidently but charitably, with those closest to us, especially our family and friends? I know by nature I am inclined to stay comfortable, not rock the boat and speak in pleasantries that almost everyone can agree on, but by grace I am called (and so are you) to proclaim that the One who was crucified and raised from the dead is the Lord of ALL, the King of ALL and the One through Whom ALL things were made and for Whom ALL things were made. What would happen if we proclaimed this with Peter’s boldness? My guess is that we would be thrust into the greatest adventure of our lives with these marching orders: “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”