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Feast of St Paul and St Peter – 29th June 2025.
St Peter’s Church, Babraham (Cambridge).
Readings: Ezekiel 3:22-end; Acts 12:1-11; Matthew 16.13-19.
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May I speak in the name of the Living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Several months ago now, I was sat around the family table of the Henderson household with good friends. I got a tour of the new place. Helen had made us a lovely meal. Ian was probing us with all sorts of theological dilemmas to solve. And/but the topic of this day, Ian’s First Mass, his first celebration of the Holy Eucharist, came up in conversation.
After all, what is today about? What does someone want from a First Mass sermon? Or rather, what do people need? Is today about Ian? Is it about St Peter? Is it about God? Is it about you? Or is it about us?
Of course, as we pondered all these questions in our hearts, we did the right thing, we went to the best source of knowledge on offer… and asked Ian’s son Thomas for his opinion! “Thomas, what would you like Will’s sermon to be about at Dad’s First Mass?”, we said. Thomas replied: “I want to know why Jesus was a good guy.”
Why Jesus was a good guy.
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Today in our Gospel reading from Matthew, we hear that Jesus cares deeply about his identity; who he was, how he was perceived, who he was claimed to be… perhaps even if people thought he was a good guy!
First, he asks his disciples what people are saying about him. He cares about the rumours, the gossip even. ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ He’s interested in their answers. And, once they have rattled off a list of prophets and important people in the Jewish story, Jesus drills his question in a little closer: ‘But who do you say that I am?’. Did these disciples believe the stories, the rumours, the guesses at who this fantastic, mysterious, awe-inspiring, scandalous man really was?
St Peter replies: ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
What. An. Answer. This blows Thomas’ suggestion to us at the dinner table out of the water: Jesus was not just a good guy: he was the anointed one; set apart to redeem and save the whole of creation. The one who brings Love into the world, sent by, through, and with God – the living God, the reason we have breath and being, the reason why we worship and sing. The Good News, made flesh. Peter’s words identify the very heart of who Jesus is.
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Contrary to much of the rhetoric in today’s Church, identity is important in Christian discipleship. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ is not just a question asked by Jesus about himself. It is a question we can ask of ourselves and of each other – Who we are, how we are perceived, what we do, and why we are called matters.
Scripture is soaked in swathes of affirmation for our identity as God’s good creation, as members of Christ’s body, knitted and moulded as we are. We are special to God, each of us especially special. Not despite who we are, not regardless of who we are, but because of it.1 We are called by God as all of us, the entirety of you; every aspect, every idiosyncrasy, every quirk and weird characteristic – and, let’s be honest, Ian has a lot of them!
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Today, as a church, we mark St Peter in the stories we have heard – not only did he declare Jesus’ identity, not only was he promised by Jesus the keys to heaven, but we heard of his later escape from the chains of prison because the church prayed fervently for him and his ministry. Today, here in Babraham and Sawston, we also celebrate Ian as we pray the start of his life as a priest, his new identity. In many ways, he is the same Ian we know and love; and yet he has changed.
Now Ian may not be in chains – not yet anyway! – but the weight on his shoulders may feel a little heavier today; it is a calling we cannot bear in our own strength. In addition to his already flourishing ministry here, Ian has taken on new vows and responsibilities: to feed and provide for his spiritual flock, to guide them through confusion, to tell the story of God’s love, to proclaim God’s mighty acts, to preside at the Lord’s table, to bless people in God’s name, to resist evil, support the weak, defend the poor, and intercede for those in need.2 (And that’s only a selection!)
He is, now, to be a priest; to be a priest to you, God’s people (here).
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In presiding over the Eucharist, which Ian will soon do for the first time, the priest fulfils many of these priestly responsibilities. The priest helps us meet with God, in this thin place, where we are reminded that this flesh and this blood is what God became for us, like us, in the person of Jesus Christ, revealed to us by God the Father. Something tangible. Something concrete. Something human.
When we come to receive the Eucharist, St Augustine said: “Be what you see; receive what you are.” If we are to truly accept all who Christ is – the Messiah! The Son of the Living God! – and all He has done for us, then we must embrace that his identity transforms our identity. Having had the Holy Spirit sent on us, we become Christ’s body; his hands and feet on this earth. In the Eucharist especially, we are reminded that each one of us helps make up the whole; God’s body here on earth.
That is our identity! The Eucharistic body. We become one flesh, entwined with and alongside one another. God’s people here. (The priest cannot do any of that without all of us!) A deep mutuality, a profound community, of diversity and unity. Today, in the Eucharist, Ian gathers each of us here – every one of you – into the arms of God; he shepherds us into the flock of Christ. In this most Holy Sacrament, Ian helps remind us who we are and who we are to become, because of who Jesus is.
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Well, that’s 1) Jesus, 2) Ian, and 3) the Church sorted. All that’s left is you: who do people say that you are?
Are you the body of Christ, the visible outpouring of boundless love, in your communities, your families, your work? In the places you go and with the people you meet? And how can you grow ever deeper into this calling? On behalf of our Lord, as Ian gives you this bread and this wine, this body and blood of Jesus, how can your flesh become more like his? How can your actions be more Christ-like? How can your identity become even more intertwined with who you say Jesus is and who Jesus says that you are?
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Friends, God’s call on each of our lives is not a demand; it is an invitation. As we gather around this altar, we are not told but encouraged; we are not instructed but drawn in. Whether you know God’s ways as an outpouring, a tidal wave of mercy and grace, or as that ‘weary trickle of love’3 that just keeps you going, may you know and seek something of God’s call on your life today, your identity in Christ.
As we come to celebrate this Eucharist, and as we celebrate the priestly ministry of our beloved brother and friend Ian, be reminded of who you are: an imprint of Love, a part of the Whole Body, a child of the Living God.
Ian, with the help of God, may you guide our feet and lighten our paths on this journey, we pray.
Amen.
Will Rose-Moore 
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