Confession and Commission

“I believed, and so I spoke” (2 Corinthians 4:13).

An extraordinary week graces the Christian lectionary, come January. On January 18, Christians the world over mark “The Confession of St. Peter.” And on January 25, millions will observe “The Conversion of St. Paul.” Peter and Paul in one week! We move from Peter’s remarkable confession of faith to Paul’s apostolic commission in the course of seven days.

Believe it or not, I have always rather cherished this week in the church year. On the one hand, it is often overlooked; I appreciate the week, I suppose, for its simple curiosity. (When was the last time you had a family gathering or exchanged greeting cards for “The Conversion of St. Paul” day?) But much more, I cherish the week because it brings together the fundamental themes of Christian discipleship, like bookends – and like few other weeks in the year.

At the beginning of the week we have the basic experience of faith. “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks. Believing hearts must answer with Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” (Matthew 16:13 ff.)

At the end of the week we have the basic experience of calling. St. Paul is knocked to the ground by a wonderful vision of Jesus. And immediately he is commissioned: “Get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you” (Acts 26:16).

So very many of us are lost or detoured, somehow, in the middle of the week. We are happy enough to join St. Peter in making the basic confession. But the calling of St. Paul seems a bit much. We know, after all, how the story goes. Paul enjoyed privilege before receiving the calling that would turn his life upside down. Why, he might have enjoyed eventually a corner office in Jerusalem! But his meeting with the Savior changed everything. Once upwardly mobile within a prestigious pharisaic establishment, now he was outwardly mobile. Once safely ensconced in a respectable and rewarding career path, now he was out on a limb. This was a career path, you see, that would permit an occasional shipwreck and stoning, persecution from time to time – and even imprisonment. Don’t get me wrong: there was great joy and deep spiritual satisfaction, too. But the corner office was gone forever.

In a single week we see the inevitable progression of Christian discipleship. Paul himself explained it later, in a letter to the Corinthians: “I believed, and so I spoke” (2 Corinthians 4:13). The gift of faith leads inevitably to the gift of calling: we do not receive one without the other. And calling without prior confession is impossible, as well. We are not made missionaries by cultivating our compassion or practicing our critical thinking. We are made missionaries by encounter with Jesus.

I like this week in January. Maybe you will come to like it, too! Start with Peter, in trust and awe before Jesus. And then, if you please, into the world…!