Most Likely To Succeed

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles

Acts 12:1-11; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19

When I was young, high school yearbooks had a page dedicated to students who other students called, “Most Likely to Succeed.”

I did not appear there, and given what I know of them from Scripture, if ancient Palestine had yearbooks, Peter and Paul probably wouldn’t have, either.

Peter, while certainly hardworking and full of heart, is also impulsive; in Scripture, he speaks before he thinks and frankly isn’t a very good judge of what he will do in any given situation… like when it comes to walking on water or speaking about Jesus around campfires.

Paul I would probably describe as fiery and intense. On the plus side, that can lead to very deep convictions. On the negative side, there could be some anger issues and pretty heated confrontations. Again, all borne out in the New Testament.

Yet, Christ wasn’t looking for the polished, popular, or predictable. He was looking for men who were broken but willing to be remade by grace. 

So he chose them. He saw not simply who they were, but who they could become if they trusted his grace and allowed it to perfect their nature.

And you could say they succeeded. Together, these two imperfect men established Christ’s Church and spread the Gospel throughout the known world.

Sts. Peter and Paul are perfect examples of how God makes people “most likely to succeed.” How is that – by simply “fixing” their brokenness for them? No; as St. Augustine once said, “God made us without us, but will not save us without us.” God gave them every grace they needed so that their failures would never have the final word. But they still had to cooperate with that grace. In Acts, God saw to the release of Peter, but he had to follow and do what needed doing. Paul was given the education and the energy, but had to “compete well,” to “finish the race.”

Even then he knew he didn’t “deserve” salvation. Rather, it would be “awarded” by the only “just Judge.” That is true for all of us. None of us are chosen because we deserve it. We’re chosen because God loves us. Only then is it clearest to everyone that God and God alone brings about every good result.

So let us remember St. Peter the next time we feel bold in church but fearful and timid in the world, and St. Paul when we speak our love for Christ one minute and our anger with other people the next. But most of all, let us do what they did: confess our failings, turn from them, and continue to have faith that God’s grace is enough.

That’s how ordinary people like us — people who fail, repent, and begin again — become, by the grace of God, the ones most likely to succeed.

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