Homily, The Return
The Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul (2026)
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Plant City, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let’s try a thought experiment this morning. Imagine with me that it was Judas Iscariot in today’s gospel reading talking with the resurrected Jesus on the beach instead of Peter. Imagine that after apostatizing and denying Jesus three times it was Peter who went off and ended his life with guilt and, not Judas. And imagine if after Judas had betrayed Jesus with a kiss and a bag of silver coins he had had come back sorry to Jesus and the other disciples, and not Peter.
Imagine Judas Iscariot then traveled the world proclaiming the gospel. That he wrote letters of encouragement and correction to the churches. Imagine that it was Judas who ended up arrested, persecuted, and killed for his bold and unwavering faith in following Jesus. Imagine if for centuries the Church painted pictures and carved statutes of Judas and asked for his intercessions as they sought to live their life like him, while Peter was painted with horns and placed in Dante’s Inferno in the center ring of hell as Peter the Apostate, the betrayer of Jesus. Imagine that sitting here today at the center of our parish banner was not a rooster but a bag of coins, and our beloved church was named after Judas, and not Peter—that we were St. Judas Iscariot Episcopal Church.
It could have happened. For both Judas and Peter rejected Jesus, betraying him in word and deed. And both were burdened with the guilt of it all.
Perhaps you’ll remember Jesus’ uncomfortable words from last week’s gospel, “Whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” That’s Peter. Three times he denied Jesus before others! Three times he betrayed him. And yet while Peter went on to be known as the greatest of the apostles, Judas became a symbol of disdain.
What then is the difference between Peter and Judas?
One of them returned.
Today’s gospel passage is a story of return. A story of reconciliation.
Earlier in the story, when Jesus had been arrested, Peter sat warming his hands at a fire and denied three times that he knew Jesus. In today’s part of the story, Peter sits again at a fire and with the invitation of Jesus, declares his love for him three times.
Peter returned. After Jesus died Peter returned to his community. After Jesus rose, Peter returned to the risen Lord. Peter carried with him the grief of what he had done. Indeed, in today’s gospel passage it says that this conversation with the risen Lord was painful to him. But nonetheless, he returned.
And because he returned, not only did he find grace and forgiveness in place of retribution, he found renewed purpose and calling. His failure had not disqualified him from being sent by Christ into the world to care for others. Because he returned.
It would have been easy for him not to return. Which was the choice of Judas Iscariot. It would have been easy to be paralyzed by grief and guilt and greed. It took courage and vulnerability to stand before the Lord that Peter had denied. But he returned.
And in the end, that is all that Christ wanted.
Sometimes I think we too get bogged down by discouragement. Sometimes we feel deeply the weight of our own failures and inadequacies. Sometimes we want to give up. We’ve tried and it didn’t work. In moments like that, we want to stay in bed. Or run far away. And put an end to it all.
But Jesus invites us to return. To share a meal with him. To be reconciled to him. To share in the life of community. To receive again the call that he has given us to love our neighbor. And so we return.
Why do we have mass every Sunday? So that we can return. So that after a week of walking through the hardships of this world we can share a meal with Christ again. Every Sunday we return.
And sometimes, like Peter, we’re a bit uncomfortable—perhaps tired, uninterested, convicted—vulnerable at the feet of Jesus. But it is here where we receive time and time again the life of grace he offers.
Today on this patronal Feast Day, the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul we remember that we as the people of St. Peter’s, are the people of return. Let us renew our commitment to return, and let us thank God that as we return Christ also returns to us. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
- What keeps me from returning again to prayer and to Christian community?
- How might Christ be inviting me to return again?
- How does the story of Peter speak to my own life?
Thoughts on Faith 