The fisherman who denied was restored, commissioned, and martyred. The persecutor who was stopped was called, sent, and martyred. … The Church they served is still here, still bearing the apostolic Gospel, still living beneath the same question: do you love me?
The Church receives their teaching, learns from their example, prays for unity in the Spirit, and stands upon “the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord.” Peter is not the Gospel, and Paul is not the Gospel. Their differences remain and their callings are distinct.
The confession is a gift before it is anything else. The Church does not invent Christ and then confess the Christ she has designed. She receives the apostolic faith. We did not generate it, and therefore we are not free to revise it whenever the surrounding culture finds it inconvenient.
The feast therefore honors Peter, but it begins even more fundamentally with the action of God. Peter confesses because the Father has revealed the Son. His confession begins in grace: the Father reveals, Peter receives, and Peter confesses.