Mend and repair
The church calendar remembers the Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29th. Some traditional images depict these men in an embrace of friendship. When you imagine or know the kind of struggles and misunderstandings that co-workers can get into in any endeavor, and certainly in gospel ministry, such an image points to the gentle, unswerving presence of God that moves us toward peace and mercy. Peter and Paul point us toward work that is greater than our missed marks and combined efforts.
They were also people with particular trades before Jesus called them to follow him.
Peter likely came from a fishing family in the region of Galilee, where he worked in cooperation with other family and fisherman in the inland sea, selling their catch locally and as a commodity in the regional economy. He knew the ways of fish and fishing. He would have known where to expect to find a good catch, how to preserve and sell it, how to handle a boat, and how to mend and repair a net with linen and other fiber. His body knew how to swim and how to float. In fact, Jesus encounters him naked, probably diving to haul a net back to the boat.
Paul had a more cosmopolitan, hellenized upbringing. He spoke and wrote greek, learned greek philosophy, along with the Torah study, pharasaic religion and reasoning under Gamaliel. Like the Pirkei Avot (the sayings of the fathers) commends, Paul combined his study and teaching of Torah with a manual trade. ‘Acts’ refers to him as a ‘tentmaker’, a skenopoion. A survey of scholarship suggests that Paul was a worker in leather, though some think he may have also worked with goat-hair fabric. Tanning raw hides would have been outside of his legal/ritual zone of observance, but working with finished leather was acceptable to a pharisee. Paul may have made tents, as well as other leather goods. His portable skills and tool kit, so suited to a life of itinerant teaching and missionary journey.
In the cloudy time of unknowing that the disciples endured after the crucifixion of Jesus, the forms of life that would hold and guide them further were not clear. So Peter decided to go back to fishing. One wonders whether Peter and other disciples may have kept one hand in the world of fishing and fish-selling, even after they had seen the risen Christ and as they gathered the early church under the Spirit’s guidance. ‘Luke-Acts’ as well as new testament letters indicate that Paul intentionally worked a trade while he lived, taught and organized the church in a given locale. The disciple Lydia sold purple cloth, and must have continued in that economic activity to the benefit of her converted household and the wider church. We find enduring traces and clear evidents that among the disciples and early church, manual labor and wholesome trades provided means for financial support, pastoral engagement, discipleship and ascetical discipline.
The materials and skills involved in these trades can themselves reveal something of the work of God. A fisher’s tool set contains more than just catching fish/people. He would have known how to handle a boat and a crew, and how to find inner calm amidst rough seas. He would have known when it was time to clean and mend the nets. A tent-maker/leatherworker would have known something of thrift in the use of material. With watchful care he might help stitch together a strong seam or a secure shelter out of what others doubted could fit. These tradesmen and women would have learned how to wait upon the Spirit in the currents and pull of life, with attention and intention patiently working on what God put before them.
So their embrace in gospel friendship is ever more meaningful. It signifies a confident expectation of the gift of God’s peace, and the love and perseverance to do the work of mending and repair that gives us the capacity to to receive that gift.
By UNC Sea Grant College Program - https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/20471936638/Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/coastwatch00uncs_11/#page/n18/mode/1up, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42477902