John 12:1-8
17 March 2013
St.
Patrick, I learned, is a funny little man with a big bushy orange beard, who always
wears green, really loves his pot of gold, and if you aren’t wearing green on
St. Patrick ’s Day, he will come and pinch you.
You know
that’s wrong, right?
St. Patrick
is not a leprechaun.
Now that we
have established that, what do we know about the patron saint of Ireland? He
was a real person, who lived 400 years after the birth of Christ, and who died
on March 17, in the year 461, when he was in his 70s.
As a youth he lived in England on
his family’s estate. He was a son of the Roman Empire, which had been
officially Christian for six generations by then. But the Empire was beginning
to fall. Roman legions were being
withdrawn from Britain, which was the far-flung edge of the Empire, and called
to defend Rome from the Vandals. This left Roman settlements vulnerable to marauding
tribes of Saxons, Picts, and Celts.
One of
these bands of marauders captured young Patrick and took him to Ireland as a
slave, where he endured abuse, deprivation, hunger, and solitude. In his Confession Patrick wrote that before his
capture, at age 15, he had not valued his Christian faith. But as a slave he
prayed without ceasing, and felt Christ was his constant companion.
He was in
the wilderness, tending his master’s sheep, for six years. The one night while
he was praying, he heard a voice announcing that he would return home, his ship
was ready. Guided the vision he walked some 200 miles to the sea and found the
ship which provided his escape from Ireland. Eventually, he was reunited with
his family in England. And all’s well that ends well. It would be a Hollywood
ending, except it didn’t end there.
Sometime
after this heartwarming reunion Patrick had another vision. He heard the voice
of the Irish, calling him to return to the place where he had been enslaved.
And so he set off on a course of study, and eventually Patrick was
ordained, elevated to the office of bishop, and commissioned to go to Ireland as
the church’s first missionary.
Most of
what we know of Patrick in Ireland is the stuff of legend. Miraculous escapes
from murderous Druids, driving the snakes from Ireland, re-framing the shamrock
as a Christian symbol of the trinity. Whatever written records there might have
been from that time have been lost. But what remains is one letter to a Roman
commander Coroticus and his soldiers, condemning them for the murder of some
Irish Christians and the capture of Irish women who were taken to Britain as slaves.
Officially, Roman Christianity had not challenged the Empire’s military might
or economic policy. Some might say that the Christian religion was co-opted by
Rome in order to control it, because the Christian religion, with its rejection
of violence, and its insistence on equality among believers, had been a threat
to the Empire.
In Ireland
Patrick, isolated from the center of power, developed a new way of being the
church, a way nearer to the pre-Roman church. Having suffered as a slave, he
insisted that no Christian could keep a slave. Neither could a Christian
justify violence against the innocent. During Europe’s Dark Ages the Irish
church flourished, and founded monasteries and Christian communities in
Scotland and northern England.
The most
amazing thing about St. Patrick is not the stuff of legend but the truth of his
living sacrifice. Having escaped slavery, having been restored to a place of
privilege and comfort, he chose to return to the people who had enslaved him,
to free them from the sin of enslaving others. It amazes me what some people
are able to do, what safety and comfort they are willing to sacrifice for the
sake of others. What inspires such selflessness? For Patrick, and the apostle
Paul, and Mary of Bethany, nothing compares to Jesus. The value of knowing
Christ, of knowing God through Christ Jesus is greater than anything they could
offer. So Mary sacrificed her treasured ointment, Paul gave his life, and
Patrick risked his freedom for service to Christ.
Who is
Jesus, in these stories? Jesus is the priceless treasure, the one for which you
would sell all you have to secure it. Except you don’t have to, because this
priceless treasure is free, and it is already ours.
Sometimes,
it seems, we cannot even see this treasure for the clutter of our lives. As a
child of privilege, Patrick thought little of God; when he was a slave Christ
was his only companion. What is redemptive about suffering is that it sometimes
strips away all the distractions, and reveals the genuine treasures of life:
the love of God, and the love of friends.
Who are we,
because of this priceless treasure? What are we willing to give in response to
this gift of knowing God through Jesus? What are we willing to sacrifice, to
help others discover this treasure?
