From shamrocks to green beer to mandatory green dress (which I will surely wear just to avoid getting pinched), St. Patrick’s Day is somewhat of a silly holiday. Most people (Irish included) when asked why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day have absolutely no clue…other than that it is a cultural holiday traditionally celebrated in Ireland, in honor of Ireland’s patron saint – Patrick.
But what’s the big deal with Patrick anyway? Was he garbed in royal robes and jewelled crowns (like the stained
Stained Glass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin (Courtesy of Tina Long)
glass image viewed on the side), or with a green kilt, bow tie, and top hat?
Neither image is terribly accurate.
While little is actually knowable about Patrick, what we do know is that he was one of the most influential Christian missionaries to Ireland. As a matter of fact, that Christian spirituality took root at all in Ireland is owed much to the efforts, humility, passion, and Christlike love of this amazing man.
Born in the 5th Century A.D. as a privileged Roman citizen in Roman Brittain, Patrick was a self-avowed atheist (though having grown up in a “Christian” home). One fateful night his life was turned upside down when a group of Irish (“barbarian”) slave raiders stormed his village and captured or killed all the people of his villa. Patrick (probably called “Patricus”) was taken as a slave to Ireland where he spent the next 6-7 years in bondage to an Irish chieftain. During that time, Patrick, the once spiritually indifferent atheist, found himself crying out to God in prayer. Through his captivity He learned to experience freedom in Christ by entrusting himself to God. Eventually God opened a door for Patrick to escape and he miraculously made it back to his home.
However, and this is where it gets crazy, one night in a vision God calls Patrick to go back to Ireland to share the love of Jesus with the very people who degraded and brutalized him. I can’t imagine the conflict he must have felt, and the tremendous love that prevailed in his heart.
Eventually, Patrick made it back to Ireland with an entourage of other Christians from Roman Brittain eager to share the love of Jesus with the Irish barbarians (doesn’t seem fair to call them that, but one of the reasons the Romans thought they were barbarians was they would charge into battle screaming … buck-naked! Apparently they believed fighting in the nude gave them extra supernatural strength). Patrick knew, however, despite some of these “barbarian” practices there was much in ancient Celtic culture that could be redeemed through the love of Jesus.
No one knows for sure, but over the next several decades it is estimated that Patrick baptized several thousand Irish converts. Among his disciples were a number of other slaves, particularly female slaves who were sold into sexual servitude to Irish chieftains and land owners. The Gospel gave these oppressed people a new hope, dignity, and sense of identity and purpose as they realized their tremendous worth and freedom in Jesus.
Patrick’s legacy is also hard to measure. Scores of Celtic missionaries rose up following Patrick’s influence, spreading the message of hope and forgiveness in Jesus to the people of ancient Scotland, and then into all parts of Western Europe and beyond. All because one man did the unthinkable…chose to forgive those who injured and enslaved him and trust that the God who was calling him to reach out to these people was capable of transforming their hearts, and indeed their very culture.
Who are the “heathens” or “barbarians” in your world? The ones that it is impossible for you to tolerate, forgive, or believe could ever be capable of good? How is Jesus calling you to step beyond the natural human boundaries of fear and distrust to extend the love of Jesus to these “barbarians”?
This St. Patrick’s Day, choose to get in touch with the REAL Patrick and the mission that drove and impassioned his life. Choose to believe that God can forgive, heal, renew, and transform your life and the lives of all those impossible people who surround us. If you do, prepare to see the amazing. God is still at work, still on mission, and still desiring to seek and save the lost.
in HIM< Jeremy
For more on Patrick (and to see me ATTEMPT to play an Irish Bodhran), check out this video blog. (Called “Seasons”)
