Scripture Reading | 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
Faith of our Fathers – St. Patrick
Pastor Thanael Certa-Werner
Today we’re continuing our sermon series looking at some of the church fathers of our past, exploring their lives, and applying their life lessons to our lives today. Last week, we looked at the Apostle Paul as we celebrated World Communion Sunday. We talked about Paul’s conversion from Pharisee Judaism to Christianity and how he would go on to bring gentiles into the Christian Church – spreading Christianity across the known world of the time and how God’s call to Paul and our lives is to open the doors of the church to all people. To recognize the church is for saints and sinners and its very design is set on those whom we think shouldn’t be here.
Today, we’re continuing to look at the Faith of our Fathers by turning to Ireland. But first, we must practice our memory verse.
Memory Verse: Turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. -Proverbs 2:2 (NIV)
The story we’re looking at is the story of Maewyn Succat, a young boy growing up in England in the 300’s AD. During this time, the Roman Empire was in control of the lower part of Britain where Maewyn was living. However, there were still the pesky raiders from the west which would come and loot towns and take slaves living there. And one fateful day, those Irish raiders from the west came to Maewyn’s town and hauled him away to slavery in Ireland at the age of 16. There he served a harsh master who treated him terribly. After six years, he heard a voice from heaven calling him away to a boat which was waiting for him. The captain and his men brought Maewyn with them to Britain where they landed and were stranded in wilderness for 28 days – finding almost no food. Maewyn prayed for God to provide sustenance, and a wild boar showed up, which made the rest of the group rethink this whole Christianity thing.
After that whole ordeal, Maewyn finally got home and went to the local monastery to study Christianity. There he adopted the name, Patricius, or Patrick in English. After studying for 12 years – and you guys thought confirmation was long – Patrick acted on a vision sent by God to go back to Ireland and bring the faith to those people. For the next thirty years, he would see much success – but because of that success, he would also see a lot of angry chieftains imprisoning him. For thirty years, he would convert, be imprisoned, escape and do it all over again all in the name of Christ.
Of course, this is the story of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and every year, billions of people around the world celebrate the day which honors him without knowing exactly why they are celebrating him. But why, you may ask, are we even looking at this guy when we’re no where near March 17? Because Patrick gives us an important lesson for our lives today. This was a man who knew exactly what it meant to have bad luck. Not only was he taken away and enslaved, not only was he brutely treated, but after escaping from this enslavement, he went back to be imprisoned over and over again! To be honest, after the first time, I would probably had said, “Fine, you don’t want to be saved? Then don’t be.”
But St. Patrick didn’t. He continued to push forward and put himself out there for the faith. In modern times, we would say that Patrick had grit. Grit is the stick-to-it-ness of a person. It’s being willing to hang in there, even when times get tough, even when things don’t go quite right. What an important lesson for today and for our lives! There are a lot of things which get in our way as a church – most of all is the fear of failure. When we have only limited resources, it’s hard to put ourselves out there and to do new things, or even continue old ones because if they don’t work, we’ve wasted our little resources. When talking to other people about our faith, there’s a lot on the line because if they aren’t receptive to what we say, we could be jeopardizing our relationship with them. When praying, what happens if I pray for something big and it doesn’t happen? What happens when I put all my faith in prayers and they go unanswered?
Sometimes, it’s a lot easier to hear God’s call on our lives than it is to live into that call. I can only imagine the thoughts going through Patrick’s mind when he received the vision from God calling him back to the land and people who enslaved him in the first place! But the life of St. Patrick reminds us and points back to the promises we have from God in Scripture. In our reading for today, this is what we hear, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”
We have been given a treasure which helps us to “grit-up” and persevere through these hard times. When problems come our way, when the odds are not in our favor, we are reminded that we have treasure kept safe for us. This is the treasure that even when we are surrounded by enemies, when we can’t understand, when we are persecuted, when we are struck down, we are still made strong. The ground under our feet is still solid because of what Jesus has done. Paul reminds us that when we carry around this ultimate act which Jesus undertook for us within us, we allow for Jesus’ life to shine through us. And this light will not be put out by darkness, or imprisonment, or hardship, or natural disasters, or cancer, or disease, or COVID-19, or even death. Because through all of these things, through the realities of death which we all must face, life is in us.
This is the hope which kindled St. Patrick’s faith and willingness to go back to a country which despised him. This is the hope which allowed for Patrick to put his very life on the line to bring this same hope to a land void of any. And it is this hope which resides in us. Now, this certainly isn’t a call to be danger seekers! Please don’t sign up to be car crash test dummies because of what we’re talking about here! But it is a call to live lives which allow for this hope to change the way we live.
And that’s our challenge for this week, to allow for this hope illuminate our lives, to allow for ourselves to take on some risks and to trust Jesus’ call for our lives. Whether we be old or young, rich or poor, well-educated or undereducated, our challenge is to answer Christ’s call on our hearts. We may not all be heading off to a land which will enslave or imprison us, but the challenges of our world are very real as well. It will not be easy answering Christ’s call. But if we are hard pressed on every side, we will not be crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed because Jesus’ death is in us, so His life shines out from us.