Yesterday Was St. Patrick S Day. If We Were to Askwhat People Know About St. Patrick, There

Given to Us

John 3:14-21

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. If we were to askwhat people know about St. Patrick, there are few things that would come up over and over again. People know that he was Irish. They know thathe introduced Christianity to the people of Ireland. They know that he liked the color green. They know thathe drove out the snakes. And, if they know nothing else, they know thathe was very fond of beer – particularly if it was green.

But if we look a little more closely, that image of Patrick starts to fade away. Patrick was actually British, the son of a Romanized Anglo family, born in an area that is now part ofScotland. He was kidnapped at age 16 by Irish raiders and then sold into slavery. He escaped 6 years later, only to be kidnapped again for a brief time. Patrick then went to what is now France to study for the priesthood. He only went back to Ireland after having a vision of God calling him to evangelize his former captors. That’s just a long way to say that Patrick wasn’t Irish.

Patrick may not have been the first Christian missionary to Ireland. We know that St. Ciaran lived in Ireland between 350 and 400 AD, and that Palladius was sent to Irelandby Pope Celestine in 431 AD.Some scholars put Patrick’s birthday in 381 AD; but other scholars, relying on references in the two surviving letters written by Patrick, place his birthday some time between 450 and 500 AD. The legend says he was first, but the legend may actually be about the work of Ciaran and Palladius. So Patrick almost certainly wasn’t the first Christian missionary.

Patrick may have likedthe color green, but he is known in Ireland for the color blue. In Ireland, everyone wears blue on St. Patrick’s Day; unless you are Protestant, in which case you wear orange. Green is the color associated with the Catholic Church in Ireland, as the three leaves of the very green shamrock were used to illustrate the Holy Trinity of God. So, there is no reason to pinch someone for not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day.

Ireland, like several other island nations towards the poles of the earth, likely has never had any snakes that needed to be driven out. There are 12 miles of icy water between Ireland and Scotland, and since snakes are cold-blooded creatures, they would go into hibernation and drown long before they could cross the waters. Driving the snakes out is more likely a story told to illustrate the reversal of what happened in the Garden of Eden. In that story, we remember, it is because Adam and Eve listen to the snake that they are driven out. Now, as the Irish listened to Patrick, the snake was driven out.

And as for Patrick liking beer – well, there might be some truth to that one. Archaeologists have discovered over 5000 primitive breweries in Ireland that date before the time of Patrick. In the tradition of giving our utmost for His Highest, St. Brigid is reported to have prayed, “I’d like to give a lake of beer to God. I’d love the Heavenly Host to be tippling there for all eternity. . . . I’d sit with the men, the women of God, there by the lake of beer. We’d be drinking good health forever, and every drop would be a prayer.” The only problem with associating that prayer with Brigid, a contemporary of Patrick’s, is that hops, an essential ingredient for beer, wasn’t available in Ireland until over a thousand years later. So if Patrick enjoyed an alcoholic beverage, it would have been ale, not beer; and it would have been red in color, not green.

So, most everything we think we know about Patrick is wrong, but there is still one thing we know about him that is very right. Patrick, captured by the Irish, and enslaved by the Irish, returned to Ireland so that the people there might know the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. But in our world, that doesn’t seem right.

We understand wanting restitution, not reconciliation. We understand wanting vengeance, not virtue. We understand wantingjustice, not justification. If we have been wronged, we want our loss to be made right. So why would Patrick return to the scene of the crime to offer them Christ?

To help us understand this, let me share a story from the ministry of Patrick. It was later in his life, and he was baptizing one of the local chieftains. As they were standing in the river, the current was strong. Not wanting to fall, Patrick took his staff, thrust it down, and then leaned on it to maintain his upright posture. When the ritual was over and they came out of the river, Patrick noticed something.

According to one account, the chieftain was limping. In another account, the chieftain is bleeding from a piercing hole in his foot. Realizing that it was his staff that had caused this injury, Patrick apologized and then asked the chieftain why he didn’t say anything.

The chieftain replied, “I remembered the story of Jesus being crucified, and the nail piercing his feet. When I felt your staff on my foot, I thought it was part of the ritual. If Jesus would do this for me, then why would I not do this for him?”

That story always amazes me. I wonder how many people would want to be baptized today if they knew that the ritual went beyond getting wet to include piercing your foot. You would have to be really committed to do that. That is why Patrick went back to Ireland – because he was really and truly committed to doing for others what Jesus had done for him. It was while Patrick was a slave that he went from saying his prayers to praying. It was while he was a slave that he went from knowing in his head what Jesus had done, to knowing in his heart what Jesus had done for him. It was then that he knew, deeply, truly knew, that God is committed to us, so we are to be committed to God.

We can hear that commitment in our reading for today. It contains some of the most popular and memorable words in the scriptures. But for a few moments, I want us to focus on just one word. It is the word that magnifies this commitment. It is the word “so.”

When we first see a newborn baby, we could say that the child looks appropriately baby-like and that the child has the requisite genetic factors for adults to want to bond with and protect the child. But what we usually say is, “Isn’t she just so adorable?” By saying this, we move beyond affirming the baby, to affirming the parents who are losing sleep because of all the time and energy they are giving to the child. This is not just a cute kid, but a child who deserves to be adored.

When we interact with a child we haven’t seen for a while, we could say, “You are physically taller and heavier than the last time I saw you.” But what we usually say is, “You are getting so big!” By saying this, we move beyond the physical to the social parameters, and we are encouraging the child to continue to take those steps towards becoming a responsible member of society.

When that child starts school, we could observe that they are learning new things that they did not know before, and that there is a lot more than needs to be learned. But what we usually say is “You are getting so smart!” This not only affirms what they have learned, but the importance of learning more.

When an adolescent goes through their growth spurt, we could observe that they are participating in a natural phenomenon that is part of the maturation process. But what we usually say is, “You are getting to be so grown up.” This simple phrase tells them that they are moving towards taking their place in adult society, and that we look forward to this new stage in their life.

Whether it is said between a parent and child, or between husband and wife, or between two people in a new and exciting relationship, we could say that we affirm the sense of bonding between us, and that this is a significant relationship that we are invested in keeping. But what we usually say is “I love you so much.” We move this beyond “you have a place in my household, or in my calendar, or in my considerations,” to “you have a place in my heart, and wherever I go, you are with me.”

Finding a way to add the two-letter word “so” can mean so much to the people we are talking with. But adding this two-letter word isn’t always a happy thing.

When we feel upset about a situation, and we are convinced that the other party is not going to change in ways that will please us, we could say that we are resolved to seeing this through to an appropriate resolution. But what we usually say is “So, that’s the way it’s going to be, is it?” We have moved beyond being upset, to drawing the line and declaring that this is a war that we intend to fight until we are victorious and the other side is clear about their defeat.

When we are upset with a person, we could carefully explain our sense of betrayal or frustration, pointing to specific behaviors that can be changed and actions that can be taken to provide a solution that can lead down the path to increased trust and harmonious living. But what we usually say is “I am so angry with you right now.” Sometimes, we add a qualifier -- “I am so angry, I don’t even want to talk to you, or look at you right now.” We are declaring that the relationship itself is in danger, teetering on the brink where anything, even an apology, would send it crashing, but that some serious work needs to be done after we have had a chance to cool down.

When we have identified a mistake or an injustice that we thought should have been confessed before this moment, we could calmly indicate that clear communication tends to lessen the impact of mistakes in relationships, and that timeliness indicates that the relationship is more important than any immediate fallout from the action. But what we usually say is “So, it was you all along, and you never said anything about it.” We are declaring that we are resetting the clock – it doesn’t matter how long ago the mistake was made, or how much good has been done in the interim, the time for being angry and hurt starts now.

Two little letters to form the word “so.” Two little letters that can magnify and amplify what we are trying to say. Two little letters that can indicate either a great good or a great loss.

Now that we are aware of these uses of the word “so,” listen again to this verse in our scripture reading: For God so loved the world. The gospel writer could have stopped right there, and we would know that God is going to take care of us. We wouldn’t know the details, but we would know that it is all going to work out. The rest of the verse simply fills in the blanks: that God gave God’s only Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish but may have eternal life. Because God so loves the world, even though we so don’t deserve it, God gives us Jesus so that we may know that we are forgiven, and accepted, and valued as God’s own children.

After centuries of being told by the priests that they were “so” going to get it because of their sin, can you feel the joy and relief of Nicodemus at being told that God so loved the world? And more than relief, can you feel the love that Nicodemus must now have for God? It is like a light of hope shining in the darkness, a light that guides us and directs us and gives us meaning and purpose. It is a love that lifts us up when we are down, heals us when we are sick, finds us when we are lost, comforts us when we fail, and strengthens us to do for others what Jesus has done for us. That kind of love is so worth getting a hole in your foot!

Jesus is the gift that God gives to us, because God so loves us. Let us affirm that we are so glad that we have received this gift!

FWS 2151 “I’m So Glad Jesus Lifted Me”