Thursday, March 17 is observed as Saint Patrick’s Day, strangely celebrated with more vigor in the United States than in Ireland, the culture to which the day is tied. Like other western holidays, a festival originally intended to honor one of the most effective Christian missionaries on the anniversary of his death has become a celebration of make believe creatures (Leprechauns), talk of good luck, and overindulgence in beer.
Patrick was not Irish, but first came to Ireland as a captured slave from Britain. After escaping, he returned as an ordained missionary with a heart to contextualize the Gospel of Christ to the Irish culture. His desire was that those who captured him and held him in slavery could be freed from their own spiritual slavery to sin and death.
God used Patrick to spread the Christian Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus and a life empowered by God’s Holy Spirit throughout a barbaric Irish culture, and that, without bloodshed. Patrick and his missionary teams were masters at relating truths revealed in Scripture in ways easily grasped by the Celts, Druids, and various clans throughout Ireland. So effective were they that their theologically rich artistic expressions (Trinitarian knots, lyrical poetry, etc) are still cherished, 1600 years after their inception.
Patrick has never officially been canonized as a Saint by a Pope in the Roman Church, but based on his confession of Jesus and witness to the Irish people, most Reformed Christians are happy to brand him with the biblical title of Saint. The title is appropriate for all those professing Christ as savior, set apart, not by men or the church, but by God.
Patrick deeply loved the culture he was called to reach. Most of us who have been burned are reticent to engage those who have burned us. But Patrick, at great personal and emotional expense pursued the Irish people. He understood the pursuit of Jesus toward Him and couldn’t help but go and tell the good news that though we killed God when He came to us, He is alive to forgive, redeem and restore us. So strong was love Patrick had for Ireland, that he is considered the patron Saint of Ireland, and he’s not even Irish.
This is a good reminder for us as March 17 approaches. My hope is that we won’t simply mimic our culture, but pause to reflect. Do we have a confidence that God desires men and women in our culture to be transformed by Jesus? Do we love the culture around us, even if they have sinned against us? Do we strive to re-tell the story (not re-shape the story), in a way that our culture will understand? I pray for believers everywhere to embrace the Gospel in a way similar to St. Patrick, so that countless tribes, tongues and languages can hear the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven, repent, and be transformed for God’s glory.
