The Three C’s of the Christian Life (St Patrick’s Day)
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J31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’[b]”
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Philippians 3:17-4:1
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
Introduction
In our bible reading in Luke 13 and Phil 3 we read Jesus and Paul experiencing hard times thro persecution and rejection. Nothing hurts so much as to offer love and have it thrown back in your face/rejected… that appears to be what is happening to Jesus in Jerusalem and that appears to be what Paul is experiencing in Philippians and I wonder how does our Lord weep about our Island and how do we respond as people look everywhere but to Jesus who can give inner peace, meet needs and give eternal life. Three C’s to lead us through these texts:
Challenge
Compassion
Company
[1] Challenge
How do we respond to those harsh words ‘many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.. their god is their belly; their minds set on earthly things…’ If you know some non-believers (maybe even family), how do we respond? Do we give up hope for non-believers, do we give up praying? I hope not, I hope it fires us up to be more deliberate about our mission. It is our challenge, we can be an influence for good, a witness here in our town. Jesus would not run from his challenge ‘tell that fox (Herod) I cast out daemons & do cures …and will finish my work.’ Surely that is our Challenge this morning to see that we can make a difference here.
St Patrick lived in 5th centuary Britain. He was kidnapped and sent as slave to Ireland. He went to Ireland an atheist, but heard what he said was the voice of God. He escaped back to Britain on a ship. But returned to Ireland to bring the Good News of Jesus to the people who had enslaved him. Constantly faced opposition, threats of violence, criticism from jealous church officials, But through all the difficulties Patrick maintained his faith and persevered in his Irish mission. He didn’t give up on the ‘lost’ he rose to the challenge and I hope that inspires us today on St Patricks Day to keep believing and praying for Friends and Relative
[2] Compassion
Here in St Mary’s Hospital many are experiencing some sort of trauma: heartbreak, loss, persecution, tragedy, hardship and in these situations we are tempted to feel we have been abandoned but Jesus says these words of compassion…. I desired to gather you ‘as a hen gathers her brood under her wings..’
[Illustration] Have you ever seen a kestrel go after it's prey? The mother hen is often aware of the kestrel’s presence in time to gather her chicks under her wing. She squawks till her chicks are safe by her side. She fluffs out her wings and protects them with her own body. The kestrel dives and the old hen turns her neck toward him without moving from her children. The predator comes in again for the kill only to be foiled by the self-sacrifice of the mother hen. The hen is too big for the kestrel and the chicks protected.
For some people here this picture is very personal. This compassionate protection that the Lord describes here is for you. You may be that one who is hurting or like a little chick feeling feeble and alone. No matter what life can throw at us Jesus wants us to have this picture of him longing to protect us, gathering us under his wings – taking the heat sheltering us.
PS 23 I am with you when you walk thro the valley…. Hold onto this when trouble comes…
[3] Company
Paul says in Philipians 3:17 Join in imitating me,’ some commentaries prefer ‘become fellow imitators with me in imitating Christ.’ Become fellow imitators with me in imitating Christ. I interpret this as sharing in fellowship (not solitary), have Christian mentors. Enjoy company be prepared to get close to a few trusted friends.
Pauls tender words about his brothers and sisters in Phil 4v1 is a real insight to fellowship ‘Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord’
You need to have a few people in our life who you can share with. People who will say to you ‘stand firm in the Lord..’ They will help you resist the despair…and stand firm against the sinful nature and together be imitators of the Lord Jesus.
As hospital chaplain, people often ask very direct questions.
‘Can I be forgiven the things in my past’,
‘Do you think God has sent this sickness because of my sins?’
Very direct questions which gives me the opportunity to give very direct answers of a loving Saviour who has compassion and is right there with us in trauma, a Saviour who wants us to be imitators of him and to know him personally. Let us desire to be a people in fellowship.
Additional Notes on Patrick
Everyone knows about Saint Patrick — the man who drove the snakes out of Ireland, defeated fierce Druids in contests of magic, and used the shamrock to explain the Christian Trinity to the pagan Irish. It’s a great story, but none of it is true. The shamrock legend came along centuries after Patrick’s death, as did the miraculous battles against the Druids. Forget about the snakes — Ireland never had any to begin with. No snakes, no shamrocks, and he wasn’t even Irish.
The real story of St. Patrick is much more interesting than the myths. What we know of Patrick’s life comes only through the chance survival of two remarkable letters which he wrote in Latin in his old age. In them, Patrick tells the story of his tumultuous life and allows us to look intimately inside the mind and soul of a man who lived over fifteen hundred years ago. We may know more biographical details about Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great, but nothing else from ancient times opens the door into the heart of a man more than Patrick’s letters. They tell the story of an amazing life of pain and suffering, self-doubt and struggle, but ultimately of faith and hope in a world which was falling apart around him.
The historical Patrick was not Irish at all, but a spoiled and rebellious young Roman citizen living a life of luxury in fifth-century Britain when he was suddenly kidnapped from his family’s estate as a teenager and sold into slavery across the sea in Ireland. For six years he endured brutal conditions as he watched over his master’s sheep on a lonely mountain in a strange land. He went to Ireland an atheist, but there heard what he believed was the voice of God. One day he escaped and risked his life to make a perilous journey across Ireland, finding passage back to Britain on a ship of reluctant pirates. His family welcomed back their long-lost son and assumed he would take up his life of privilege, but Patrick heard a different call. He returned to Ireland to bring a new way of life to a people who had once enslaved him. He constantly faced opposition, threats of violence, kidnapping, and even criticism from jealous church officials, while his Irish followers faced abuse, murder, and enslavement themselves by mercenary raiders. But through all the difficulties Patrick maintained his faith and persevered in his Irish mission.
The Ireland that Patrick lived and worked in was utterly unlike the Roman province of Britain in which he was born and raised. Dozens of petty Irish kings ruled the countryside with the help of head-hunting warriors while Druids guided their followers in a religion filled with countless gods and perhaps an occasional human sacrifice. Irish women were nothing like those Patrick knew at home. Early Ireland was not a world of perfect equality by any means, but an Irish wife could at least control her own property and divorce her husband for any number of reasons, including if he became too fat for sexual intercourse. But Irish women who were slaves faced a cruel life. Again and again in his letters, Patrick writes of his concern for the many enslaved women of Ireland who faced beatings and abuse on a daily basis.
Patrick wasn’t the first Christian to reach Ireland; he wasn’t even the first bishop. What made Patrick successful was his dogged determination and the courage to face whatever dangers lay ahead, as well as the compassion and forgiveness to work among a people who had brought nothing but pain to his life. None of this came naturally to him, however. He was a man of great insecurities who constantly wondered if he was really cut out for the task he had been given. He had missed years of education while he was enslaved in Ireland and carried a tremendous chip on his shoulder when anyone sneered, as they frequently did, at his simple, schoolboy Latin. He was also given to fits of depression, self-pity, and violent anger. Patrick was not a storybook saint, meek and mild, who wandered Ireland with a beatific smile and a life free from petty faults. He was very much a human being who constantly made mistakes and frequently failed to live up to his own Christian ideals, but he was honest enough to recognize his shortcomings and never allow defeat to rule his life.
You don’t have to be Irish to admire Patrick. His is a story of inspiration for anyone struggling through hard times public or private in a world with unknown terrors lurking around the corner. So raise a glass to the patron saint of Ireland, but remember the man behind the myth.
