“The Seeds of St. Patrick”
Original sermon given March 17, 2024, written and delivered by Pastor Jeffrey Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“The Seeds of St. Patrick”
John 12.20-33
John 12.20-33
In the name of the Living God and the crucified Christ. Amen.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! (I should also add “Happy Lent” or something!) For Irish Americans, St. Patrick’s Day has become something of a national holiday, especially in Chicago. Over the course of this weekend, people are wearing green, donning leprechaun outfits, drinking Guinness, and watching the Chicago River turn a particular lime green. Even my own dear 100% German-American wife, Rachel, has been known to cook corned beef and cabbage, on occasion—so we can all be Irish for the day, can’t we?
One great advantage we have in remembering Patrick, Missionary to Ireland, is that we actually know quite a bit about his life and thoughts. His Confession survives, so we can be fairly certain about some basic facts.
Here we go: you might be disappointed to hear that he was not, in fact, Irish (gasp!). Patrick was in fact, English, born in Roman controlled areas of southern Britain in the 4th century. As far as we know he had no particular affinity for beer (no, not even Guinness). He never once mentions Leprechauns in any of his writings, and so, no, he’s unlikely to have used the expression, “Don’t be making off with me lucky charms.” Very disappointing, I know.
Patrick initially didn’t even want to go to Ireland. He was dragged there: captured by raiders and sold into slavery about 403 A.D. He spent six years on that rainy island, tending sheep for his master, before miraculously escaping back to England. But while enslaved in Ireland, the Spirit of God worked mightily in him. His faith and reliance upon God grew, his prayer-life flourished, and God gave him a wonderous love to bring gospel to the Irish people.
Patrick’s lack of formal education meant the church initially refused to let him return, but at the sudden death of his Bishop, Palladius, Patrick was finally given the assignment. Ireland would never be the same again.
God worked through the weak things of this world—an ignorant ex-slave, to bring His word and His gospel to a lost people. They were baptized by the thousands in the name of the Holy Trinity. He testified before princes and chieftains, suffering much persecution and risking even death for the sake of the gospel. It may have been Patrick who first used the Shamrock, the three-leafed clover so common in Ireland, as a symbol to help explain the Trinity.
So I tell you the story of Patrick, not just because it’s March 17th, but because his life is a living example of what our Lord says in today’s gospel: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12.24-25)
Here Jesus, of course, speaks of himself. His death, like a seed planted in the ground, would mean the fruit of eternal life for us. Christ could have loved his life, holding onto it with all that was within him. But instead, our Lord emptied himself in suffering and death for the salvation of the whole world. What wonderous love is this?!
Patrick followed where his Lord led. He could have stayed safely at home, resentful of his slavery and mistreatment, but he took Jesus’ words seriously that “those who love their life, lose it.” This seed of sacrifice, implanted in Irish soil, bore a great harvest of the gospel for the Irish people.
Patrick was drawn by the gospel, just as we are (Irish or not!). The message of the cross: our forgiveness in Christ; the message of the Resurrection: our eternal victory in Christ—this word of the gospel drew him and was implanted in him. It worked in him a wonderous love to bring Christ even to those who had enslaved him. This missionary zeal so consumed him that he was willing to give of himself, and even give his life for the sake of the gospel.
In his own words, Patrick put it this way: “I am ready also to give up my life, without hesitation and most willingly, for his name. I want to spend myself in that country, even in death, if the Lord should grant me this favor.”[1]
It is the same zeal which the Lord worked in the Apostle Paul, who wrote in Philippians: “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me living is Christ, and dying is gain.” (Phil 1.20-21)
It is the same zeal which the Lord worked in the completely un-Irish Martin Luther, who wrote: “Faith is a living, resolute, total confidence in God’s grace, a trust so certain that it is willing to die a thousand deaths for its belief.”[2]
This same gospel is at work among us, this morning too. We know it, even if it’s easy to forget sometimes. We know it’s true, that only through death to the self comes fruit for life. We know that holding on too tight to self, and to the things of this world, and to self-preservation, and self-aggrandizement, and to self-satisfaction—all this makes a sick and dying soul. You’ve seen it in others, and maybe even yourself: a soul that can never have enough, and so never bears real fruit. And on the other hand, we know that only by emptying ourselves are we truly filled.
Jesus said, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also” (John 12.26). Let’s be with Jesus, seeds buried with him in baptism, bearing abundant fruit, singing of his wonderous love forever.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/confessions-of-saint-patrick/
[2] Cited in Martin Franzman, The Word of the Lord Grows, 144