Saint Patrick and the Dreadful Snakes

A Pre-St. Pat's History Lesson


Genesis 3:14-15

The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

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"Snakes Alive" instrumental by The Dreadful Snakes [Bela Fleck (banjo), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Pat Enright (guitar), Roland White (mandolin), Blaine Sprouse (violin), and Mark Membree (bass)] from "Snakes Alive"

The legend of St. Patrick begins with his kidnapping from England and being taken to Ireland at a young age. He eventually escaped his captors and returned to England where he became a priest. I say legend because there are so many stories about the man with so little corroboration that legend is a better word than fact. Then again, there is often as much truth in legend as there is in fact.

Years later, Patrick returned to Ireland, there he began to spread the gospel. One of the things which evangelists today should take from Patrick is that he knew the lay of the land, he knew Ireland and its people long before it became "the mission field." I wonder if he ever thought of it in the way many people think of "the mission field." He wasn't a stranger to the land or its people. He knew what they valued and he knew how to share what he valued.

He was a captive and when he returned he returned with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Knowing the land, knowing the people, he took the three leaved shamrock and explained the Trinity. He explained that God was in three persons like three leaves on the clover. He explained that God was still one as the flower was one plant. He shared three in one in a way they would understand.

Patrick is beloved in Ireland. He is the Patron Saint of Ireland. By him, Ireland became a nation that worships the Lord. For this, I say "Happy St. Patrick's Day." But there is a more popular part of the legend of Patrick, and if I didn't go there there would be no reason for this scripture and this song.

According to the legend, Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland using his staff when snakes confronted him during a forty day fast. Fighting the dreadful snakes off with his staff, he was like Aaron before Pharaoh. Then again, since the glaciers receded and Ireland became a land mass, there has never been evidence of snakes on the island. Britain has snakes, but none have made it to Ireland. There have never been any snakes for Patrick to banish so the legend is just that, a legend.

Or... this part of the legend could have referred to the serpent symbolism used by the druids, and when Patrick brought the Good News, the Gospel shared by Patrick banished those snakes. See what I mean, not literal snakes, but the snake symbols and the druids who worshiped them. They were banished and the Lord was worshiped. Not factual snakes, but legendary snakes. Like I said, this is one time when the legend has even more truth than the facts. Then again, Patrick wouldn't have known any of this if he hadn't known the people he came to serve in the name of the Lord.

The War at Home, The War in the Streets

Luke 12:52-53

From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

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The worst things in the world
Are justified by belief

"Raised by Wolves" by Adam Clayton, David Evans, Larry Mullen, Paul Hewson, recorded by U2 on "Songs of Innocence"

The words of Jesus are doing something interesting here. Conventional wisdom says his coming will cause people to pick sides and Holy War will follow. I want you to consider something else...

Consider Jesus is just telling a simple truth here. Nothing wild and wooly. Nothing broad and theological. Nothing deep and intellectual. This isn't PhD stuff. Jesus is just telling a simple truth. When you pick him, not everyone's going to like it. Some will really hate it.

In fact let me add this little gem, if your people follow one way and you decide to follow another, you'll become the enemy. Islam plays this out with the Shiite and the Sunni. The Irish played this out with Catholics and Protestants. This song is based on four bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland on May 17, 1974. Three bombs exploded in Dublin during rush hour and a fourth exploded in Monaghan almost ninety minutes later killing 33 adults, one unborn child, and injuring over 300. A friend of Bono's named Guggi was there. The experience never left him. It led him into a life of pain and addiction.

Killing over God? No. Killing over the trappings of what we put forth in front of God. The things that pit father against son and son against father and so on.

Why is it when we read this it seems so stupid? It seems so logical that we need to stop doing this? Maybe that's just the next level of our Lord's warning. Sin is stronger than we are, but grace is more abundant than sin. Grace is greater than sin. Guggi is better. He's an artist now in Dublin. He's married and has five children. Praise God...and beware the wolves. Look for the truth in Christ, the simple truth is some of the best.

Kings and Kingdoms

John 18:36-37

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

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No marigolds in the promised land
There's a hole in the ground
Where they used to grow
Any man left on the Rio Grande
Is the king of the world
As far as I know

"King of the World" by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen recorded by Steely Dan on "Countdown to Ecstasy"

Steely Dan often wrote in odd and exotic metaphor. Written in the early 1970's, this song was the Dan's vision of what could happen if the cold war suddenly got very, very hot. It's a post-Apocalyptic, post-Nuclear-Holocaust vision of what's left of the American Southwest.

It's a bleak and desolate place, there are few people and no marigolds. Just to make this more convoluted, marigolds historically represent Mary the mother of Jesus and Queen Elizabeth I. Being the Virgin Mary and England's Virgin Queen, marigold in this sense represents virginity. That's what they mean by no marigolds, no virgins. What they mean is the world is a place of extreme violence where no innocence survives. There is nothing short of rape and murder left in the world.

As for the hole, it represents the bomb crater, or worse.

Is it any wonder Jesus says he is not the from this world? Is it any wonder Jesus tells Pilate that he is not the King of this world? He's a king, he's just not the king of a world that is willing to blow itself up several times over or willing to kill God just to maintain the way we've always done things.

This is the horrible, violent, graceless sort of a world that only a human being can create. God made the world, but what has been made of the world is something else entirely.

Jesus says that those who belong to the truth listen to his voice. The next verse has Pilate asking "What is truth."

Truth walked the world. Truth shared not just his words and his works and his wisdom with the world, he shared his entire self with the world. The truth is that there is no sacrifice to small, no sacrifice too large for God. God seeks relationship with creation. God seeks the reconciliation of the world. This is the truth. God does not want the end that is oh so easy to see coming down the road from the early '70's.

Our Lord is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. The kingdoms that we create are not the kingdoms God would have us create. That is not what God wants for this world. Don't worry though, this is not the Kingdom God established. This is the truth Pilate could not see. This is the truth we must seek.