Today is the feast day of St. Patrick which is largely celebrated in our popular culture with green beer, Irish whiskey, and cabbage – but preferably not all three at once, for your neighbor’s sake as much as your own - as an ode to the culture of Ireland. It also marks the day of the Jewish festival of Purim (which technically began at sundown in keeping with Jewish tradition). You may be wondering, “Cool fact, but what does that have to do with me? And why are you telling me about it?”
That’s a fair question. But I think there is an important connection far beyond the fact that both are popular cultural celebrations that have (by and large) cast aside their deeper meanings. So hang with me and I hope you’ll find out in a minute (or two).
I’ll start with Purim, which is, probably, less familiar to many of you reading this. The Festival of Purim is a one-day feast celebrating the deliverance of the Jewish diaspora (which refers to the spread community outside the homeland of Israel) from the wily plots of Haman, an Imperial advisor in the First Persian Empire. The festival itself centers on the narrative recounted in the Book of Esther which is traditionally dated to sometime around the 4th or 5th Century BC. To summarize briefly, Esther is a really interesting story about how a young Jewish woman is taken into the harem of the Persian Emperor (ostensibly becoming a Queen though). As often happens, pride, ego, and envy lead an Imperial official (Haman) to order the genocide of the Jewish people throughout the Persian Empire. After a short period of prayer and fasting, Esther approaches Xerxes (the Emperor) and wins vindication for her people and a dramatic reversal of fortunes. Their enemies are defeated and peace and prosperity reign in the land.
With me so far? Good! Now, on to our boy, Patrick. Some time around the late 4th century AD, a young Roman-British boy named Patrick was captured by Irish pirates and taken as a slave in that land for six years. He escaped, returning home where he began training as a priest. After a few years, he returned to the place of his captivity and began the slow, steady work of evangelizing and discipling the Celtic people. He was, by all accounts, extremely successful and came to serve as the Bishop in this region.
So…what do these two feast days have in common? And why am I writing about them today? If we can learn anything from the narratives behind these festivals, at least one thing is this: a surrendered will can produce outcomes far beyond anything we could contrive on our own. If Esther confronts the Emperor and things go poorly, she dies and her people are massacred. If Patrick returns to the land of his captivity, things may go poorly. He may be re-enslaved or killed. The point is, the good outcome from both of these narratives was far from certain in the middle.
And, to be clear, we all find ourselves in the middle of something today. I don’t know what exactly you’re in the middle of, but take heart: the story isn’t over. In the middle, you always have a choice: despair or hope? selfishness or generosity? fear or faith? rejection or love? It may be (and often is) extremely hard in this place. But if you hold here, in the middle, you can trust that God will work all things out for good.
To quote Soren Kierkegaard, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” And the one thing we can will in the middle of our stories is good for the God, ourselves, and others in the world around us. God will produce a good outcome. It may be deeply challenging all throughout the process, but he will work things out for good. If you trust him, if you surrender control to him, he will lead you in the way to go. As hard as it is, let go of all the outcomes you want, and then do the next right thing.
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