Friends
Peace be with you.
Have you ever heard the story of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers and lost souls? According to a legendary account of his life, while serving the king of Canaan, Christopher decided to go and serve "the greatest king there was". He went to his king, who was reputed to be the greatest, but one day he saw the king cross himself at the mention of the devil.So he went in search of the devil so he could serve him. He came across a band of marauders, really bad guys, one of whom declared himself to be the devil. So Christopher decided to serve him. But when he saw his new master avoid a cross by the side of the road and found out that the devil feared Christ, he left him and inquired from people where to find Christ. After inquiring of many people how to find Jesus, he found everyone pointing him in the direction of a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith. Christopher asked him how he could serve Christ. When the hermit suggested fasting and prayer, Christopher told him he wasn’t interested in that. The hermit then suggested that because of his size and strength Christopher could serve Christ by assisting people to cross a dangerous river, where people were being swept away in the current or drowning in the attempt. The hermit promised that this service would be pleasing to Christ.
After Christopher had performed this service for some time, a little child came to him to ask him to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river seemed to become deeper and deeper and the child seemed as heavy as lead, so much that Christopher could scarcely carry him and found himself nearly drowning. When he finally reached the other side, he said to the child: "You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were." The child replied: "You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but Him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work." At this, the child vanished.
I think what attracts us to this story is the idea that Christopher gets duped by Jesus. He wants to serve the most powerful person and, ye, he finds that he’s isn’t even strong enough to carry a child across a stream. I would guess a fair number of parents can sympathize with Christopher on this accound. You think you have children to be able to pass on your wisdom and knowledge and quickly find you spend most of the time making sure they don’t hurt themselves and aren’t lying in their own filth.
I feel like this feeling is connected to St. John the Baptist in today’s Gospel. We know from the Gospel of Luke that St. John was the cousin of Jesus. We know that Mary went to be with Elizabeth, John’s mother, when she found out they were both pregnant. What we don’t know, and is not clear from any descriptions found in Sacred Scripture, is what happened after that. In other words, we don’t know about any of the interactions that happened between Jesus and his cousin John before Jesus was baptized by him. This may be because John and Jesus didn’t interact much before this. Geography may have played a part in this. Jesus was from Nazareth, which is in the north of Gallilee and John the Baptist was raised in Jerusalem or somewhere close enough to the Temple that his Father, Zechariah, could have gotten to the Temple to carry out his priestly duties. What you may not know is that Herod the Great, at one point, removed the high priests and replaced them with some that would agree with him. Herod the Great had quintupled the size of the Temple, but some of the high priests felt he had overstepped his bounds and started speaking out against him and against Rome in general so Herod replaced them.
We know all of this because of some writings that were unearthed in caves around the Dead Sea, to the extreme south of Israel, or the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most of the scrolls contain some of the most ancient versions of Sacred Scripture that exist. However, there are a few that indicated a kind of communal living of individuals who have been uprooted from Jerusalem by Rome. It’s possible, as some scholars have speculated, that John the Baptist was taken by his aging parents to live with this community deliberately disconnected from his family and the rest of society out of fear of Rome. One reason why this is attractive is because the community near the Dead Sea, unable to sacrifice animals for the forgiveness of their sins, emphasized an alternative tradition, ritual bathing, for the washing away of sins. That may be how John the Baptizer found himself in the middle of the desert, dressed in wild clothes like that of a religious order, fasting in a way St. Christopher never could, staring into the eyes of the Messiah for whom he had been telling people to prepare without recognizing the man as his cousin.
John’s reaction is the kind of humility that comes with being in the presence of stardom. It’s the kind of feeling you get if you go to a live concert by your favorite musician or musical group and get to see live someone you’ve only seen on Youtube. Still, I can’t help but wonder how John knew Jesus was the messiah while St. Christopher had not clue. What made Jesus stand out for John and not at all to Christopher.
I think it has to do with their expectations. Christopher was expecting a tough guy, a powerful king who could wipe out nations. John the Baptist is expecting one whom God had chosen, one closer to the first reading in Isaiah who won’t raise his voice or break a bruised reed or snuff our a smoldering wick. John had so immersed himself in Sacred Scripture that he knew the source of true power, unlike St. Christopher who though true power came from strength.
Still, I think it’s important to also pay attention to what unites St. John the Baptist and St. Christopher. In both cases, it was when they were in humble, loving service of others that they encountered Jesus. Both of these men may have benefited from the wisdom of St. Teresa of Calcutta, who looked into the decaying faces of lepers and saw the face of Christ. She could see how important it was to see service to the poor as, ultimately, service to Christ. In just the same way, each of us are called to serve one another and, so, serve Christ. How is God calling you to humble service of his Son in service offered to his little ones.
Peace be with you.
Have you ever heard the story of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers and lost souls? According to a legendary account of his life, while serving the king of Canaan, Christopher decided to go and serve "the greatest king there was". He went to his king, who was reputed to be the greatest, but one day he saw the king cross himself at the mention of the devil.So he went in search of the devil so he could serve him. He came across a band of marauders, really bad guys, one of whom declared himself to be the devil. So Christopher decided to serve him. But when he saw his new master avoid a cross by the side of the road and found out that the devil feared Christ, he left him and inquired from people where to find Christ. After inquiring of many people how to find Jesus, he found everyone pointing him in the direction of a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith. Christopher asked him how he could serve Christ. When the hermit suggested fasting and prayer, Christopher told him he wasn’t interested in that. The hermit then suggested that because of his size and strength Christopher could serve Christ by assisting people to cross a dangerous river, where people were being swept away in the current or drowning in the attempt. The hermit promised that this service would be pleasing to Christ.
After Christopher had performed this service for some time, a little child came to him to ask him to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river seemed to become deeper and deeper and the child seemed as heavy as lead, so much that Christopher could scarcely carry him and found himself nearly drowning. When he finally reached the other side, he said to the child: "You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were." The child replied: "You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but Him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work." At this, the child vanished.
I think what attracts us to this story is the idea that Christopher gets duped by Jesus. He wants to serve the most powerful person and, ye, he finds that he’s isn’t even strong enough to carry a child across a stream. I would guess a fair number of parents can sympathize with Christopher on this accound. You think you have children to be able to pass on your wisdom and knowledge and quickly find you spend most of the time making sure they don’t hurt themselves and aren’t lying in their own filth.
I feel like this feeling is connected to St. John the Baptist in today’s Gospel. We know from the Gospel of Luke that St. John was the cousin of Jesus. We know that Mary went to be with Elizabeth, John’s mother, when she found out they were both pregnant. What we don’t know, and is not clear from any descriptions found in Sacred Scripture, is what happened after that. In other words, we don’t know about any of the interactions that happened between Jesus and his cousin John before Jesus was baptized by him. This may be because John and Jesus didn’t interact much before this. Geography may have played a part in this. Jesus was from Nazareth, which is in the north of Gallilee and John the Baptist was raised in Jerusalem or somewhere close enough to the Temple that his Father, Zechariah, could have gotten to the Temple to carry out his priestly duties. What you may not know is that Herod the Great, at one point, removed the high priests and replaced them with some that would agree with him. Herod the Great had quintupled the size of the Temple, but some of the high priests felt he had overstepped his bounds and started speaking out against him and against Rome in general so Herod replaced them.
We know all of this because of some writings that were unearthed in caves around the Dead Sea, to the extreme south of Israel, or the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most of the scrolls contain some of the most ancient versions of Sacred Scripture that exist. However, there are a few that indicated a kind of communal living of individuals who have been uprooted from Jerusalem by Rome. It’s possible, as some scholars have speculated, that John the Baptist was taken by his aging parents to live with this community deliberately disconnected from his family and the rest of society out of fear of Rome. One reason why this is attractive is because the community near the Dead Sea, unable to sacrifice animals for the forgiveness of their sins, emphasized an alternative tradition, ritual bathing, for the washing away of sins. That may be how John the Baptizer found himself in the middle of the desert, dressed in wild clothes like that of a religious order, fasting in a way St. Christopher never could, staring into the eyes of the Messiah for whom he had been telling people to prepare without recognizing the man as his cousin.
John’s reaction is the kind of humility that comes with being in the presence of stardom. It’s the kind of feeling you get if you go to a live concert by your favorite musician or musical group and get to see live someone you’ve only seen on Youtube. Still, I can’t help but wonder how John knew Jesus was the messiah while St. Christopher had not clue. What made Jesus stand out for John and not at all to Christopher.
I think it has to do with their expectations. Christopher was expecting a tough guy, a powerful king who could wipe out nations. John the Baptist is expecting one whom God had chosen, one closer to the first reading in Isaiah who won’t raise his voice or break a bruised reed or snuff our a smoldering wick. John had so immersed himself in Sacred Scripture that he knew the source of true power, unlike St. Christopher who though true power came from strength.
Still, I think it’s important to also pay attention to what unites St. John the Baptist and St. Christopher. In both cases, it was when they were in humble, loving service of others that they encountered Jesus. Both of these men may have benefited from the wisdom of St. Teresa of Calcutta, who looked into the decaying faces of lepers and saw the face of Christ. She could see how important it was to see service to the poor as, ultimately, service to Christ. In just the same way, each of us are called to serve one another and, so, serve Christ. How is God calling you to humble service of his Son in service offered to his little ones.
