Called Out to Return

“Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”    —Mark 5:19

We are all still feeling pretty green these days. St. Patrick’s Day makes everyone celebrate even the slightest Irish roots. St. Patrick holds a great place in Christian history. Patrick grew up in northeastern England. His family was aristocrats who adopted Roman ways during the Roman occupation of England; therefore, Patrick spoke Latin but also understood Welsh. He grew up in a Christian home but was rebellious and an unbeliever.

At age 16, a band of Celtic pirates from Ireland invaded the Britons capturing Patrick and other youth as slaves. Patrick was sold to a prosperous tribal chief and druid where he worked herding cattle. As Patrick lived in the Irish countryside, he prayed, worshipped God, and became a fervent believer in Jesus. He grew to love the Celtic culture and became burdened for the Celts that they would also find faith in the Lord. After six years, a voice spoke to Patrick in a dream, “You are going home. Look! Your ship is ready.” In the morning, Patrick arose and walked to the coast and boarded a ship.

After several years Patrick arrived back home serving as a priest. In England at age 48, he  saw in a dream an angel named Victor bringing letters from his former captors in Ireland that read, “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.” God, who had visited Patrick in Ireland directing him to leave, was calling him to return as a missionary.

The New Testament word for church is “ecclesia.” It means those called out and gathered together. The original meaning referred to people of the Greek city-states who were called out of their homes to gather in the city square to vote. The same concept applies to the Church as Christians have been called out of sin and this world to be the people of God gathered for worship and ministry. The Church, like St. Patrick, has been called out of this world and slavery to sin to be sent back as missionaries.

One of the earliest references to someone being sent back to former captors as a missionary is the demon-possessed man from the region of Gerasenes. When Jesus and the Disciples left Israel and went across the Sea of Galilee, they met a demoniac whom the townspeople could not even control with chains. The man had fled civilization and lived in the graveyards where the demons would cause him to cry out and cut himself (Mark 5:5).

Jesus set this man free by casting out a legion of demons from him. When Jesus was leaving the area, the man wanted to follow Him, but Jesus sent him back. “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you” (Mark 5:19). We too, like St. Patrick and the demoniac, have been set free and called out of the world in order that we might return and tell others of God’s mercy.

How has God set you free? “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Once you are free “indeed,” Jesus may call you to return and share Christ’s love with others. Be careful; remember it took God 26 years to set Patrick free enough to send him back to Ireland. “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). We have been called out of sin’s slavery to return and serve in love. Let us go in God’s timing with His message of hope, love, and forgiveness.