Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. – Philippians 4:21-22
I come from rebellious stock. My earliest forefather, Adam, set a standard of rebellion for all his descendants. My brother John, an archaeologist, has documented my family’s lineage. Our ancestors were known for going against the flow. Many of my rebellious relatives were so contrarian that their neighbors burned their homes to the ground. Maybe some ancestors were saints and maybe some were not, but it is good to remember those who have gone before us.
Daniel Hoopes was a Quaker in Yorkshire, England. In 1683, the locals were fed up with his unorthodox religion, so they burned his house down. Daniel escaped to Pennsylvania on the 13th and final ship of William Penn’s fleet. The house that his son Joshua built is still standing. Some of his descendants joined another unorthodox (and false) religion, Mormonism, and had to flee to Utah to escape persecution.
On my mother’s side, a Scotsman named Abernathy fought unsuccessfully against the English Commonwealth. In 1651, the victorious Oliver Cromwell exiled my recalcitrant forefather to America. A Scotsman can’t reject a free ocean cruise. My ancestors settled in North Carolina. One of their homes is still standing. In the 1800s, their descendants settled near Holly Springs. Some relatives are buried in a Presbyterian cemetery there.
During the Civil War, my great-great grandfather, William Meschack Abernathy was wounded six times. He personally carried Longstreet’s last dispatch to General Lee. “Billy” Abernathy and his valet Simon, a slave who had served faithfully alongside him, were the only surviving members of their company and attended the South’s surrender at Appomattox. Billy returned to Mississippi to find that the family’s plantation had been burned. They relocated to Texas.
St. George is believed to have died on April 23, 303. He wasn’t English but is called the patron saint of England. While going to fight the crusades in the 1100s, Richard the Lionheart allegedly saw a vision of George slaying a dragon. For centuries, England celebrated St. George’s Day on April 23rd. My lineage has been traced to Richard’s rebellious brother, Prince John. Given the political and religious beliefs of my ancestors, they probably did not celebrate the legend of St. George. However, given my contrarian genes – in good-natured, satirical rebellion – I like using April 23rd as a day to remember the saints who have gone before.
What about your family? Our ancestors were all rebellious sinners. Some of them were also saints. In Scripture, “saint” means “holy one” – anyone set apart by the Holy Spirit. Saints are not a special class of Christians (not people canonized by the church) but all those who have faith in Jesus Christ. If you trust in Christ, it is because God had set you apart – you are holy to Him, a saint. If some guy named George had faith, then he is a saint because of the work of Jesus Christ, not because of the King of England’s dream. It is not believable that St. George is the patron saint of any country, watching over it – though at least four countries regard him as such. The Bible does not teach that any of God’s elect continue to serve in such capacity after death, and moreover the Bible warns against such superstition.
This Lord’s Day, April 23rd, let us worship the One who makes saints of the rebellious – the One who gives new birth. As He rescues, God does marvelous things through all the saints (believers). Even our silly and wicked forefathers who remained rebellious were used by God to bring us to where we are today. God prepared the generations that gave you life and preserved His Word through the saints of ages past for you today.
Every country, county, and town needs living patron saints – believers who love and serve their neighbors. God sets His people apart to draw others together in the name of Jesus. Because we are genetically rebellious, we need God’s grace. Adam was so rebellious that God sent His Son to rescue and rebuild the ancestral home for us to dwell together with Him forever. We are family; Adam is our forefather. I pray that you will be a living patron saint of this community.
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.
