Oh, Now I Get It

If you walk the streets of our neighbourhood or poke your head into one of the shops on the main street, you´ll notice something. You might notice a little box fixed to the wall outside someone´s home or a small shelf in the corner of the pizza shop. Inside the box or placed on the shelf will be a statue or picture of a saint, likely accompanied by a candle or two. In our neighbourhood, the saint will be Saint Judas Thaddeus, the apostle of Jesus. He will be dressed in white and green and have a flame of fire above his head. 

Other communities will have other saints adorning their homes and stores, and of course, everyone will have images of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Some people go all out in their devotion (i.e. worship) of the saint – they walk in a pilgrimage to a town an hour’s drive away or hold a big party with music and dancing and piñatas. Others keep the saints around mostly out of tradition and perhaps for a little luck. In any case, the saints are popular. 

For someone who did not grow up with the saints, it may be hard to understand their popularity. It has always seemed fairly obvious to me that the best way to be heard by God is to pray directly to Jesus, and any intercession by a saint was wholly unnecessary. But of course, I didn´t grow up in Mexico, nor am I a Roman Catholic. Yet, for those who did grow up in Mexico and who are Roman Catholic, nothing could be more normal than a picture of the Virgin in your living room or setting off a few firecrackers on your Saint´s day. 

When you see someone come to realize the foolishness of following the saints, it is a beautiful moment. I recently witnessed this firsthand during a bible study I have with a young man from our neighbourhood. Through our study of the gospel of Mark, we have talked on many occasions about the errors within the Roman Catholic Church and the problems with many of its traditions. 

I don´t recall what we were studying on this particular occasion, but we got on the topic of the saints. After talking for a bit about the importance of following Jesus and listening to his words, the young man stopped to think for a bit and then he said: “It’s curious that the followers of Jesus are more popular than Jesus himself”

I wanted to pump my fist and yell “Amen! Now you get it.” This young man had expressed so clearly and succinctly what so many Mexicans have a hard time seeing. The saints have surpassed Jesus Christ in popularity and worship! 

To be sure, many of the traditions of Mexico are beautiful and rich with meaning, while also being more or less religiously neutral. However, the traditions related to the veneration of saints are not neutral. Instead of bringing glory to Christ and fostering a deeper communion with our Saviour, the tradition of the saints robs Christ of his glory by redirecting people away from Him and towards fallible, human saints. The end result? The saints are more popular than Jesus.

So, we keep praying that the Spirit would open the eyes of many so that they can see clearly the foolishness of the tradition of the saints and turn instead to Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Mediator. We may not be able to place Christ on a shelf in our home, but that is a good thing. It means we have a living, gloriously real Saviour that is present with us at every moment!