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Pilgrimage In Christianity
Wandering - Pilgrimage In The Early Church
What Jesus said…
‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nets, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
(Matthew 8:20).
All the gospels tell us that Jesus called his followers to renounce their home, their family and their possessions. This seen in many incidents:
- When Jesus began his mission his family seem to have thought him crazy and came to fetch him, but Jesus refused to join them. ‘ “Who are my mother and my brothers” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's ’ill is my brother and sister and mother!" (Mark 3:33-34)
- When another young man asked to join him, he said, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21). This is a hard practice to follow. The rich young man, when he heard Jesus’ instructions, seems to have decided not to join him: “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Mark 10:22)
Wandering and the Early Church
In the early church, the leaders of the community were poor and homeless wanderers. Take St Paul – he lived a vagrant life all over the Mediterranean. In Palestine, the early church had fixed communities, but it still venerated figures who abandoned home, family and wealth. There were wandering ‘Charismatists’ , figures who went into a trance and spoke prophecies.
*[How could you tell a real Charismatist from a fake one? Here’s what one text advised:
‘If any Charismatist, speaking in a trance, says “Give me your money (or anything else)!” do not listen to him. On the other hand, if he bids you give it to someone else who is in need, nobody should criticize him’!
(from The Didache or ‘The Teaching’, a very early text agreed to show how the first century church worked in Palestine / Syria).]
Veneration of wanderers continued even when the Christian church became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The early monasteries in Egypt and Syria were very loose organisations. Possessions were renounced. The first monks sometimes lived on their own, sometimes in groups, but in either case often decided to wander from place to place.
Why give up your security?
Why did Jesus and the early church value renunciation so highly? It’s a complex question. But if you free yourself from everyday worry and concerns, you can rely wholly on God, not on yourself. No social, material or political powers can get a grip on you, so you are not a slave to worldly concerns. Those who chose homelessness were able to show the world that their true home was elsewhere.
[‘They were aliens and strangers on the earth… they were longing for a better country – a Heavenly one.’ (Hebrews 11:13-15) ]