Copper Board

Something to Think About

Lodges around the world will celebrate the festival of one of the patron saints of Freemasonry, tonight. Now, if you were going to pick a patron saint for Masonry, who would you think would be the first choice? Surely, most of us would think it would be St. Thomas. After all, he is the patron saint of stone masons. But, that is not at all who was chosen. Instead, our ritual reveals.

“From a lodge of the Holy Saints John.”

“Erected to God and dedicated to the Holy Saints John.” - these are familiar words known to every Freemason.

And, the Holy Saints John are, as we know, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

And, each year, we meet twice on the festival of St. John; once for the Baptist and once for the Evangelist. John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus, so tradition has set his feast day on June 24. Legend says that John the Evangelist’s birthday is December 27th, so we meet tonight.

Have you thought of how different the Holy Saints John are from each other? About the only thing they have in similarity is their name and their devotion to God.

John the Baptist was very extroverted.

John the Evangelist was very introverted.

John the Baptist was a man of action.

John the Evangelist was a man of thought.

Tonight, we remember John the Evangelist. He was a Galilean. When he was a young man, he was impulsive, impetuous, and vindictive. Do you remember when he wanted to call down fire from Heaven? Jesus called John the Evangelist and his brother, James, the “Sons of Thunder.”

But we don’t remember him that way, do we? In his later years, his disposition mellowed. Just think of all that John the Evangelist saw in his life. Enormous changes took place.

In John’s lifetime, the Son of God had become the Son of Man. He had been incarnated at Bethlehem, baptized in the Jordan, tempted and proved sinless in the wilderness. He had healed the sick, cleansed the leper, raised the dead. He had made the blind to see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the lame walk.

He had turned water into wine, walked on the waves, fed hungry multitudes with a handful of bread. He had taught God’s truth in a pungent, memorable way.

He had been love incarnate, God in the flesh. He had been betrayed, falsely accused, manhandled, mauled, crucified. He had been buried, but risen in triumph from the tomb. He had ascended into heaven.

All these memories lingered in John’s heart the rest of his life. John was Jesus’ human cousin and for some three and a half years he’d been his best friend. John knew the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ as did no other person on earth.

He saw a new entity arise on earth, the Christian Church. He had been there in Jerusalem at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came like a mighty, rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire.

He was a charter member of the church. He had seen the church grow from 120 to 3,000 in a single day.

And, he would record it. He gave to us his gospel, the Gospel of John. He gave us three epistles, and he gave us the glorious book of Revelation. The apocalypse.

These experiences changed John. Today, we don’t know him as one of the “Sons of Thunder.” We know him, how? As the Disciple of Love. Or, as we say in Masonic terminology, “Brotherly love.”

John the Evangelist is so important to Masonry because of the lessons of Brotherly love that are contained in his Gospel and his epistles. And, even in the Eastern Star, it is one of the Epistles of John, addressed to the “Elect Lady” that later became Electa in our Eastern Star Ritual.

In John’s writings, he teaches us to subdue our passions, one of the first lessons every new Mason learns in lodge.

And, when you examine the life of St. John the Evangelist, you see just that kind of major transformation. He goes from being the hot tempered young radical to one who exhibits peace in his old age.

He goes from being intolerant of others to work with others.

And, his very life represents loyalty. He was the only disciples to attend the trial of Jesus. He was also the only one at the foot of the cross for the crucifixion. When he heard about the empty tomb, he was the first Disciple to arrive. And it was John who took Mary, the mother of Jesus, into his home and cared for her until her death.

The message of John is very straightforward - to know and love God is to obey His law; that the essential mark of grace is brotherly love and that the ideal life is to live in fellowship with others.

It is the man alone, divested of all the outward recommendations of rank, state, or riches, that Masonry accepts, and it is his spiritual and moral worth alone which can open for him the door of the Masonic Temple.

This is why, I believe, that St. John the Evangelist is a fitting patron; his living example of the Golden Rule, his practice of love for his fellow man, and his love for the Creator.

So, it is with a sense of pride that when asked from whence I came, I answer, “From a lodge of the Holy Saints John.”

May you and your lodge enjoy this celebration of St. Johns’ Night in Winter.