Who are you inspiring to be a saint?

Iron Sharpens Iron

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" - Proverbs 27:17; a well-known and often-referenced verse in the Bible and something often used in men's conferences to emphasize the importance of masculine friendships. It communicates well the idea of masculine friendship, showing that we cannot live hyper individualistic lives and be good men on our own. This is a good interpretation of the passage and one that's been a traditional interpretation for a long time, but today I want to offer a different perspective on the verse than what most are used to. Not to say that this alternate perspective is correct or better than the other understanding, but to point out that there is another way to take the passage.

Typically when the verse is spoken about or used we think of a piece of iron sharpening another piece of iron. One piece hones the other, and that now-sharper piece returns the favor and makes the first sharper, and they go back-and-forth refining each other's edges. The common sermon or talk that uses this passage implies a reciprocal relationship with the pieces of iron, a mutual building-up that results in both the parties becoming stronger, more virtuous. This is a good interpretation of the Scripture to emphasize the importance of friendship and investment into each other. By building up your fellow man he will then be better able to build you up in return.

When you think of tools, each one has its purpose, speaking philosophically each tool "has an end" to it, a use it is meant to fulfil, a reason for its existence. For the blade its purpose is to slice, cut, chop, skewer, and so on. As for a whetstone or sharpening steel, its purpose is to sharpen a blade for the blade to better fulfil its purpose; or in the case of a dull blade, the whetstone or steel makes the knife capable of fulfilling its purpose when before it could not.

One interpretation I believe we should contemplate for Proverbs 27:17 is that one man builds up another without the hope or expectation to be built up himself. One translation of the passage reads: "As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." Countenance means the face or appearance of a man, but also means a person's character or their heart. In this translation one man builds up the other, and he himself is not built up by the other man, yet he sharpens him nonetheless. The first builds up his fellow man without hope or expectation of receiving anything in return, with only the desire to drive the man before him to become something better than what he is now.

I wish to present this alternate interpretation of the Proverbs passage not to discount or oppose the traditional idea of sharpening one another, but to have you gain a new perspective. Perhaps, in sharpening another, you will not get to see them go to work as a tool. In two men sharpening each other you will get to see that result as you both actively build each other up and become more godly men, it is constant and ongoing. But, sometimes that is not the case, sometimes you will only be near someone a brief while and so you will not get to see the results of your friendship or your "building up" of them at work. Or, perhaps your role is more that of a mentor, and you will do most or all of the work of sharpening another. There is a quote from a Frenchman in the 1800s that says "Blessed are old people who plant trees knowing that they shall never sit in the shade of their foliage." There will be times where you are asked by God to be this man, the one to plant this tree, the whetstone to another man's blade, and you may never get to see the results of your impact on this other man. But nonetheless, you are called to it.

This leads me to the question I have for you - who are you making a saint? You should be working on your own sanctification, as well you should be increasing the population of God's Kingdom by bringing more into the fold; this is the mission of all Christians. Christ didn't do all His ministry alone, He chose twelve men as His Apostles, as His friends, and He raised those men up to expand the mission. Raised up not in the sense parenting them, but elevating them with a mission greater than themselves. These men then took on additional disciples, additional friends, and helped equip them in the mission. He found His men to hone, and He made these disciples, the Apostles, deadly sharp.

"Go forth and make disciples of all nations." These people discipled by Christ went forth and made more saints by their witness, their brotherhood, or by their martyrdom. Christ, having taken bodily form and chose to be subject to flesh, He needed relationship, friendship. God is relationship, but that is a talk for another day. Christ chose these twelve men and He is God, so He did not need the blade of his countenance sharpened. He took these men and women, but today I am speaking of the twelve men, and He became a whetstone for them to fashion them into saints.

Once again, the question - who are you making a saint? Who is it that you are sharpening, who is it that you are inspiring? By your life are you directly or indirectly leading others to God? By your works are you bringing about the Kingdom of God on this earth? For you, who is your Peter? Who is your John the Beloved? While you are marching towards Heaven, who are you inspiring to follow behind you?

A lot of words so far, but I feel the best way to communicate an idea oftentimes comes through telling stories. That is what I have for you next, stories of those who have walked this earth and striven for Heaven, and those they have inspired to follow along with them.

The Thundering Legion, the story of a band of brothers

The year is AD 313 In Rome, Emperor Constantine the Great has granted the Christian people religious freedom and ended the official Roman persecution of the faith, and for the first time in the Empire the Christians are not forced to keep the faith in underground churches. But, other methods of persecution persisted. The co-ruler of the empire and rival of Constantine named Licinius was a pagan man, and he used his power in the empire to go after those that call themselves Christians. In AD320, to root out the Christians within the military, Licinius declared that all soldiers should make a pagan sacrifice, a common tactic used by authorities of the time. Those that made the sacrifice had nothing done to them and continued normal lives, but those that would refuse were to be tortured until they acquiesced, or killed if they remained obstinate. Many apostatized and made the pagan sacrifice.

Some chose to stay strong in the faith and disobey this order from the emperor, the most famous example being men from the 12th Legion. Forty men from the 12th Legion were stationed at Cappadocia, Christians all of them, and each one strong in faith. Each of these men chose to not make this sacrifice to false gods.

The 12th also had the name the Thundering Legion, getting its name in AD174 when campaigning with the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. On this campaign the Romans were exhausted by thirst and in danger of being overrun by their enemies. The men of the 12th prayed to God for His help and were gifted with a thunderstorm that quenched their thirst, as well as scared off the opposing army from the terrible storm that rose up. After this miracle Marcus Aurelius not only gave the 12th the title of the Thundering Legion, but also issued a decree that Christians should no longer be persecuted by Rome, though the religion was not made legal until Constantine. Henceforth the legion always had bolts of lightning on their shields to remember the great miracle from God. This is to say, the 12th possessed passionately Christian men who had a strong devotion to God, so their refusal to make the sacrifice was no great surprise to Roman authorities.

“We will not sacrifice. To do so is to betray our faith.”

Governor Agricola, the one overseeing the legion to make sure required sacrifice was made, spoke to them, “But what of your comrades? Consider – you alone of Caesar’s troops defy him! Think of the disgrace you bring upon your legion.”

“To disgrace the name of our Lord Jesus is more terrible still,” the men answered.

The governor offered them promotions and benefits to those who stepped forward, and death and torture to those who did not. The soldiers of the 12th were not moved. “You can offer us nothing that would replace what we would lose in the life to come. We have learned to deny our bodies where our souls are at stake.”

Lysias, a military man who had direct oversight of these men of the 12th and under the authority of Governor Agricola, as well a pagan, was then given powers to dole out a punishment so that they would make a sacrifice. And punish them he did, over a long period of time. The men were imprisoned in dark cells in Sebaste, frequently beaten, but they did not sway.

It happened to be deep winter at this time, and just outside of Sebaste lay a frozen lake. With the beatings and imprisonment failing, Commander Lysias resolved on one final measure to try convincing the men to give in. Lysias took the men to this lake and ordered guards to strip the 12th of their clothes and drive the men out onto the lake. To the surprise of all those present, the men of the 12th instead willingly removed their clothes, encouraging each of their brothers to do the same, with one shouting "We are soldiers of the Lord and fear no hardship," and another having said "What is our death but entrance into eternal life?" Exposed fully to the cold, these men made their way onto the frozen lake, joining together in song.

Lysias set guards around the shores to ensure none would run off to escape their punishment, with fires next to them to keep warm, and hot baths to coax the 12th off the ice. "All you must do is make the sacrifice then you may join us around these fires and enjoy a hot bath." Lysias beckoned them, trying to persuade them away from their impending icy deaths as the sun set and the night brought a new chill onto the lake. All the while, the men of the 12th huddled on the ice to keep warm, singing together, and praying in unison: "Lord, there are forty of us engaged in this battle; grant that forty may be crowned and not one be missing from this sacred number."

But this number was broken in the cold of the night. One of the forty found the trial to be too much for him and so left the other 39 and ran to the fires. He entered into one of the hot baths, but his body was so cold and the bath so hot that the moment he entered the water he went into shock and died.

The thirty-nine remained on the ice, resolute in their devotion to God, and strengthened by their brotherhood. Of those guards watching over the 12th, one felt inspired by the resolve of the men to keep true to their devotion to their God, seeing that worldly comforts could not sway them. While watching the men in the night, this guard saw a vision: forty angels standing above each of the men, holding golden crowns, ready to bestow it upon each of them upon their deaths. The crowns of martyrs. Forty angels with forty crowns, and only thirty-nine men. This soldier became overwhelmed, inspired by the witness and resolve of these men and desiring to know this God that gave these men such strength, he declared right there that he was now a Christian and would join these men. The now-former guard stripped off all his clothing and ran onto the ice, and was welcomed by the other freezing men. Thus the sacred number of 40 was mended and remained unbroken in the night.

Come the morning, all 40 men died from the cold of the lake. Their remains were brought to the shore and burned, then their bones and ashes cast into a river. Christians who heard of these martyrs scoured the riverbank for their remains and found some of the bones of the men then spread their story throughout the empire, erecting churches in the honor of these martyrs, and creating memorials to inspire other Christians.

These men helped make each other saints by their brotherhood, by encouraging each other. Iron sharpens iron, these men sharpened each other. The one who left their fold died separate from them, another entered their brotherhood and died alongside all of them. We all have a first destination of death, but our second destination after that is up to us. The question is not whether you will go to Heaven or Hell as your second destination, you should be choosing Heaven; rather, the question is who and how many will you be bringing with you to meet God in Heaven?

It is because of their brotherhood, and their mutual and shared devotion towards God that they were able to last the night. If these men had been tortured and killed separately from each other then perhaps more would have left the faith, but because of their brotherhood they remained strong to the end. If they would have not remained strong then that guard would never have been inspired to embrace Christ and become a martyr alongside them. These men were each a witness for one another, and helped each man of their group reach saintdom.

John Tarnowski, the story of a layman

There was a man named John (pronounced Yahn) Tarnowski who lived a humble life in the early 1900s Poland. As you'll recall, this was a tumultuous time in Europe with the two world wars taking place in this period of history. John is a good Catholic man, pursuing God, trying all the while to discern his vocation and be where God wants him to be. Circumstances got in his way of what we would call a normal life - his mother was very sick and needed constant attention because of her condition, and to help with the expenses of her ailments John joined his father in work to provide for their small family.

Because of this situation he was presented with, he never married, he never entered a religious order, he never became a priest. Rather than become angry or fall into despair, John instead trusted in God and saw that his vocation would be different than the ones he saw lived out by others around him. John became a consecrated single, dedicating his life to those in his care, those being his father and mother and others around him.

It is 1939 and the ideas of communism were rapidly spreading in much of Europe and began touching Poland. The priests saw the writing on the wall, knowing that communism was not fond of priests, and so they made plans. If there arose a situation where all the priests would be imprisoned, killed, or forced to flee from their communities, their plan ensured that the people would be looked after. John, being involved in his local parish and recognized as an upright and goodly man, was approached by the priests and asked if he would take responsibility over the young men of the area. They wanted John to become a mentor to these men and show them how to grow to become good and godly men. John took up this role and started prayer groups, each with 15 young men praying the Rosary, and taking the time to teach them how to pray to God well. Among the many lessons he instilled in these young men, one was "Love whoever is in front of you."

Many of these young men that John mentored went and fought and died in the second world war, and many married and raised good families. Of all the men he mentored, ten became priests. Of those ten , one man would come to be known as Pope John Paul II.

John taught the men how to pray, how to be good men, and how to resist the evils of communism. The fruits of his works were that one of these men would eventually bring about the end of communism in Europe, speak and write things that would change the world, and become a saint of our days.

JPII once said that "I would not have joined the priesthood if it were not for John."

Some of us are being asked by God to be a JPII - but most of us are not. We each have a calling to something great, and that may be a calling to be a great father, a great mentor, or a great friend. You shouldn't try to be another JPII, because JPII never "tried" to be an influential Pope, he just sought to be who God made him capable of being. Most of us will not be a world-changer, but we can be a John Tarnowski, or we could be one of the men of the 12th. We can be good men and inspire other men to be good, to be great. We can be the whetstone on which another becomes sharp and changes the world for our Lord.

One last time I ask, who are you inspiring to be a saint?

An article written for the Smoke&Flame Men's Night.