Medieval folks always did love a good pilgrimage. Grueling journeys had a way of proving the mettle of heroes, and far-flung reliquaries held forth a treasury of grace to any commoner willing to tread the pilgrim way.
The road to Jerusalem provided Richard I the way to earning his moniker “the Lionheart.” And who can forget Henry IV's treacherous journey through the Alpine winter to kneel before Pope Gregory VII in the snow? Medieval literature is filled with heroes like Roland, Sir Gawain, and Dante whose virtues are tested along a treacherous quest.
Pilgrimage is the unifying motif of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--a curated collection of 14th century virtue parables, bawdy pub yarns, and good-natured lampoons. The story goes that thirty pilgrims set off together from London on a journey to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The party agrees to pass the time in a storytelling contest. Tales filled with farcical antics, fart jokes, saucy bits, and an occasional moral ensue, laced together with rhyming couplets and ample British humor.
A virtuous knight kicks off the contest as the party leaves London. "The Knight's Tale" recounts two cousins Arcita and Palamon who turn from dear friends to bitter rivals when they both fall in love with the same lady.
Sweet Emily lives completely oblivious to the brotherly strife her beauty has caused. In her defense, the two knights had never actually met Emily--they merely saw her from the window of a prison turret where the two were serving life sentences. After the knights both manage to escape, Emily stumbles upon them in the woods fighting to the death for her hand, and she prays rather that the gods would let her die a virgin. Alas.
The two cousins discover the foolishness of their rivalry too late, and only as Arcita bleeds out on the battlefield does he exchange forgiveness with his beloved Palamon for the jealousy that turned their swords against one another.
As the story concludes, Chaucer hangs a bit of wisdom over the wistful scene:
"This world is but a thoroughfare of woe
And we are pilgrims passing to and fro."
The line is apt for "The Knight's Tale," for Canterbury Tales as a whole, and for us as mankind plodding through our fallen world.
The Scriptures themselves are pilgrim tales. They are the chronicles of mankind's quest to return to the presence of God and the Tree of Life—and how God himself had to come down as the virtuous Son of Man to lead the way back to the Father.
And yet, this world is but a thoroughfare of woe. We travel along a highway strew with sin, injustice, death, hate, violence, jealousy, misery, thorns, and thistles. We know that the path we now trod leads to eternal life, but in the meantime, what is to be done for us pilgrims passing to and fro? How are we to lighten our loads? How are we to brighten our path? What are we to do while we wait for our journey's end?
Tell tales.
This is the point of Canterbury Tales. We turn this thoroughfare of woe called "life" into a path of mirth and laughter through storytelling. And the Scriptures only further confirm Chaucer's instinct. The heroes and villains embossed on its pages, the virtues and vices praised and decried in its verses, the crimson yarn spun through salvation history are not dry facts to be enumerated, categorized, and enshrined. They are stories to be told—tales to be sung, lived, and breathed. They are the Bread of Life for hungry pilgrims.
At the dinner table, let us revel in tales. At the holidays, let us relive the old familiar stories. At church, let us delight in God our Scrivener. He has provided us stories for the pilgrim way. More than that--Praise God! He has become our fellow Pilgrim.
Grab Awaiting the Christ Child in time for December 1st!
Thanks to all of you who have already ordered Awaiting the Christ Child on Amazon! Would you believe you all made it a #1 New Release? So fun! If you are still on the hunt for an accessible, mercifully short advent devotional that works great right after dinner, during morning coffee, or as you tuck the kids in, this is it! Capture the anticipation of the season with the hope of the Old Testament and join the Ashbys as we await the Christ Child together.