THE VOYAGE OF THE “CHRIST BEARER”

The Voyage Of The “Christ Bearer”

Why would anyone sail west to get to the east?

IN 1451 a boy named Cristoforo Colombo was born in Genoa. We know him as Christopher Columbus. “Christopher” means “Christ Bearer,” and he was undoubtedly named after St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. In those days people took the meaning of their name seriously, and Columbus took his name as a sign that he was to bear the name of Christ across the seas to those who didn’t know him.

By the age of twenty, Columbus had already experienced shipwreck off the coast of Portugal. After making it to shore, he joined his brother in Lisbon. By 1484 the two brothers were employed as mapmakers. Columbus became convinced that the shortcut to the Orient was west. He calculated that the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan was 2,760 miles. He had obviously figured wrong, but God knew there was something important to discover just 150 miles farther than where Columbus thought Japan would be.

Columbus made a proposal to King John II of Portugal that he finance a westward expedition to the Orient but was turned down. He then became convinced that God wanted King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to be his sponsors. They finally agreed.

Before dawn on August 3, 1492, Columbus knelt on the dock to receive Holy Communion before rowing out to board the Santa Maria where his crew waited. Two accompanying ships, the Pinta and the Nina, were captained by Martin and Vicente Pinzon, two brothers who shared his vision.

As his ship sailed westward toward the unknown, Columbus wrote in his journal Bible verses such as “Listen to me, all of you in far-off lands! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name. . . . I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:1, 6).

On October 9 there was an emergency conference between Columbus and Martin and Vincente Pinzan. The brothers warned Columbus that they feared a mutiny unless they immediately turned back to Spain. Columbus was able to bargain with them for three more days, agreeing that if they had not sighted land by October 12, he would turn back.

The next day the convoy sailed hard, covering the second most miles of any day on the trip thus far. That day, for the first time, Columbus was openly challenged by his crew.

By October 11, 1492, the men were tense and the officers testy, but Columbus was confident that God would soon reveal the promised land. Then a shout went up from the Pinta that a reed and a small piece of wood that obviously had been shaped by a man were seen in the water. Next, the Nina sighted a small twig with roses on it. The mood of the crew was transformed. With their eyes glued to the horizon, Columbus and a seaman briefly saw a light at 10 P.M. that disappeared within a few minutes.

At 2 A.M. the next morning, just four hours before dawn on the third and final day before turning back, the lookout aboard the Pinta shouted, “Land! Land!” There in the moonlight they saw a low white cliff.

Columbus was the first person to set foot on land. He named the island San Salvador meaning, “Holy Savior.” They all knelt in the sand with tears in their eyes as Columbus prayed, “O Lord, Almighty and everlasting God, by thy holy Word thou hast created the heaven, and the earth, and the sea; blessed and glorified be thy name and praised be thy majesty, which hath deigned to use us, thy humble servants, that thy holy Name may be proclaimed in this second part of the earth.”

Reflection

To what extent do you believe that God was involved in Columbus’s discovery of America, this “second part of the earth”? Do you believe Columbus was sincere in desiring the spread the gospel? Do you see any relationship between Columbus’s goal and the later success of the gospel in the Americas?

Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession.

Psalm 2:8