Often on my Day Off I enjoy a visit to the cinema. One of the best films I have seen lately is Ridley Scott's KINGDOM OF GOD, starring Orlando Bloom as the hero. The film is set in the year 1186 - at the time of the Crusades and details certain battles between the Christians and the Moslems for domination and retention of the Holy Places - Jerusalem being the greatest prize of all. One of the most dramatic scenes concerns the siege of Jerusalem by Saladin - the great military leader of the Saracen. The Christians are in command of the Holy City and a battle of shock and awe ensues. The followers of Islam employ their ballistae - their enormous catapults containing great balls of fire. It is indeed a dramatic scene but the Moslems are initially repulsed. Saladin holds fire in order to rethink his strategy. He casts his eye upon the Golden Gate. Many a time in the nineteen nineties I have seen this particular gate in the ancient city walls of Jerusalem - the significance of this gate is that, unlike all the other gates of the city, it is completely sealed up. Tradition has it that it will only be reopened when the Messiah returns in order to reclaim the Holy City. In the film Saladin has other ideas and starts bombarding the Golden Gate until there is a breach in the walls and the two great armies - Christian and Islamic - clash in battle. Our hero and Saladin meet to agree terms - the Christians agree to vacate Zion in exchange for unmolested free passage to the coast and thence back to Christian Europe. The film ends with King Richard going off to battle in order to recapture the holy city.
One particular line from the film that has stuck in my mind is when the beautiful sister of the silver masked King of Jerusalem (he wears a mask in order to hide his leprosy) says this about the difference between the two great faiths of Islam and Christianity:- "The Prophet (i.e. Mohammed) says 'submit' - Jesus says 'decide'". In other words Jesus doesn't force His way into our lives - there is no compulsion where He is concerned - He simply stands at the door and knocks and patiently waits for us to respond. Who can forget that wonderful Pre-Raphaelite painting of Christ standing at the door and knocking? Yet Scripture tells us that Jesus said - "I am the door". Doors often invite us into a place of shelter, security and safety. So don't forget that great image of the door. For Jesus who is the door, unlike the Golden Gate in Jerusalem, is not sealed up - His door is standing ajar and letting us pass through into His Kingdom. For the door is a moment of transition, the door is part of the pilgrimage, the door is the moment of decision. And Jesus the door is saying - I am there in it, I am deciding with you, I travel with you, I am facing life and death with you. I am the door because I am the way.
Sometimes the Christian life is described in terms of perfection and arrival. But the thing about doors is that they open outwards as well as inwards. They not only invite us to enter into a place of safety and sanctuary but also to exit into a place of hostility and danger. But Jesus is still the door on the way out as He is on the way in. He travels with us as He did in company with those disciples on the way to Emmaus. Sometimes we forget that the revelation of God's love in Jesus is not a fortress to be defended at all costs, but a risk to be lived with all love!
The Gospels record that after the resurrection of Jesus the disciples were meeting in the upper room behind closed and locked doors, because they were afraid. But Jesus came and stood among them. The locked doors, the symbol of their fear, had no meaning for the Risen Lord, because fear, hatred and jealousy had conspired together to imprison Him with every lock they had, and love had burst them all.
The Lord invites you to join His Kingdom - to make it a reality "on earth, as it is in heaven". So, let me end with another line from the film the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN - "It is a kingdom of conscience - or it is nothing".
With Every Blessing,
FATHER DAVID