“The Sacred Encounter” John 1:1-18
Introduction
Ever since returning from a recent pilgrimage to Jerusalem I have been keenly interested in the Crusades. That is, the 500 year period during the middle ages when European Christians took it upon themselves to liberate the Holy Land from Arab Muslims. Everywhere one looks in Jerusalem the mark of the Crusaders is plainly visible. This is true from ancient city walls which were rebuilt during the Crusader period right up the current edifice of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was constructed by the Crusaders. The so called “holy wars” of this time period were not without serious loss of life and impact to the Holy Land. They played a major role in shaping not only much of the landscape of the area but also the shaping of the many of the modern perceptions of the people who live in the Holy Land; even right up to this very day.
The Crusades were a bloody period of warfare between the Christian Kings of Europe and the Islamic Sultans of the Middle East. There were horrible atrocities committed to civilian populations during these wars and the warfare itself was violent and cruel. Throughout its long history the Church has many times been guilty of conducting itself in ways which are horribly inconsistent with the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. This is born out from even a cursory examination of Church history. Whether it was many of the atrocities committed in Christ name by Crusader Knights, brutal wars in Christ name carried out during the Protestant Reformation, or the Salem witch trials, sinful man has misunderstood and misrepresented the way of Jesus time and again.
For as many examples of man’s misuse of the name of Christ and misrepresentation of His Church though, a great deal more examples of Christian courage, Christ-like love, and Christian charity may be found. One such example is found in the life of the great man of God Saint Francis of Assisi during a particularly brutal battle. In his book “The Saint and the Sultan” Paul Moses examines the account of the Crusader siege of the Muslim Egyptian city of Damietta in 1219. He recounts the events of one holy monk and his companion who, even though highly discouraged to do so by Roman Church authorities, journeyed to the very heart of Islam to appeal to the Sultan on behalf of Christ.
The author recounts from solid historical sources that the monk, now familiar to all of Christendom, St. Francis of Assisi, even preached Christ to the Sultan, his court, and even his troops. One need only have the most surface level understanding of Islam to recognize the incredible nature of this encounter between Sultan Malik Al-Kamil and the man of pace, Saint Francis. Al-Kamil was a staunch Sunni Muslim. It is a wonder that Saint Francis and his companion Illuminato even survived their first encounter with the Muslim guard as they attempted to enter the Muslim camp.
The record shows that as these two lowly monks, wearing rough wool tunics tied at the waist with a cord, were brought to the Sultan he asked them if that had come on behalf of the Pope. Saint Francis reply was, “We are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Saint Francis, the man of peace, the gentle but impassioned monk who is well known for his love of even the smallest of animals, implied in his answer that he had come on behalf of the Prince of Peace and not the Pope. The subtly of his answer was not likely lost on the Sultan.
For several days after this brazened monk, who had risked certain death, was kept as a guest of the most powerful man in Islam and allowed to dialogue about religious matters and was even allowed to preach Christ to Islamic troops, under the condition that he did not outwardly accuse Muhammad or speak ill of him. The peaceful conversations of these two wise men took place only a few miles from the Crusader camp to which Saint Francis would soon return.
In the grand scheme of the 5th Crusade the visit of Saint Francis to Al-Kamil did not make a great deal of difference. Although it is noteworthy that of all Christians it would only be the Franciscans who would be allowed to remain as custodians of Christian holy sites after the Crusaders were expelled by the forces of Islam.
Eventually the Crusaders did conquer Damietta after starving out the inhabitants and beating back Muslim forces. Of that cities eighty thousand inhabitants only eight thousand survived the siege; the majority having died of disease and starvation. The following year the Crusaders were driven out by a reinforced Muslim army, never to have penetrated so far into Islam again and never to have maintained their ultimate goal of long term control of the holy city of Jerusalem.
Transition
There are many lessons which can be gleaned from the encounter between Saint Francis and the Sultan. Plainly illustrated in this account form history is the reality that the true kingdom of God conquers not by military might, by the ultimate might of God’s love.
II Corinthians 10:2-4 says, “I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (NIV)
O that the Church of Christ would learn that we are in the world but not of it!
What the crusaders were not able to do by the sword, that is, to conquer Islam, Saint Francis was able to do personally in conquering the Sultan’s might by the power of humility and the honest offer of friendship. Even Saint Francis seems to have believed that he would lose his life in the process of seeking audience with the Sultan. In spite of his own fear, he went on a divine mission to a sacred encounter with the Al-Malik on behalf of Prince of Peace.
What papal power and the might of the kings of Europe failed to do by the sword, Saint Francis did by the Cross! Where mighty men of war sought to defeat the Sultan by the strength of their arm, the Saint accomplished his mission of peace by the strength of humility, the power of love, and the offer of friendship.
It is well attested, in fact, that even to the regular, historical, and modern disapproval of the Roman Church authority, Saint Francis and the order of monks which bear his name were encouraged at his bequest to live peaceably with those of other faiths as a living testimony to the love of Christ; the Prince of Peace.
Francis of Assisi was sent by God to make a sacred encounter with the Sultan, to speak of peace and love in the very presence of war and hatred. So too, God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, in the very presence of humanity war with holiness through sin, to make a sacred encounter to bring peace to our hearts and eternal salvation through the unmistakable love of God incarnate, God in human flesh, the sacred divinity of Christ mingled with human flesh, Immanuel, God with us!
Exposition
The sacred encounter of Francis of Assisi with the Sultan pales in comparison to the sacred encounter of God in human flesh that is outlined the prologue to John’s Gospel, yet it well illustrates what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
In John 1:11-12 the Scriptures testify that “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (NIV)
Just as the violence of the war between the European Crusaders and the Arab Muslims did not deter the Saint’s willingness to travel into the encampment of the supposed enemy, God’s Son was not daunted in His mission of redemption to sinful humanity!
Just as the Saint did not fail to seek to love those who were at war with the Crusaders, those who had enmity for his way, his religion, him personally, so too the Son of God, Jesus Christ, did not fail in His mission to bring the full weight of the reckless love of God to those who the Scriptures say are at war with God through sin and selfishness and abandonment of God’s will.
In Colossians 1:21-22 the Apostle Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” (NIV)
We who were once afar off as we warred against God’s holiness through the blight of our sin, have been brought near to God by the blood of the Lamb. God in His sovereign mercy has showered with love through His Son. The sacred encounter of God’s grace has come to us in Jesus Christ and even as mercy encountered us, we remained at war with love.
We nailed Him to the Cross, though unnecessarily, as His the sacred love with which He showered the world was enough to keep Him bound to its shameful lumber! The gentle hands which embraced and healed sinful humanity in sacred love were torn apart by the nails of the arrogant rebellion of humanity!
We waged war against the very sacred one whom was sent by God to heal our afflictions, to free us from the shackles of sin, and yet, it was through the violence of that Cross that Christ won for us redemption and God offered unto us the sweet precious gift of divine grace; the sacred mystery of violent grace.
In Bethlehem’s manger lay the King of glory who was adored. On Calvary’s Cross hang the spotless Lamb of redemption who though scorned, though persecuted, demonstrated the depth of God’s love for His creation and the lengths that He will go to in order to reconcile His children unto Himself.
Conclusion
Dear child of God, the sacred has broken into our experience of this life in Jesus Christ. In Christ the sacred has met us where we are, in the here and now reality of this life. We not ascend to God through any staircase, latter, or instrument of our own making; in Christ the divine hand of God has been thrust into the mire and muck of this life.
The only question that remains for us to answer is what we will do in light of this truth. Will we recoil from His grace, continuing to nail mercy to the Cross? Will we flee from His love; continue to wound the hands of mercy that even now seek to embrace us? Or, even as the Sultan received the sacred encounter brought to him through the humble Saint, will we receive with all joy and gladness the King of Glory who has descended into the dark realities of our experience of this life, bearing the divine light of the compassion and truth of God?
The divine encounter has come to humanity in the offer of redemption in Christ through the receipt of faith. The divine encounter has come to each one of us individually and we must decide what we will do with it. The personal encounter with the divine through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ is the first step of the sacred journey of this life which is consummated in knowing the love and mercy of God in the daily experience of the realities of this life.
Fellow Pilgrims, you have been invited, you are being beckoned by the very love of God to strap on your sandals, pick up your walking stick, and follow after the Master of Mercy on the sacred journey of knowing God. The sacred encounter has come unto us in Christ. What remains for us to do is to discover the divine daily as we walk along the sacred path of faith. Amen.
