The Prepared Soul

 

I remember a great scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indy fights with a Turkish man named Kazim, from a secret order designed to keep the Holy Grail safely in place. The fictional order is called the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword. They’re Christian Orthodox and look to me like cross between 1920s gangsters and your local Shriners' official. It’s an appropriate reference given their cult like dedication to preserving the relic.

Jones and Kazim are on a wooden boat and about to be chopped into bits by the propeller from a larger vessel. Dr. Jones threatens to kill Kazim unless he tells him where his missing father is. He refuses to answer and Jones reminds him “we’ll both die”. Kazim responds “My soul is prepared, how is your’s?”

 The line has always stuck with me. He doesn’t say “I’m ready” or “My soul is ready” he says “prepared”. The word fits too. It implies a lengthy, committed process to becoming a specific person. You say “ready” when you play hide and seek as kids. You take a few seconds to select a spot and cross your fingers, hoping they’ll walk right past your cover. But when you prepare for anything in life, you organize and select and plan. Readiness is a state of mind but preparation is deliberate.

The Heavenly Father doesn’t make our place ready, He prepares it. “If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3) CSB

When Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps prepares for competition he arranges his diet, exercise routine, sleep schedule and practices years in advance. I saw a special on him after the Beijing Olympics (maybe 60 Minutes?). His dedication to excellence is impressive but it doesn’t come naturally. You get the feeling by listening to him that he doesn’t want to work this hard. His forced preparation is the difference though. He even sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber to speed up recovery. Elite athletes do the extra work, day in and day out. From the mental toughness to the diet and exercise, being an Olympic athlete is a lifestyle of preparation.  

Kazim doesn’t hesitate when facing certain death. Instead he bravely throws the pressure back to Jones. When faced with unyielding dedication to cause, what’s a man to do? Indiana Jones hustles the man off the boat roughly and onto a passing one before the vessel is completely destroyed. After the close call on the boat, Kazim explains his purpose and dedication to cause. There is a lesson there for Christians today. Commitment flows from preparation. He is a disciple (essentially) whose life is committed to protecting something 'sacred' and larger than himself.

The thing itself, the grail, is only an inanimate object. It’s an artifact of a time that holds no significance other than its relation to Christ.

If you study history from the Resurrection through the late Roman Empire you learn how artifacts became currency. It’s really idolatry of sorts and churches participated too. Certainly fakes existed, ‘holy’ objects thought to offer the owner of the piece a measure of security in the magic relic. The seller of a cup or chair, supposedly owned by Saint Peter, need not describe its powers. Just being near the ‘sacred’ piece was thought to be enough. The Donovan character in the movie represents one of these collectors, believing that some mystical powers inhibit the grail. He chooses . . . ahem, poorly.

Given all the known relic chasing from the Middle Ages, Kazim and his order are out of place in the 1930s. His preparation of the soul stands in stark relief to the surrounding culture seeking treasure and losing their own.  But where the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword protects relics we seek relationship.

As believers in Christ we prepare for struggle in life, but knowing that our Savior lives makes our commitment hopeful. We don’t protect the past, we prepare for the future. Ours is not an exclusive order it’s an expansive family dedicated to sharing knowledge of the King.

And so it should be for the church and Christians-the commitment to spreading the gospel. Our souls prepared, for we know what awaits.