My Sword, My Fortune, and My Life

Lloyd C. Douglas wrote several books at the turn of the last century that promoted Christianity. He was a devout Catholic and wanted to share his beliefs with the world. Two of these books, that I know of, have been made into Hollywood films during the time of the grand epic. Paul Newman, in one of his very first roles, plays a slave commissioned to create a silver cup with the portraits of the disciples and Jesus, in The Silver Chalice. Richard Burton plays Marcellus, a Roman tribune that carries out the crucifixion of Jesus in The Robe.

These movies are not like Mel Gibson’s production of The Passion of Christ. The sets, costumes, and special effects of these movies are not sophisticated. The drama is a bit overdone. And, of course, they are examples of the great Hollywood epic – that last forever.

Still, though, the stories are two powerful portrayals of the early followers of Christ.

In The Silver Chalice, the young silversmith, a slave, is commissioned by a Christian to create a wine chalice that portrays the faces of the disciples and Jesus on the outer rim. He is given descriptions of the disciples. He is talented, and he has no difficulty creating their likenesses on the cup. But the descriptions he receives from the people who knew Jesus portray a man he cannot envision. He cannot understand His motivation or His purpose. Every attempt at creating His likeness is flawed, and the boy is frustrated. Only after he is converted to the faith does he create the chalice, with Christ's likeness on it, and everyone says it is perfect. He needed a relationship with the Savior before he could create this masterpiece.

In The Robe, a Roman tribune annoys the emperor’s heir Caligula and is sent to Palestine as punishment, taking his newly purchased slave with him. They arrive in Jerusalem at the same time as Jesus arrives on the back of a donkey, waved through the gates by people waving palms. It is the time of the Passover. The tribune’s slave has come to believe in Jesus already, and tries to warn him before He is arrested, but fails. The day after Jesus’s trial before the governor, the tribune is ordered back to Rome, but the governor, Pontius Pilate, orders him to complete one more task: execute three prisoners. As the three condemned men hang on their separate crosses, the soldiers drink and gamble, and it is this Roman tribune that wins Jesus’s robe, the one that the Bible tells us was not torn but kept in one piece. The tribune is overcome by conscience, but as a good pagan, he simply blames his nightmares and his “madness” on the robe. The slave runs away from him and takes the robe with him; the tribune is sent on a quest to find and destroy the robe and report back to the emperor all of the people who are following this crucified man. The tribune searches Palestine for his slave and the robe. What he finds are followers of Jesus, and he becomes one as well. In the end, he loses his life when Caligula tries him for treason.

The words of the tribune when he is talking to Peter, when he accepts Christ as his savior: “I pledge Him my sword, my fortune, and my life.” Such powerful words. The perfect representation of what God expects from us. He wants our life, yes. He also wants our strength and our finances. With our strength, we share the gospel. With our fortunes, we help others spread the kingdom, as well as take care of the poor and needy among us.

“I pledge to You, God, my sword, my fortune, and my life. Let me one day stand before You and hear, ‘Well done, My good and faithful servant.’”