Kingdom of Heaven: Our Own Personal Crusade to Find Purpose and Do Right

Kingdom of Heaven is one of the best periodic movies to come out by the always excellent Ridley Scott. It takes place during the Middle Ages across Europe to the Far East right before the 3rd Great crusade. It’s an amazing story of bravery, treachery, honor, duty and war in exotic lands at a grand scale. 

Focused around the true life character of Balian of Ibelin, a true knight and exemplar of Chivalry who ends up defending Jerusalem against the noble Muslim knight Saladin and his grand army. He becomes the key man and leader of the Christians.

He has trouble when he first arrives in the near East, he faces off against a Muslim cavalier and is forced to fight and kill him. He ends up capturing his servant but releases him as he will ‘not suffer to have a slave’ even though it’s his right. 

Balian is told by the man: “Your qualities will be known among your enemies wherever you meet them.”

The irony is that this servant was apparently a great lord among the Muslims whose army he unknowingly fights and loses to in the future. Captured and expecting to be executed, Balian is released with the answer: 

“You reap what you sow. You have heard of this, no?”

Karma. Love it. And life in the long run you do see this happen. If you do good, it will come back to you in some form. It’s certainly something I’ve seen in the last 25 years of my career. Try to treat all people well. You really never know. 

Balian is an honorable character. He is noble, he always tries to do the right thing. But he questions whether he is in God’s Grace because he had killed men before. And his friend, Hospitaller monk and knight answers him: 

“Holiness is in right action. And courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness, what God desires is here (points to head) and here (points to heart) and what you decide to do everyday, you will be a good man. Or not.”

I think there is a great lesson here. Most bad and evil done in the world is not from Ill intent but from cowardice. Or doing the expedient thing. Doing the right thing is hard. It’s supposed to be. But you can do right in small ways, every single day as you find your purpose in life. As was said in the movie: “If God does not love you, how could you have done all the things you have done.”