Joan of Arc has long been a fascinating of mine. If you check, my first blog post was about the Saint who saved France. What is it about the Holy Maid that captivates us? She captures the imagination of Catholics, Protestants, and even Atheists like George Bernard Shaw who wrote a play about her and Mark Twain who wrote a book about her. How does this Dame (female Knight) from Domrémy deeply connect with so many people of varying backgrounds and even faiths? I believe the answer is suffering. Joan of Arc shares a tragic fate that The Knights Templar did, that Martin Luther did, and that even Jesus Christ did. All of them have in common mock trials, where they were imprisoned, and those trying them had the intent to destroy them. What makes Joan stand out is she was a woman. And not just any woman, a woman that had lead forces of Dauphin to victory and even gotten him crowned, who had saved France from becoming New Burgundy and New England. And most of all, she did this dressed as a man, in armor and in men's clothing, which I shall get into in this post, something I have not touched on before.
The Hundred Year's War was a bloody affair between England and France, with Burgundy on the side of the British. France was facing the potential of being a vassal state, being what Russia was to Mongolians when they conquered it, only with the English having channel between their country and the Lily Land, they could ensure dominion. Joan heard her voices, which urged her to find the Dauphin (King of France to be) and to raise an army to take back the territories of France, starting with Orleans. What made The Dauphin, the Future Charles trust Joan was she told him things about his life only God could know, this in Scripture is the word of knowledge, "To one is given in and through the [Holy] Spirit [the power to speak] a message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same [Holy] Spirit}" (1 Corinthians 12:8), which is to know things about people only God could know, like Jesus when He saw Andrew under the tree, "Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these." (John 1:48-50). This made Dauphin trust her and he did have clergy question her and test her visions were true, which becomes ironic at her Trial later.
Joan The Maid achieved God's purpose by getting Charles VII, the Dauphin crowned. Alas, she did not know when to quit. Charles wanted peace, to end the Hundred Year's War, and had no more appetite for what Joan did next, and when she was captured buy Burgundian, she was not rescued by Her King, and he made not effort to save her. This is a stark contrast to Martin Luther who are his Diet of Worms which was to put him in peril like Joan at Her Trial, had the Common People's support and more importantly he had Fredrick The Wise, Elector of Saxony, and Spalatin an Excellency, and many other powerful friends who kept him from burning, Joan had no such friends sadly.
Martin Scorsese presents an episode on]f Joan of Arc on the Fox Nation's The Saints (2024, to be clear Fox Nation does not reflect my politics, I have family member who has the subscription and I wanted to see the Joan of Arc episode). Its ironic the man who wrestles with his fallen Catholicism seems obsessed with it. The episode is actually really well done, the actress does a great job of portraying the Holy Maid as I think she probably was. Only Ingrid Bergman in her Joan of Arc film (1948) probably tops this performance. I was thrilled that in an after talk with a Priest, some people, and Scorsese, there was no talk about Joan being schizophrenic that people want to label her as today, when I believe she heard the voices of God, and Saints (God humoring her, sometimes he meets us where we are at, she was a Catholic). How could she have accomplished all she had, a lowly maid from a little duchy if God was not with her? She saved France, and paid dearly for it.. just as Jesus paid dearly to save the whole human race from the Second Death and Sin. I am not comparing Joan to our LORD and Savior, I am merely pointing out that the reward for saving people can be trials, torture, and death.
Now on to Joan and her wearing men's clothing. The Law of Moses says this is forbidden, "A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is utterly repulsive to the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 22:5). However, we are not under the law, Jesus is the end of the law, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes," (Romans 10:4), and under a New Covenant not the Old One, "Therefore Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant," (Hebrews 9:15), "Who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life," (2 Corinthians 3:6), and "In that He says, “ A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8:13). What that means is Joan was not breaking a law anymore, and The Voices told her to wear men's clothing and cut her hair. This makes sense for several reasons, she blended in for the battles, and it would remove the allure of a woman, kinda the "women are bad luck on a ship," instead for the army, because she looked masculine. Besides God has asked prophets to do strange things, even Moses was told to make a Bronze Serpent (Numbers 21:8-9), which probably seemed odd after being told by God on Sinai, "have no other gods before me," and "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.you shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." (Exodus 20:4-5). We have to let God be God and he may asks his Saints to do things that seem strange, but what you judge is the fruit, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7:15-20). The fruit of Joan is that France was liberated and it exists as unique nation which a wonderful culture, people, food, art, and more.
The Maid of Orleans continues to captivate. I do discourage praying to her as Catholics do, that is idolatry, she has no power to answer prays and do not venerate her in the Roman Catholic way. As a Protestant I say be inspired by her unflinching devotion to God and her sacrificial love for her country. That she chose to burn at the stake rather than compromise her conscience, Martin Luther would support her for when facing prospect of being forced to recant or burn he said, "I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me, Amen." (Diet of Worms). It is amazing that we will be seeing Joan of Arc and Martin Luther at the same Wedding Supper of the Lamb, for Joan of Arc believed she was saved by Grace and that faith in Jesus alone saves just as Luther taught (see my post, Joan of Arc: Proto Reformer, https://sirjeffreypendragonblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/joan-of-arc-proto-reformer.html)..Amen.
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