Boris Johnson’s article in the Daily Telegraph Newspaper, some time ago now, on the issue of whether or not to allow Muslim women to wear the full face Burqua is still widely quoted as the kind of racist racist remark that can provoke riots on the streets. He argued that he was not in favour of a ban on these symbols of modesty, but used language about the the face coverings in a way that was heard to be demeaning of Muslim women, comparing them to ‘Letterboxes’ and ‘Bank robbers’.

This sensitive issue of the way we dress and look is just one of a number of flashpoints between Muslim communities in Europe. Recent riots in England have been fuelled by false information identifying asylum seekers as Muslim terrorists, and as a result, Mosques have become a target of ‘Rightwing’ mobs. How, we might ask has the Burqua and the beards worn by Muslim men, become symbols not of religious piety, but of Islamic terrorism?

St Francis and the Sultan.

There is a story told about St Francis who, during the 5th Crusade, 1217-1221, during which the Crusader armies attempted to invade Egypt, was sent to mediate between the warring religions, offering his life in order to bring peace.

Sir Hugh de Beauvois, who was one of the leaders of the crusade, sought an audience with the Sultan, Malek al-Kamil, the nephew of Saladin and a pious Muslim. The Sultan, in turn, requested that Francis, widely regarded as a ‘Holy man’ by both Muslims and Christians, be brought before him.

“Is he a madman or a Saint?” Asked the Sultan.

To answer his own question the Sultan pointed to the tunic of Sir Hugh de Beauvois, who as a Crusader wore the white robe and red cross over his armour.

“Let us see if this man is mad or a Saint” The Sultan declared.

“Let me have your tunic and I will lay it out on the ground in front of me so that he will have to tread on it if he is to pay obeisance to me. If he does he is no Saint, if he doesn’t he is a madman and will die!”

Francis was summoned, and on entering the presence of the Sultan he walked over the tunic with its Cross and paid obeisance to the Sultan.

“ Do you not see what you have done? You have abused your most holy symbol, the Cross, you are no Saint!”

“ No”, Francis answered, I am no saint. I am a child of God as you are. The Cross of Christ obliges me to honour you as of infinite worth to God”

“ You may leave my presence with your life for you are no madman” The Sultan replied.

So impressed was the Sultan by Francis’ courage and faith that he allowed the defeated Crusader armies to retreat and leave Egypt with their lives.

Bread and Wine.

Christ spoke of himself in terms of symbols - The Bread and Wine, but the symbols speak of a deeper reality beyond the rite which we now call the Eucharist or Holy Communion.

Christ spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, a statement that truly appalled and offended his Jewish listeners, and caused division amongst his disciples.

Many thought that he was speaking literally and indeed many of the first Christians were accused of cannibalism, but Jesus' words do not, of course, refer to literal eating and drinking, but to a living out of the life and death of Christ.

When Christ took up the five loaves and fishes the gospel writers record his actions of blessing, breaking and then giving the food to the people. In this dialogue that follows the feeding of the five thousand in the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus goes on to expand on his teaching. The breaking of the bread, he says, speaks of the offering of life to others.

‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’ John 6: 52

To eat his body is to live out his self-giving life so that others are fed and nourished, or as Paul puts it elsewhere:

‘Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice’ Romans 12:1

The words ‘Drink my blood’ can also be understood as an invitation to live his life. Blood was always understood to be the animating force in the body so to drink his blood is to share in the life of Christ, a life animated by a love for all God’s creatures.

Maybe it was this realisation of the true cost of following Christ, and not that the disciples took the words literally, that led so many to turn away from him at this moment.

To honour the symbol, then, means more than to reverence the bread and wine in Communion, however, we regard it, whether a literal or just figurative image of his body and blood. Honouring the symbol is meaningless unless it represents a living out of the life and death of Christ.

In fact St Paul tells the Corinthian church that its celebration of the Communion meal is blasphemous:

“ For where anyone eats and drinks without recognising the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgement on himself.” Cor12:29

By recognising the ‘Body’ Paul did not mean believing that the bread was the body of Christ, but that it was a symbol of the ‘Body’ of Christ, that is the Church.

When the Corinthian Christians ignored the poor in their midst by leaving them out of their elaborate Communion meal they were in reality, not just symbolically, abusing the Body of Christ.

Taking the symbols seriously, whether Christian or Muslim, requires us to recognise the true meaning of our faith. Yes, symbols mean something, but they mean something because they point to a respect for the dignity and indeed the divinity of all humanity as St Francis recognised we are all children of God, we all bear the image of God.