The Spear of Destiny

While the Old Testament of the Bible

describes numerous holy relics

including the menorah

and the Ark of the Covenant there are

also sacred objects that are mentioned in the New Testament

one of these artifacts is a spear

that was reportedly wielded by a Roman

soldier during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ

the origin of the spear comes from the Gospel of John

Jesus is on the cross the Romans are

trying to figure out whether he's dead

because there's a lot of pressure to get

him down and bury him

there was a Roman soldier who someone

told him stab this guy finish him off make sure he's dead

the Christian tradition says the name of

this Roman soldier who pierces Jesus's longinus

and there's a story that develops that

he's blind or he's nearsighted

and so when he's pierces the sight of Jesus

the blood and the water comes out that lands on his eyes

and it makes him able to see it's this miracle

because of course the blood of Christ is

this miraculous sort of thing

according to Christian belief when this

ordinary spear touched Jesus it became a sacred ride

and was referred to as either the holy lands

or the Spear of Destiny for believers

the Spear of Destiny actually pierced

Jesus's side and came in contact with his blood

for them this would mean that it

does in fact have some kind of divine power

because you can't touch the holy without

being changed or transformed

because this was the only weapon that is

said to have pierced the body of Christ

The Legend got going that if you had the

Spear of Destiny the the holy lands

you could not be stopped you were

invincible and a whole series of leaders

wanted to get their hands on it perhaps

believing God would then be on their

side and they would prevail

after Jesus's crucifixion one of the

rulers who reportedly came into

possession of the Spear of Destiny

was the 8th century French King Charlemagne

Charlemagne Charles the Great

Carrie the Lance in 47 Victorious campaigns

and spread his control over much of

France and Germany all the way into what

would now be Slovakia and Hungary

and so Charlemagne at 800 on Christmas

Day is crowned by the pope as emperor of the West

and there were a lot of people who

believed that the Spear of Destiny explained his success

is it possible that the Spear of Destiny

actually gave Charlemagne the power to

Vanquish his enemies perhaps

but if so then such power apparently came at a heavy price

Legend says that if you drop the Spear of Destiny or

lose it or even really step back from it

all of your great victories are going to

be as nothing you will just fall and

that's what happened apparently when

Charlemagne carried it into battle and

dropped it he lost that battle even

though with it he'd won 47 battles

was the Spear of Destiny responsible for

both the rise and fall of Charlemagne

today the Spear of Destiny is on display

at the hofbrick Museum in Vienna

where tourists can view this historic

object and wonder whether it really did

sway the fate of Nations for centuries

because of its connection to Jesus Christ

humans down through time and across many

cultures have believed in the power of

the Spear of Destiny so the Persistence

of human belief in its power should make

us pause and reflect on what role that

might play in these legends about

victories defeats and miracles.