The Easter Prison Break

In his Easter 4 sermon begins by reading Anthony de Mello's "Parable of the Fire-Maker" and then juxtaposing it with Luke's story on the road to Emmaus to examine two ways of understanding Jesus and his death and resurrection. One way gives life and freedom and the other imprisonment and death. "Our first reading this morning was Anthony De Mello’s parable of the fire-maker. The fire-maker is the Christ figure bringing light and warmth to those without. He is not concerned about personal glory but simply wants to share what he knows with others. In the first village, once he has taught the art of fire, he disappears. He does not want to patent it, profit from it, or use it to exercise power. Such was Jesus’ approach. However in the second village the leaders know about power. They think everyone is competing for it, and therefore the stranger is a competitor. The knowledge the fire-maker has fuels his popularity and threatens their own. So, in the time-honoured tradition of weak people in leadership they turn on the stranger and dispose of him. The leaders then create a new religion out of his memory, while making sure people forget the radical way that could bring light and warmth to all. De Mello’s parable is a critique of religion’s propensity to protect itself from new insights, especially those outside the elite’s control. Bad religion spins the stranger into a sinner or a saviour rather than takes seriously anything revolutionary the stranger did or said. Bad religion is not good news for the powerless but business as usual for the powerful." Full text at http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=322&id=723.