The Heretic

There was once a heretic who took his students away from the centers of religious and political orthodoxy and told them to get their understanding from the birds of the air and flowers of the field.

The heretic taught in questions, not answers, and so became a threat to the experts of theology.

The heretic embraced broken and impure people and so became a threat to the moralists.

The heretic spoke of a love beyond boundaries and so became a threat to patriots everywhere.

The heretic stood nakedly human, luminously alive. His message threatened all who live behind masks of morality and certitude. His message threatened the frightened masses with a call to what they feared most- authentic living.

The caged birds of religious orthodoxy descended to silence the heretic as he attempted to show a way out of captivity. His sin was to remember the song of the human heart. His greatest “crime” was to remind the proud they are not better and the humble that they are not worse.

The heretic knew love does not awaken easily in wounded hearts. Instead of launching a moralistic crusade,the heretic said what no moralist wants to hear, “Forgive them, they know not what they do.”

In the end, the heretic was struck down, but those who embraced the crushed flower of love’s message- a message beyond creed or boundary- were washed in the perfume of kindness and have scattered seeds of hope far and wide.