The last supper

The Last Supper - by Stefan Eicher (oil on canvas)

How many bombs have gone off now this year in our major cities? 40? 50? We have lost count - but are now at a point when we start calling up to find out what has happened if an incident occurs. This weekend it was in Delhi. How many more will happen? Who knows.

What is happening in the jungles of Orissa? We hear reports of armed groups going in and giving the frightened refugees who have fled when their homes were torched. We hear that these groups are giving ultimatums: (1) 'reconvert' to the Hindu faith and the refugees can return and they will be helped to rebuild their houses etc. (2) be killed on the spot. We are given to understand that some people are trickling back into their villages on these terms.

We do know that humans cruelty and blindness of hate continues to fester - and that people are willing to take the most brutal ways of killing each other.

Here is something that Stefan wrote some time ago as a reflection to his painting of "The Last Supper:"

When considering religious violence a central question is: “How do we go about achieving what we set out to achieve?” History shows that among all the religions, Christianity included, violence has at some point become a means towards achieving our end. Christ’s life, and the demands he makes on life itself, are however all-together different. His is the way of death, one’s own death, to bring about life. As in the ‘The Last Supper’ he is the willing hostage held ransom for Creation. So often it is us, those meant to be his disciples, who are the terrorists and betray our Lord and his way. The task of the redeeming all things, and the carrying out of the call to truth, love, and justice, has at its center this strategy.