The philosopher Rene Girard explored this theme in the Bible, linking it to his studies of mimetic desire in human cultures. Our mimetic desires cause rivalry, fear, and hatred toward others who become our competition rather than our brother/sister. In order to secure ourselves, we scapegoat and blame them, often subconsciously. Both individuals and entire cultures do this as a way of self-preservation. When a scapegoat is chosen, labeled, and cast out or even killed, we feel the "problem" has gone away, order has been restored, and we can live in "peace" again, at least for a while.
Again, there is a plethora of research and writing on this subject, which I am drawing from. It is certainly not unique to my thinking, but I have found it to be very helpful and revelatory for my own life, so I am presenting it in my own words through this blog series.
It might be helpful to read (part 1) and (part 2) of this series of posts before continuing, if you haven't already.
The "scapegoat mechanism," as Girard called it, is something that is largely hidden in human cultures. We do not notice how prevalent it is and why it is happening until it is pointed out and revealed to us. It is so natural to our condition that we often lack the imagination to think any different. That is why we need revelation about it, to bring the unconscious into consciousness.
Girard contended that the scapegoat mechanism is one of those truths that Jesus came to reveal to humanity, exposing it through his own life and teaching, and especially in his death. Through the story of Jesus, we can clearly see the foundational human sin of scapegoating and blaming, the accusing spirit of the satan that is natural to all of us, which leads to violence and murder.
Jerusalem was a city filled with tension at the time of Jesus— many Jews were upset at the mistreatment by the Romans, the corruption of the priesthood, the heavy taxes imposed— they were awaiting the Messiah to deliver them, and many believed this Messiah was going to lead a revolt that kicked their enemies out of their land. This was nerve racking for the Jewish religious leaders, as there had been several attempted revolts led by would-be Messiahs. Every time this happened, the Romans came and squashed the revolt, resulting in the deaths of many Jews and increased tensions between the Jews and the Romans.
Jesus comes along, starts attracting a following, and pretty soon people believe he is the Messiah. They try to force him to become king, though Jesus refuses because he’s not that kind of king (see John 6:15).
This is why we see Jesus at points in the gospel stories trying to hide his miracles and healings, and especially his identity as the Messiah (ex. Mark 1:44-45; 8:29-30; 9:9) --he wants to help people but they are starting to get the wrong idea about what he’s here to do.
When Jesus asks his disciples who people think he is, they say “some say John the Baptist, others say a prophet,” but then Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter says, “You are the Christ—the Messiah!” Jesus says—“this has been revealed to you from above.” But then immediately Jesus warns his disciples not to tell anyone, and then he starts declaring that the Messiah is going to be betrayed, rejected, and killed—and then rise on the third day (Mark 8:27-33). Understandably, the disciples are confused. But as the tension mounts in the city, and Jesus keeps gaining a strong following, it proves to be too much for the religious leaders.
Notice this insightful passage in John 11:45-53...
After Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, the religious leaders are beside themselves. They say, "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation" (vs. 48). They have tried to balance faithful worship of God within the context of the oppressive Roman Empire. They had already been warned severely that more uprisings would have consequences. This Jesus figure is leading people to get stirred up!
Jesus becomes the Scapegoat
But Caiaphas has insight. He sees what’s going on and what needs to happen.
Look at vs. 49-53...
"Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life."
Do you see it? Caiaphas scapegoats Jesus as the one who must be sacrificed in order to relieve the tension and rivalry that has built up, and this will bring peace and order back to the community. So they plot to take his life. And John gives some commentary for the reader, showing that Jesus lays down his life to bring a new kind of peace/unity/order that goes well beyond just the Jewish nation, but has universal effects, reaching all the children of God. Jesus will become the last scapegoat.
So on the night Jesus is arrested, we see something fascinating happen.
The crowd takes on a dark power when the tension between Jesus, their Messianic expectations, and the authorities proves to be too much. All the collective anxiety must go somewhere, and the crowd willingly embraces Jesus as their scapegoat. The spirit of the Satan is a powerful influence in a crowd, which can quickly turn into a mindless, bloodthirsty mob… (see also Acts 19:32, when Paul is accused in Ephesus: “The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.”).
A sacrifice had to be made to appease the collective fear in the crowd and the authorities, and so the crowd demanded that Jesus be crucified. In this way, Jesus was an innocent victim to the sinful, demonic power that had manifested in the crowd and the authorities. He became the scapegoat to appease their rivalry and bring “balance” back to the people. Mobs will disperse after a good lynching. Tribes will relent after they've tossed a virgin into the volcano to appease the angry fire god.
How can people come to believe they need to make human sacrifices? How could Israel get so far off course that they came to the place where they sacrificed their children to the detestable god Molech in the Valley of Hinnom? How could an entire, sophisticated culture in the 20th Century come to believe that exterminating Jews was a reasonable thing to do? This is the surprising power, and the sadistic deception of the satan. It leads people to do things they never thought possible.
Jesus the Innocent Sacrificial Lamb
What's unique about the scapegoating of Jesus is that he is completely innocent. Generally, when people unleash their accusation on a scapegoat, there is some perceived sense of justification for it. It happens in families where someone is identified as the "black sheep" of the family, and usually for some justified reason. Or just as the story of Adam and Eve shows us, it's easy to accuse your spouse and overlook your own faults when you have problems in your marriage. Generally we feel very justified in pointing out all of the ways they have failed, while ignoring how we may have failed.
On a more national level, if a person can lump all Mexican immigrants into a group that includes "illegals," then it is much easier to justify a general hatred, disdain, and racist rhetoric toward all Mexicans, insisting you're just speaking the truth. Or because there are radical Islamic terrorist groups, people can easily scapegoat all Muslims as a problem to be feared. They are easy scapegoating targets, because we can point to examples of guilty parties to justify the scapegoating.
But Jesus was the innocent, sinless Son of God. He came as our healer, our teacher, our deliverer, our friend. He was Love incarnate. And humanity still scapegoated, blamed, hated, and murdered him. That is how deep our blindness is. That is how deep our compulsive sin problem is. And that is why we need grace, forgiveness, revelation, and a new, transformed heart.
Jesus was the sacrifice to end all sacrifice, the scapegoat to end all scapegoating.
I'll conclude with some thoughts in part 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment