…But I know…It’s My Own Dang Fault.
Lent: Day 12
Reflections on: The Wood Between the Worlds (by Brian Zahnd)
Chapter 12: The Sacrifice to End Sacrificing
Just a note: I think I marked up this chapter more than any previous ones. There was so much good historical context behind the phenomenon of the scapegoat mechanism. There’s no way that I can adequately do justice to chapter 12 with this short post. I sure hope you are reading the book!
“Jesus is the innocent scapegoat who comes back from his fatal banishment. And the Lamb comes back, not seeking revenge, but offering forgiveness and showing us the way out of the satanic system that demands more victims. Jesus took all the blame, carried it down to Hades, and left it there. In his resurrection Jesus comes to us, not blaming, but speaking the first word of a new world: ‘Peace be with you’ (Jn. 20:21). Jesus has opened the door to a new world where peace can be achieved without projecting blame onto scapegoats.” (P. 121-122)
The sacrificial system that we read about in the Old Testament didn’t begin with the Hebrews, and it wasn’t God’s idea in the first place.
Before God called Abraham, when he was still known as Abram he was a part of a culture that already practiced the sacrifice of animals and humans. This was a pagan practice that ancient tribes and peoples all over the world participated in, which is amazing when you think about the fact that it was happening at the same time by people living on different continents, divided by oceans, who weren’t connected by the internet.
What could possibly account for this notion in the human mind that we needed to kill things in order to appease the gods?
Zahnd introduces us to Rene Girard (1923-2015) who he calls, “One of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. His discoveries in the field of philosophical anthropology were as groundbreaking as Einstein’s discoveries in the field of astrophysics.” (p. 114)
Girard is known for his explanation of the scapegoating phenomenon across cultures and continents, which he calls mimetic rivalry. The word mimetic comes from the word mimicry. In his studies of humans he explains that it is through mimicking others that we learn to speak, act, and understand what is of utmost importance.
Advertisers cash in the mimetic desire within the human psyche as they “Use celebrities to endorse their products” (P. 116).
What happens when humans desire things that are scarce, or there isn’t an abundance of? This is when mimetic rivalry comes into play.
Zahnd writes…
“This was the problem that plagued all early human societies - the threat of mimetic rivalry leading to all-against-all violence. Humans can only survive as a part of society. But how can the society cohere when its constantly plagued by mimetic rivalry and the threat of violence. What Girard’s theory reveals is the mechanism by which ancient societies expelled the contagion of mimetic rivalry.” (P. 116)
Instead of constantly warring with one another, and risking our own extinction, it made more sense to blame one person for the problems of the tribe. We call this person the scapegoat.
Girard called this instinct in the human psyche the scapegoat mechanism.
Zahnd writes…
“This is what happens when the community focuses their individual anxiety, insecurity, hate, rivalry, and rage upon a single victim, thus temporarily exorcizing the contagion of violence and bringing peace to the community… we might say the victim has borne the sins of the community.” (P. 116)
A couple of years ago during a Kansas City Chiefs football playoff game there was a moment when the referee called a penalty on the Chiefs that very clearly was not the right call. Leading up to that play, the Chiefs had made plenty of mistakes. The crowd was frustrated. They knew the Chiefs were only hurting themselves. When the Chiefs were called for the penalty, the angst of the crowd was directed solely at the referee. The crowd booed the referee for what seemed like forever. Before the commercial break you could hear the boos, and when the game resumed a couple of minutes later the crowd was still booing and continued to do so for a while longer. The referee was not responsible for how the Chiefs had played up until that point, and even though they made plenty of correct calls before this one, when the opportunity came for everyone direct their anger towards this one individual it was relentless! I can only imagine the words that were being spoken in that stadium and in many homes!
There’s something satisfying about being angry together and having a target to direct our anger at.
There’s a scene in a movie called “Office Space” when three guys who had worked in a corporate office quit their job and walk out of the building with the copy machine that never worked properly. As a sort of celebration, they threw the copy machine on the ground and began to kick it and hit it with a baseball bat. It’s a funny scene, but I think it illustrates how good it feels to band together against a scapegoat.
Politicians are really good at this. They know that their success depends on getting people angry and pointing them in the direction of the scapegoat. Usually this is the individual running for the other party, but sometimes it is another people group (whether ethnicity, social class, etc.) This should make us uneasy. Hitler used the scapegoat mechanism to convince people that Jews were responsible for Germany’s problems.
In chapter 12, Zahnd suggests that Jesus’ death on the cross is the sacrifice to end all other sacrifices. Jesus is the final scapegoat. He allowed humanity to do their worst to him, so that we would no longer scapegoat one another.
On the cross, when the church and state worked together to condemn him to death, he prayed a prayer of forgiveness for all who had a part to play in his death.
Zahnd writes…
“If the sacrifice of a single victim is the foundation of societal unity, Jesus is ‘The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 13:8). If turning innocent victims into sacrificial scapegoats is the organizational sin of the world, Jesus is ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). If sacrificial religion has its dark origins in the scapegoat mechanism of human sacrifice, then Jesus is the sacrifice to end sacrificing.” (P. 117)
Jesus willingly offered himself as our scapegoat. He didn’t plead his innocence, or fight for his life. He endured the worst that humanity has to offer so that he could show us the better way - the way of forgiveness.
The innocent Lamb of God absorbed all of the blame so that we would stop blaming others.
The kingdoms of this world still depend on the scapegoat mechanism.
But for those who are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we have been taught to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
No more finger pointing.
More foot washing.
This is the Jesus Way.
Amen.