Scapegoating, pt.3

 Friends, 

Two weeks ago, I wrote the second of two essays on scapegoating, the practice of identifying someone on whom we place blame for the things that vex us, since there is nothing that draws people together more effectively than a common enemy – real or perceived. I interrupted that sequence last week to tell you about the “red cards” that we have produce, but will circle back now to pick up the thread. I will try not to retread old ground, but to finish my thought and I will try to set it up for those who did not read the earlier essays. 

René Girard is the thinker who has influenced my own understanding of “the Scapegoat Mechanism” the most. Girard argues that scapegoating is effective, which is why persons in power employ it again and again. Girard points to the words of the High Priest Caiaphas as the epitome of the scapegoating rationale when he said, “it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed” (John 11:50).  

Notice how close Caiaphas’ words are to a common Christian refrain that Jesus died as the substitution for us – “better for Jesus to die than for all of humankind to pay for our sins,” so to speak. Girard invites us to see Jesus’ crucifixion differently. Instead of seeing Jesus’ death as a sacrifice to appease God’s righteous anger toward us, Girard invites us to see Jesus as a scapegoat. Delivered into Roman hands by the religious leadership to secure their own power; tortured and executed by Roman hands to secure the power of the Empire. To keep the peace, either for the leaders of occupied Israel to follow the Pax Romana, or for the Empire itself to keep its subjects subjugated, someone must be identified as the sacrifice, whose death will bring peace. In that sense, for Girard, Jesus is no different from scapegoats throughout history who have been forced to bear pain on behalf of others. 

What makes the scapegoating of Jesus different is that we know that Jesus is innocent. He is sent from God to proclaim God’s reign and call us to a new way of seeing the world. He teaches God’s way and embodies God’s presence. He heals the sick, forgives sins, and takes away the stigma of those who have been called “sinners” – even before his death. Jesus’ innocent death exposes that the scapegoating mechanism itself is built on a lie. And the resurrection is God’s way of overturning the scapegoating mechanism. 

There are numerous ways that people have tried to identify the process of scapegoating others. Next week, I want to offer my own version of that story, stipulating a verb that I call “monsterizing.” 

Tune in next week,

Mark of St. Mark