The Cross and Satan line up - Girard has much to offer Once we understand that Satan's secret is the founding murder and the scapegoat mechanism, the idea that Satan's power is reduced to nothing by the Cross makes perfect sense. - By providing us with an accurate portrayal of the mimetic process behind the death of Jesus, and secondarily the death of John the Baptist, the Gospels reveal something which, in the long run, is bound to discredit not one particular lie about one particular victim of collective persecution only but all lies rooted in the victimage mechanism, in the grotesquely deceptive scapegoat misunderstanding. Satan becomes a ludicrous nonentity. Again, we are told about the lie that is the foundation for persecution and scapegoating and the 'victimage mechanism.' We are all being pulled into this story - some as victims and some as victimizers. At the same time we must realize that we act in both of these rules in various times. But the Cross is the light that shows that this 'secretive' way of ruling the world is now exposes and needs to be exposed continuously from the smallest bit of persecution to the most drastic and grand persecutions and scapegoating. The way of lies is not the way of our God. Never has been - never will be. That places us in a predicament that demands prayerfulness that draws us closer and closer to the way of the Cross so that we see the sinister way the father of lies works among us and through us. The Cross can be for us the shouting voice that says, "Wait, wait, look again at what is being done - look again at what is ruling us and leading us." It is in that moment we can see the truth and begin to stand with those who are being made into victims by a system that needs victims in order to sustain itself. Connection: I don't think this is some kind of paranoia. Rather, I think it is a realism that is based on what the Cross pulls back for us to see. An exercise into which we can all enter into is to look at any 'event' of the day and try to see what is happening. What is causing the brokenness? Is love creating a new world or is love absent and therefore some type of violence - division is in control. I just wonder how often we will see the power of lies abounding - and as close as in our own actions. As you walk with us, O God, help us to see you alongside us and utterly available to guide us in your holy ways. Amen. |
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