Here's how Girard continues his comments about the Cross as a trap set by God.
Since Jesus, almost every time he opens his mouth, reveals the secret of Satan's power, he becomes in the eyes of Satan, a most intolerable source of disorder; he must be silenced once and for all. In order to reach his goal, Satan only has to resort to his favorite trick - the very trick about which Jesus is talking so much - the traditional trick of the mimetic murder and scapegoat mechanism. - Since this trick has always succeeded in the past, Satan sees no reason why it would not succeed in the case of Jesus.
Everything turns out as Satan expected - except for one thing. With the help of the Paraclete, Jesus' disciples finally break away from the mimetic consensus and provide the world with a truthful account of what should remain hidden in this affair, at least from the perspective of Satan.
1 Corinthians 2:7-8 now makes more sense:
But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Paul and the whole New Testament are saying: once the Cross has revealed the mimetic violence at the root of human society, and the misunderstanding of this violence, the world can never be the same.
The lie is done. The Father of Lies has no clothes. That very root that has sprouted nothing but violence again and again has been uprooted and destroyed. That is the Cross. No longer will mimetic violence rule here. The disciples got it - they finally got it. Even as we see them as lunk-heads who do not understand as they go along the way with Jesus, the Holy Spirit opens their eyes to see what has happened. And then, the Holy Spirit opens their mouths so that they can give a witness to the power of the love of God's Reign that cannot be ruled or overcome by the lies of all the powers of the world. We are people who are invited (pulled by the Spirit) to live within this truthfulness whenever the powers of the day attempt to rule us and attempt to brutalize the victims of the world. This truthfulness also enables us to step in and stand alongside and with the victims because we know that the brutality of the principalities and powers cannot win the day. And yet, to be in such a position is not easy. It would be easier to simply go in another direction and turn our heads and our lives away from the power that would rule us.
Connection: Walking in the light of the Cross and Resurrection does involve a literal walking - a living - a resistance to all the powers that want to shape us into something other than the love of God incarnate. And yet, we are encouraged to walk and live and consider the welfare of all so that the mimetic violence will have to encounter the Christ in our day.
As you walk with us, hold us up so that as we stand in the world, we will be empowered to live in the way and the truth and the life of the one we call, Lord, Jesus. For in Jesus' light we continue to see new life open up to us even as we seem to be controlled by the valley of death. Amen.
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