Today adds onto yesterday's piece - again by Rene Girard The gospels present the Christian future as full of division and strife. When Christ says, "he brings a sword" all that he claims is that the truth of the victims is out and that victimage patterns, systems of scapegoating will not provide the stable form of culture that they have had in the past. Satan (defeated by the Cross) is the prince of this world - principle of order and disorder who is still intact and can be unleashed - not by God - but by the greater and greater loss of scapegoat effectiveness that characterizes our world more and more with the passing time. In my most simple terms that makes sense to me, Satan gets really pissed off. The Father of lies knows that in the Cross and Resurrection - the lying gets nailed as false and the truth of the Good News - the Victory of truthfulness over lies is the ultimate winner. Therefore, Satan's power - the powers of the world and the powers of all the persecution of victims - will do everything it can to stay in power. On this day after the MLK holiday, it is important to note that after King's witness that helped to expose the power of evil and give word to a new life, the power of evil has tried to stay underground and do its divisive scapegoating in other ways. The evil of racism that was once so expected and almost 'common place and ordinary' has been given another seat by the powers that be. Just look at our prisons - just look at our cities - just look at poverty - just look at how race is not an issue and yet, yes it still is. Sometimes, evil has such a good way of wearing a cloak that we are not able to see that it sits among us insisting that we - in some way - get that scapegoating mechanism doing what it always does - divides and separates and kills. Connection: Evil wants to make sure things run smoothly and efficiently and without a lot of noise. That is at the center of the strategy of the Father of lies. So when the life of the followers of Jesus live within the way of the Cross and raise questions or point out what really is going on around us, the witnesses of Jesus Reign need to know that we are not a favorable bunch. That is why I look at the 'favorable' status of some religious groups in the midst of the system of today's politics and wonder who they are really serving. As you walk with us, O God, let your truth preside among us even when we are not quite sure what will come as it is revealed. Amen. |
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