Repeating a bit of the passed two days before adding more, Girard notes: Whatever is happening to our world, coming as it does from the Gospels, must ultimately be good.
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.
Our being liberated from Satan's bondage means that the supernatural power of Satan and his demons is an illusion, that Satan does not exist.
Let me begin with the opening note in the introduction. Something is happening in our world. We have not been left out to dry. The qualifier is the Gospel. When it is the Gospel that is happening, it will be for the good. Yes, even when the good rarely is seen as victorious. More and more, it is the responsibility of the followers of Jesus to bring to life a community of people who live as though we are liberated from Satan's bondage - from the way of mimetic violence - from the status quo that lives and feeds off of all the powers of division that keep things just as they are: unjust, unforgiving, unfair, merciless, warring. We will not find it easy to live as though all this power of Satan is an illusion because we see the results of that power each day no matter where we look. Therefore, each time we stand up or speak up about the liberation that is 'at hand' through the cross of Christ, the world as it is gets turned on its head. We are not talking anarchy here. We are talking the victory of the cross - we are talking the emergence of the New Being - the Truly Human One - the Christ alive as the body of Jesus' followers.
Connection: Even though the power of Satan is an illusion, it still has a way of keeping us locked up and willing to be acolytes for the one who would control all things. Contrary voices are not appreciated especially when the voices are contrary to the central values of the powers of the Father of lies. Again, we can turn to ML King,Jr. Are there those voices still alive now or do we simply become another voice "like King" - but one that keeps in step with what is. That is, speaking up when approved by the powers of the systems of the world but remaining silent when the voice and life of liberation is greatly needed in order to turn things around.
As you walk with us, O God, let your Spirit bring to life a voice among us that will reveal the power of the Gospel and speak the truth in the face of all the powers of evil that long to be power of life among us. Amen.
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