Protestant Christianity is fond of referring
itself back to the Reformation figures who taught an ecclesia semper reformanda.
That is, the church is always in the process of being reformed. But the problem
lies in that law, not gospel, inevitably constitutes the re-formation of the
church. American Christianity has contributed immensely to this problem with
its tens of thousands of church splits. We look at our congregation or denomination
and see malaise, apathy, apparent disregard for ‘God’s laws.’
And so we try to be better than those who we perceive will not follow God with
all their hearts. And we split off and start over, but usually within a generation
the same problem resurfaces and so we split off again and again.
The Anglican communion is in the midst
of such a crisis. So-called Evangelical Anglicans (who hold to the tenets
of a sacrificial hermeneutic) are currently dividing good (heterosexuals)
from evil (homosexuals) and they are holding conferences and synods and all
manner of conventions to stop what they perceive as a corruption of the church.
Some Evangelicals wave signs that say ‘God hates fags’ or they
march in support of the death penalty or they are flag waving justifiers of
‘good violence.’ They fail to see that they operate with a hermeneutic
of hate and intolerance, a hermeneutic foreign to Jesus.
They produce a theology of fear and of
judgement. There is almost nothing in their message that constitutes good
news. And yet, in the name of the Savior of the world, they will split their
communion over a fallacious interpretation of Scripture.
Some Sermon Thoughts
How do we preach on this winnowing of
chaff from wheat without 1) falling into the common trap of sacrificial thinking
or 2) ignoring the strength of the words or arguing them into meaninglessness?
John makes clear one thing. There are
some attributes of life in the world as we know it that have no place in the
kingdom of Jesus. As Michael has reminded us above, it is the very pattern
of dividing God’s children that troubles John, the habit we have of
seeing our sisters and brothers as “other.” This “otherness”
allows us to begin labeling and scapegoating, it permits us to see the injustices
suffered by “others” as something essentially unrelated to our
own being in the world.
This is a way of seeing that we are absolutely
called to cast aside if we are to enter into this kingdom. I think that we
can, as preachers, take John’s urgency seriously as we call on our congregations
to winnow themselves, while refusing the temptation to take the fork to their
neighbors!
Our reading for today is one whose good
news is easy to miss. If read through the lens of a sacrificial hermeneutic,
John the Baptist essentially is saying that Jesus will come to separate the
good from the bad. And we want so desperately to hear this. In our world today
it has become increasingly clear that distinguishing good people from bad people
is the hallmark of the Christian faith, if not indeed, the American way.. We
who believe shall be saved, everyone else is going straight to hell.
Our inability to discern good from evil
can be evidenced in the current political situation. Who is good? Who is evil?
The common political rhetoric found in the current administration labels as
evil all that will not ride the coattails of the imperialist claims of the
United States. America is the upholder of good and truth and justice in the
modern world. We hold the torch of discernment. We believe in freedom, democracy
and peace, therefore, God must be on our side, since God is good. All others
are evil.
This labeling effect is really a libeling
effect. It is the first step in the creation of scapegoats. We decide who
is to live and who is to die (who is to go to heaven and who is to go to hell).
Our enemies are those who will not follow us on this path to world improvement.
This is the mythology of the victimage mechanism and you can see it or hear
it everyday in the news. Since bad people do bad things, one can tell the
tree by its fruit. Get rid of the bad trees and what you have left is an Edenic
paradise or the administration’s view of America’s role in human
history.
From whence comes this kind of thinking?
It should come as no surprise that virtually all of the high level officials
in the Bush administration come from Evangelical backgrounds, even if they
do not espouse, live, or take seriously their upbringing. The dualisms inherent
in Evangelicalism have produced the polarization that occurs in the Bush administration’s
policies of separating good from evil. Our text today will serve as a warrant
for further discrimination as they hear it in church today. They (and we)
are locked in the sphere of the lies of victimage.
What is good news about any of this?
If we kill off all of the terrorists on the planet, if we eliminate all of
the dictators will it be a better world? We cannot even begin to eliminate
the hate in our own hearts and our own tendencies to act like little dictators
in our homes or on our jobs. Tolstoy has said that while everyone wants to
change the world no one wants to change themselves. Look around and listen
to people. They actually believe that if enough ‘good violence’
is applied to ‘bad violence’ that good violence will ultimately
prevail. World history is little more than a glorified spaghetti western.
If this is all John the Baptist was preaching
we may well wonder what it was that Jesus saw in him and we may further wonder
why Jesus would choose to be his follower. But as we saw in Advent, the preceding
‘speech’ of JTB makes abundantly clear that the way the establishment
treats the marginalized is the true standard of evaluation. Separation of
good from evil does not have to do with those who pray vs. those who do not
pray; those who believe in God and Jesus from those who don’t; those
who are patriotic from those who are critical; those who ‘obey’
(sic) the Bible from those who do not.
Separation is clearly marked by the boundaries
of those on top from those on the bottom and it is our behavior towards those
on the bottom that reveals where our hearts are oriented. The same principle
of ‘judgement’ can be found in the parable of the sheep and the
goats in Matthew 25. In no case in this parable is violence used as a form
of deliverance. Compassion, empathy, caring actions, these are the distinguishing
marks of the sheep. Ignorance, apathy and bad judgement are the marks of the
goats.
We then ask the question again: what
is good about the good news of JTB? Is it simply that Jesus is coming? No.
It is more than that. It is the prophetic promise that one is coming who will
purify us from our poor discrimination and empower us to live in the wholeness
that is God’s future.
This passage demonstrates Luke’s
reliance on Matthew, and not a source like the imaginary “Q.” The
phrase “gather his grain into the barn” (Mt. 3:12// Lk. 3:17) is
highly Matthean in origin (Mt. 3:21 and 13:30) , as is the use of “synagein”.
(Luke’s Use of Matthew, p. 74)
Either
this page has not yet been completed, or we have not found any significant textual
issues in the lectionary texts for this Sunday.
Introductory Articles
We will add articles as we are able,
or as users of the site request them, so if you have suggestions for additional
pieces, please write to us!
"Introduction
to Mimetic Theory"
"Mimesis"
"The
Scapegoat"
"The
Pillars of Culture"
"Jesus"
"The
Four Gospels"
A Brief Introduction
to Luke
What's New: (Hover your mouse over to pause cycling)
(Isaiah 43:1-7)
But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you,
O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you
are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through
the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall
not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and
Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored,
and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your
life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, "Give them
up," and to the south, "Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth-- everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
(Acts 8:14-17)
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word
of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for
them that they might receive the
Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had
only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid
their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
(Luke 3:15-17)
As the people were filled with expectation,
and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might
be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with
water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie
the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather
the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
(Luke 3:21-22)
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized
and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon
him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are
my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Occasional Articles
As with the Introductory Articles, we
will add other articles as time permits or as our readers request. If you
have a suggestion for anything, please let us know.
Michael Hardin
Is the Apocalypse Inevitable?: Native American Prophecy and the Mimetic Theory presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
Michael's Essay for a Celebration Volume honoring Rene Girard
Michael's Response to Willard Swartley's Covenent of Peace at the November Colloquium and Violence Meeting
Does
Peace Make A Difference? - Michael's essay in response to Rick
Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan (which somehow never mentions peace).
An Analysis of Rick Warren - Michael's response to "The Purpose Driven Life."
"The
God of Pat Robertson" - a response to Pat Robertson's words
to the people of Dover, PA.
"A
response to Charles Stanley's "A Nation at War"
"Must
God be violent? A Diagnosis and Prescription for Modern Christianity"
The
Scapegoat: Christologies in Conflict - A Study in Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Biblical
Testaments as a Marriage of Convenience: Rene Girard and Biblical Interpretation
Finding
Our Way Home: A Brief Note On The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture
"Does
The Passion of the Christ Preach the Gospel?"
A
sermon for the holiday devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King. (requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
GRASPING
GOD: Philippians 2: 1-11 in the Light of Mimetic Theory
Rene Girard and the Recovery of Early Christian Perspectives (Brethren Life and Thought)
The Dynamics of Violence and the Imitation of Christ in Maximus Confessor (St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly)
"EcoSpirituality"
Or What Happens When You Sit Down With A French Literary Critic
Jeff Krantz
Mighty
One or Crucified Messiah? Competing Christologies and the Chiastic
Structure of Mark's Gospel
There's
No Such Thing as the Rapture - A sermon preached at the Church
of the Advent, Westbury (requires Acrobat Reader)
Holy
Scripture and the Consecration of Gene Robinson - a response
to the request of the Windsor Report for a Scriptural rationale. (requires
Adobe's Acrobat Reader)
Worship - The Redemption of Desire by Jeff Krantz
Myth
and Film - a piece written for the City of Angels Film Festival
The Stations of the Cross - Rewritten by Jeff Krantz
A Dramatic Presentation of the Stations of the Cross for Youth by Barb Fabijan-Waddell
Escaping
the Power of "My" - A NonViolent Approach to Stewardship
Preaching
Peace in Hollywood: The Theologies of Terminator, Lord of the Rings, and the
Matrix
V
for Vendetta - The Name Says It All A review of the movie.
Essays, Sermons and Liturgical Pieces by Friends of Preaching Peace
"Jesus and the Gibeonites: Reading the Bible from the Perspective of the Hidden Victim" by James Warren.
Mark Heim's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement
Kate Layzer's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement (and inspiration for Mark Heim's hymn!)
Alan Cork, "Transformation" in L'Arche: A Mimetic Account presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
"The Wisdom of God's Peace" a sermon by Jim Amstutz, co-pastor of Michael's church.
Girard's Christology - Per Bjornar Grande
Violence, Anarchy and Scripture: Jacques Ellul and Rene Girard - Matthew Patillo
Comparing
Plato's Understanding of Mimesis to Girard's - Per Bjorner Grande
C. Frank Terhune, an Easter Sermon: "God's Big But" (no kidding!)
Gerald Biesecker-Mast's paper from Theologia Pacis on Pacifist Gospel Epstimology.
An essay by the Rev. John Hill on Mimetic Theory and Catechesis
