So What?
The Gospels seem to be in the process
of showing us the ‘differentiation’ of Jesus from popular messianology.
This challenges us as well, for most of our Christian messianologies have
some sort of warrior-messiah in them. It may be buried deep but it is in there.
If we are going to follow Jesus, the Son of the Father who sits at God’s
right hand, who was crucified and raised from death, we must begin to see
just how differently this mission of Jesus is perceived by Jesus and the early
church that produced the Four Gospels.
Our mission is to follow Jesus. But is
it Jesus we are following? Or do we follow Jesus without discerning who he
is, who it is we are following? Do we hear Jesus when he calls us away from
our sacrificial paradigms, when we are turned from our own violent god to
the Lord and Giver of Life? Do we hear his gracious, invitational, loving
voice? Or do we hear the voice of a stern judge, of a crippled conscience,
of projected fears? Are we hearing Jesus?
Several times on Preaching Peace we have
named this warrior messiah as anti-Christ. What we mean is that much popular
(as well as academic and ecclesial) Christology has not yet discerned that
Jesus rejects, entirely rejects, the implications of the warrior messiah for
his mission. Jesus will not be Rambo. Jesus is not out to be a hero. He does
not ride in to save the day like the gods of our own making, the gods rising
from our sacrificial mythologies, the greek ‘god in a basket’
(deus ex machina). He will, however, end up being branded a common criminal
and executed. He will lay down his life; he will surrender his entire existence
into the hands of his abba.
On the other hand, as we preach this
text, we may find ourselves called to “afflict the comfortable.”
That is to say, some of us will be leaders of congregations that have already
rejected the warrior-messiah model. The challenge of this text for us in that
context is to remind them that the unity they perceive in themselves, if it
is not a unity that truly recognizes difference and finds oneness is our common
childhood before the Father rather than in sameness, it is a unity that Jesus
intends to destroy.
It is a sad fact that Sunday morning
is one of the most segregated moments in every week. Almost all Christians
in the United States will drive past three or four churches to worship in
one where we feel we’re among the “like minded” if not the
“like skinned.” “High Church,” “Low Church,”
“Full Gospel,” “Social Justice,” all of these become
identity markers that help us define our sameness, our unity as a congregation.
All these “unities” are the
kind of “undifferentiated” peace that Jesus comes to destroy.
Thanks be to God.
Anthropological Reading
No doubt there are some who will positively
gloat over today’s text. They will see this text as a challenge to what
we have been saying these past years on PreachingPeace.org. They will say,
“You see, Jesus does preach judgement.” And we will agree. Yes,
he does.
There are those who come to a text like
this and argue that Jesus has ‘zealot-like’ tendencies. This has
two forms. The first can be seen in historical Jesus studies, e.g., that of
S.G.F. Brandon (Jesus and the Zealots). Brandon’s thesis has been both
criticized and modified. There are still scholars who perceive Jesus to be
little more than a modern day revolutionary who authorizes violence. We (among
others) sense that this interpretation misses the mark. It is certainly inconsistent
with Jesus’ teaching on non-violence (unless we relegate that teaching
to early Christian redaction).
Then there are contemporary Christian
‘zealots’ who seek to justify their own violence and complicity
in violence by appealing to this text. In popular form, this text will often
be preached on as part of the doctrine of ‘the Rapture.’ Have
you ever noticed the similarity between the ‘zealot’ Jesus of
certain scholars and the ‘zealot’ Jesus of the fundamentalists?
(One sees Jesus’ revolution only in terms of violence because it cannot
see His divinity, the other sees Jesus’ revolution as violent because
they have projected human violence onto God and Jesus becomes the agent of
that violence.)
In the doctrine of the Rapture, Jesus
is coming again to separate the good from the bad and will send the bad straight
to hell where they shall suffer some eternal torture that will make Abu Ghraib
seem like a Cancun vacation. Notice, of course, that adherents of this belief
find themselves in heavenly bliss, sipping pina colada’s. We wonder
at the similarity to the promise of virgins by the distorters of Islam to
the dead warriors of the jihad. (We recommend two critiques of this Rapture
stuff. Jeff’s ‘No
Rapture’ sermon and George Eldon Ladd’s The Blessed Hope).
If we cannot seem to make the leap from
this text to ‘zealotism’ in any of its forms, then what is Jesus
saying?
It’s quite beautiful really. It
says Jesus does not come to bring peace but to bring division. If with mimetic
theory we postulate our interconnectedness (we imitate each other’s
desires), and we have seen that this human interconnectedness we have is all
wrong, then we can take about the problem of human enmeshment. Bringing division
is to bring difference, truly differentiated difference into the undifferentiation
of the human family.
Jesus specifically calls attention to
the doubling that occurs within family systems. And he is saying that his
influence will break down the scapegoat mechanism. The two against three suggests
that the all against one model, the creation of scapegoats on a family level,
is broken.
Another indicator that we are dealing
with the victimage mechanism is Jesus’ rejection of the warrior model,
the one who brings peace through strength. One of the byproducts of the process
of victimage is peace (order). It is peace as the world gives. Jesus avers
that his mission is division, getting people to take sides, and in so doing,
break the all against one model. At some point humanity has to wake up and
begin to see that since Jesus, this model hasn’t worked. At some point
we are going to have to acknowledge ourselves as mimetic creatures, filled
with the desires given to us by those around us. And the fact is we still
use human scapegoats to fill the void created by our mimetic rivalries. Jesus
will have none of this.
Jesus uses nature analogues to frame
his key question and it is a hermeneutical question. “How is it that
you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” Straight out,
Jesus is telling his audience that they have a skewed hermeneutic. They lacked
the ability to ‘test’, ‘examine’, ‘interpret’,
‘discern’, ‘discover’, ‘approve’, ‘prove’,
‘demonstrate’ (all potential English translations). They needed
a hermeneutic and one stood right in front of them.
Historical/Cultural
No relevant issues strike us today. On
the use and function of the judgement sayings see Raymund Schwager’s
Jesus
in the Drama of Salvation.
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:
What's New? on Preaching Peace. (Hover your mouse over to pause cycling) |
Is 5:1-7 or * Jer 23:23-29
Ps 80:1-2,8-19 * Ps 82
Heb 11:29-12:2
Lk 12:49-56
(Isaiah 5:1-7)
Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved
had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded
wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge
between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that
I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield
wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will
remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and
it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned
or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command
the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of
hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
* (Jeremiah 23:23-29)
Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off? Who can hide in
secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven
and earth? says the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy
lies in my name, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed!" How long?
Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back--those who prophesy lies, and
who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? They plan to make my people forget
my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors
forgot my name for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but
let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common
with wheat? says the LORD. Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like
a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
(Hebrews 11:29-40)
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but
when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls
of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab
the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she
had received the spies in peace. And what more should I say? For time would
fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and
the prophets-- who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice,
obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war,
put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others
were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They
were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword;
they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented--
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains,
and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended
for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided
something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
(Hebrews 12:1-2)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us
run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the
pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat
at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Luke 12:49-56)
"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until
it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will
be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter
against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law
against mother-in-law." He also said to the crowds, "When you see
a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and
so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will
be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret
the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret
the present time?
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright
1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
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
Essay on Brethren Life & Thought to Rene Girard and the Recovery of Early Christian Perspectives (Brethren Life and Thought)
Essay on Mimesis and Dominion to 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
