19 September, 2021,
Trinity 16, Year of Mark
Jeremiah 11:18-20
Psalm 54
Reflection
(Sermon)
From today’s Letter to James:
“You want something and you do not
have it; so you commit murder.
And you covet something and cannot
obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.”[1]
You might say that’s not something
for here and now. That’s more for probation.
Well, let me first offer another
paraphrase of the point:
“You want what you don’t have, and so you kill.”
No, that doesn’t sound any better
does it?
You want what you don’t have and so
you kill?”
Here’s the thing. There is a school
of thought – a Christian school of thought - that says that
this is true of every single human
being,
whether they’ve encountered the
criminal justice system or not.[2]
This is the human condition.
We all want what we don’t have, and
so we kill.
At least in our minds, we kill.
We all wish our enemies dead, at
least in the moment of anger.
We want what we don’t have, and so we
(as it were) “kill”.
This Christian school of thought sets
this – let’s say it – bad news
in a broader context. It claims much
more. Here’s the first thing:
We learn what we desire by seeing
what other people desire.
We learn what we desire by seeing
what other people desire.
What do you think?...
I suspect it sounds very wrong.
We tend to feel that our desires are
our own, they are only ours.
Our desires are very personal to us,
the most personal, intimate things.
Well, there is a certain amount of
evidence that this claim is, nevertheless, right.
Think of children.
I suggest we’ve all seen this among
children.
One child is playing with a blue
ball.
Another child comes along, and
screams: “I want a blue ball.”
An adult says: “Here is a red ball.
It’s just the same, only red.”
Child: “I want a BLUE ball.”
The child, you see, has learned what
to desire,
by seeing what the other child
desires.
What do you think?...
We learn what to desire by seeing
what other people desire.
There are other claims that build on
this.
One follows on pretty naturally.
It is that we are usually rivals
of each other.
We are in opposition.
We are competing.
We are, in a sense at least, enemies
of each other.
It is easy to see why:
our life together commits us to
desiring the same things.
So conflicts will arise, as we
compete for the same things.
This is certain.
Probably no longer a blue ball,
but the same principle,
throughout our lives.
Any thoughts?
We learn what to desire by seeing
what other people desire.
So we are all always rivals of each
other, and conflicts are certain.
…Over time, these conflicts
(whether rows or actual violence)
become unbearable.
Then we do something:
we look for a scapegoat.
We seek to blame somebody
else.
We kid ourselves that we’d get on
with our rivals,
if only we could get rid of this other person.
They are the baddy.
There may be violence (a real
killing).
Or we may just make life unliveable
for the baddy.
Again, what do you
think?
This school of thought
– and I’ve said it’s a Christian school of thought –
adds one more thing.
It says that
in Jesus,
and in particular
with the Cross,
this cycle
can come to an end.
We learn what to desire by seeing
what other people desire.
So we are all always rivals of each
other, and conflicts are certain.
We look for someone else to blame, a
scapegoat, and we push them out.
But…
if we look to Jesus on the Cross,
we see someone
·
who
understands us,
·
who
knows us, all the way down,
·
who
knows all the games we play (the lies we tell ourselves),
·
who
knows that we look for a scapegoat,
·
who
says: for you, I will be that scapegoat
·
(who
has long said that
his love for
us is something that will trouble us,
and so who knows he was
bound to be
pushed out of polite
society, any way)
·
who
says: for you, I will be that scapegoat
·
but
who adds: you will know I am innocent
·
who
adds: you will know that you killed me off for nothing.
So look at me on the cross
properly,
and you won’t be able to play the
game
– the destructive game – any more.
The Cross will give you life, better life, fullness of life.
I will ask, one last
time: any thoughts?
We look to Jesus on the Cross,
we see someone
who understands us,
who knows all the games we play,
who knows that we look for a scapegoat,
who says out of deepest love:
“I will be that scapegoat
but… you know I am innocent.
So look at me on the cross properly,
and you won’t be able to play the game
– the destructive game – any more.
The Cross will give you life, better life,
fullness of life.”
Amen.
[1] [4.2a: Epithumeite kai ouk
echete, phoneuete. Kai zeloutekai ou dunasthe epituchein, machesthe kai
polemeite.]
[2] This school of thought is especially associated with
René Girard, (1923-2015).
