Sermon Tone Analysis

Title

The Scapegoat

Outline

Rene Girard wrote of the human tendency to scapegoat

That is, the human tendency to load their fears, denials, and sins onto someone or some group to which they do not belong and to punish the person or persons to remove those things from the larger group

Others have written of the power of fear versus the power of calmness

Both are on display in these readings which I am looking at selectively, for large books can be written on them

First, the power of fear versus calmness

We will not see that in Jesus, who in John in particular is in full control.

We will see that in Pilate, who starts off appearing to be contemptuous of the Jewish leaders, willing to dismiss the case to spite them, and then is captured by fear when the Jewish leaders say that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God.

He desperately tries to release Jesus, but then the Jewish leaders trap him between his fear of Jesus and his fear of Caesar, with whom he had a shaky political relationship, and the human fear defeats him.

He gives in and certainly rationalizes his giving in.

“They made me do it.”

We see that in Peter.

His flight or fight response makes him choose attack in the Garden, for it is what he had promised to do, but when Jesus stops the attack and submits to arrest, it turns to fear, as the General Activating Syndrome often does, so when the unnamed highly placed disciple gets Peter into the courtyard Peter gradually collapses in fear, first to the slave woman who kept the door (who could not threaten him other than expose him), then to the group of slaves and guards (who simply question him), and finally to the relative of Malcus, whose ear Peter had cut off (who thought he recognized Peter from the Garden).

Peter’s fight turns into total flight and we do not see him again until Easter - perhaps he was wailing or huddled in a corner in the Cenacle.

We see the opposite in the Disciple who Jesus Loved, who may or may not be the same as the highly placed disciple who got Peter into the courtyard.

He does not show up clearly until the crucifixion where he is standing with Mary, perhaps already comforting her.

He never speaks.

Instead he is at the right place at the right time.

We last see him guiding Mary off to his house, her new home.

We see that same opposite in Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

We don’t know if it was fear that brought Nicodemus to Jesus by night or a desire for an uninterrupted talk.

He does speak up a couple of times in the Pharisaic group, each time making a careful suggestion trying to calm the hostility to Jesus.

Now there is no one to calm.

He and Joseph openly care for Jesus’ body, probably not observed by Jesus’ enemies who were starting Passover.

Yet because of their corpse uncleanness their absence in corporate gatherings would be noticed.

In their calmness they do the right thing.

Second, the power of scapegoating versus reason

We know that the High Priestly clans and the Pharisees feared Jesus and thought that as a Messiah he would cause a revolution that God would not support but which would result in the destruction of the nation.

Jesus had attracted enough of that fear that they had decided he must die.

Thus they ignore the betrayal, abuse Jesus before trial, and unwittingly call Jesus “Son of God”, which is very different from Messiah.

No, Jesus is the cause of all their fear and guilt.

The peak comes when they ask for Barabbas, that unknown man (Son of a Father, or Son of Abba) who “was a revolutionary”).

They ask for the man who was precisely what they were afraid that Jesus was.

The result is that Jesus is crucified between two of Barabbas’ henchmen and the title on the cross points out the Jewish leaders as against Messianic movements.

But, of course, Hebrews and John make clear that Jesus was the scapegoat of the Day of Atonement, for he did carry the sins and then entered the Most Holy Place.

Their finger pointing and blaming had led to scapegoating that so blinded their rationality that Pilate sees better than they do the reality of what is going on.

Sisters, there are two applications I can make to this

The first is that we need to deal with fear and realize that too much zeal or that trauma in our lives can lead to fear.

If we do not face our fear we will collapse under pressure - physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

The second is that society in general and Christians in general tend to scapegoat and point the finger rather than face what is in them.

That can lead to horrible results, but in particular it leads to the loss of rationality, what makes us human.

The response to both of these is calmness and recollection.

It is out of this inner space that we can know what God is calling us to do and go against the crowd so that we are standing at the side of Jesus while others are absent due to fear or taking satisfaction in his crucifixion.

I realize that there is so much more here, but your recollected contemplation will draw out that God is saying to you.

Readings

FIRST READING

Isaiah 52:13–53:12

13 See, my servant shall prosper,

he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.

14 Even as many were amazed at him—

so marred were his features,

beyond that of mortals

his appearance, beyond that of human beings—

15 So shall he startle many nations,

kings shall stand speechless;

For those who have not been told shall see,

those who have not heard shall ponder it.

CHAPTER 53

1 Who would believe what we have heard?

To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up like a sapling before him,

like a shoot from the parched earth;

He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye,

no beauty to draw us to him.

3 He was spurned and avoided by men,

a man of suffering, knowing pain,

Like one from whom you turn your face,

spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

4 Yet it was our pain that he bore,

our sufferings he endured.

We thought of him as stricken,

struck down by God and afflicted,

5 But he was pierced for our sins,

crushed for our iniquity.

He bore the punishment that makes us whole,

by his wounds we were healed.

6 We had all gone astray like sheep,

all following our own way;

But the LORD laid upon him

the guilt of us all.

7 Though harshly treated, he submitted

and did not open his mouth;

Like a lamb led to slaughter

or a sheep silent before shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

8 Seized and condemned, he was taken away.

Who would have thought any more of his destiny?

For he was cut off from the land of the living,

struck for the sins of his people.

9 He was given a grave among the wicked,

a burial place with evildoers,

Though he had done no wrong,

nor was deceit found in his mouth.

10 But it was the LORD’s will to crush him with pain.

By making his life as a reparation offering,

he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days,

and the LORD’s will shall be accomplished through him.

11 Because of his anguish he shall see the light;