I’ve been reading and working through the implications of Rene Girard’s insights into human relationships for years – particularly the way that Girard unlocks a new way of reading the biblical texts. If you’ve heard me preach or teach over the years you probably know how major an influence Girard has been on my thinking.
There’s a wonderful resource “Teaching Non-violent Atonement” that’s been posting a regular Wednesday sermon that demonstrates how a preacher can use Girard’s ideas to communicate the meaning behind the texts. For the last few weeks there have been sermons on Galatians (which we’ve been reading in the RCL on Sundays). This is a quote from this week’s sermon post:
We have always assumed “works of the Law” referred to Jewish religious practice alone but Rome was the real law-giver in the world and those who worked for Rome were doing the works of the Law. But you wouldn’t want to say that out loud. Who killed Jesus? The Romans did, in cooperation with local Jewish authorities. Both Roman and Jewish law attempted to bring what they saw as righteousness through violence, exclusion and death. Their goal was to purge the world of evil as they saw it when evil was in themselves and in their method of bringing “peace”.
Jews along with all other defeated peoples know this, Paul argues.
And the faithfulness of Jesus Christ that Paul says is the alternative to law, what is that? Notice I didn’t say faith in Jesus but rather the faith of Jesus. The faith of Jesus is his allowing Roman and Jewish Law to judge, condemn and execute him as a criminal, though he is the Son of God, in obedience to his father and as an expression of their love for us. Jesus did this to show us how the law works to condemn, knowing this was the only way to expose what we humans could not see. Talk about faithfulness; Jesus goes to his death, forgiving us on the way, out of faithfulness to God and love for us all. In this way his faithfulness seen on the cross makes us right with God.
Paul saw this on the Road to Damascus when he had an apocalyptic in-breaking of truth that turned his violent and law-working world upside down.
via Wednesday Sermon: Division Undone (go read the whole thing)
Given the events of our own day, where we’re seeing strange pairings of groups that ought to be in complete opposition to each other coming together to make common cause against the “other”, I’m finding that re-reading Galatians in this particular light is incredibly enlightening.