Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Palm Sunday
I sometimes refer to this Sunday as “Schizoid Sunday,” as we try to cram everything from the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to the Passion into one liturgical celebration with only a couple of readings and a psalm setting them apart. A popular strain for sermons is often contrasting the sections of the service - how the crowd seems to support Jesus in the beginning, and then joins in the condemnation of him before Pilate when he doesn’t deliver what they want. Heck, I’ve preached that sermon.
But in many ways, these aren’t two contrasting events, they are part and parcel of a pattern that is inherent in us as human beings. The french theologian René Girard calls this the “Scapegoat Mechanism” and locates it deep within the human psyche. As we admire someone, we seek to “posses” them - to see them as the fulfillment of our needs. As other people begin to desire the same person, the antagonism towards rivals spreads like wildfire and begins to impinge on the mutual object of desire. Finally, in order to appease the need for group violence, the object of desire is sacrificed and brings a temporary peace until a new object becomes the focus. Girard finds this principle operative in basic myths from all over the world. It can only operate as long as it is done subconsciously. As soon as it is made known, its power is broken.
On Palm Sunday, the desire for Jesus reaches its zenith. Those in Jerusalem project onto him their desire for a political leader to overthrow the Romans. The desire becomes exceptionally palpable and strong. When it becomes clear that no one can possess Jesus, the feedback is also extraordinary. Members of that same throng now turn on Jesus and make him the scapegoat. The will of the mob is so strong that everyone, even his most trusted associates, abandon him. In fact, Peter denies him three times. In Matthew, Jesus is crucified with no one sympathetic around him. The thieves both mock him, the disciples are nowhere to be found, and the women watch from a distance. God even seems to be distant when Jesus cries, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
In this way, Jesus is the ultimate scapegoat. He dies alone with the hate and fear of all upon him. But Jesus is not just another scapegoat. As the son of God, his death and resurrection has a cosmic resonance. As Christianity spreads, it becomes harder and harder for the mechanism to operate with the secrecy it requires. For Girard, Jesus dies not to save us from the anger of God, but from our own human wrath. While his death does not put an end to the cycle completely, it works like yeast, leavening the whole and making the cycle harder and harder to sustain.
This observation is similar to Julian of Norwich’s vision, “I saw no wrath except on humanity’s part, and that He forgives in us. For wrath is nothing else but a departure from and an opposition to peace and to love, and either it comes from the failure of power or from the failure of wisdom, or from the failure of goodness.” (Long Text, Chapter 38)
As we start into Holy Week, this is a good time for self-examination. What wrath do we harbor in ourselves that keeps God out? What sacrifices do we long for from others in a vain attempt to screen our own issues? Can we give those up, recognizing that they are the same impulses that have lead to the deaths of millions, including the only-begotten son of God? As we cry “Hosanna to the Son of David” on Sunday, it is good to remember that this cry is not of joy, but is a veiled threat that will come to fruition on Friday with Jesus’ death.
The Rev. David Simmons
Rector
St. Matthias Church, Waukesha
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