Be the Scapegoat

It's how you come alive.

Every society, every group, naturally creates an outsider. It's how the group stays together.

Think about the last time you gossiped with a crowd. By pointing out somebody's else's flaws, didn't it give you a sense of belonging?

Almost every ancient tribe or city was founded on some kind of murder.

Thebes had Oedipus; Rome's monarchy had Remus - its empire had Julius Caesar; post Civil-War America had Lincoln; the Zulus Shaka; the first thing Cain does after killing Abel is start a city.

The Ancient Israelites literally came together every year by killing a scapegoat. One goat was sacrificed at the altar; the other sent into the desert, carrying everybody's sins.

I teach quite a bit of Shakespearean tragedy, and it is notable how the whole point of tragedy is the audience finding some comfort, or catharsis, in the downfall of a single tragic hero.

What does this mean?

According to philosopher Rene Girard, we need this scapegoat mechanism because it helps to unify a society and end violence. We all instinctively try to outdo each other because we are by nature competitive, but this leads to ever-increasing rivalry, so, instead of being at war with each other, we unify all our rivalries and imminent acts of violence upon one victim, one sacred act of violence, so as to find peace.

Of course the most famous scapegoat was Jesus.

But something interesting happened when that Victim was 'sacrificed'.

He forgave his tormentors. He accepted his fate. He willingly submitted.

In so doing, he turned the scapegoat mechanism on its head. He showed the whole thing was this dark satanic sham. That actually God is on the side of the victim.

He and his followers subsequently threatened the Roman Empire (finally destroying it), because they showed that the peace of the city, built on the blood of its victims, is not really any kind of peace at all, because we all tacitly become killers so that we can be part of the group, finding somebody to crucify, somebody who is already marked out by some kind of difference.

Instead, real peace is found in putting down your stone, giving up the desire to be better than your rival, ending competition. That will necessarily mark you as different, as a target, as a potential scapegoat, as a victim.

But an innocent victim always finds resurrection. That's the whole point of faith.