Isaiah 60:1-6
Resources
1. Raymund Schwager, Jesus in the Drama of Salvation, cited on p. 59. In this proclamation of Good News to Jerusalem, Isaiah says, "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." Schwager notes the contrast with Jesus' words of judgement on Jerusalem:
In that saying where Jesus so explicitly spoke of the wishes of those who opposed his task of assembly, he also gave a precise description of the forces hostile to him. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you. How often would I have..." (Matt. 23:37). Jerusalem, the holy and chosen city, in which the "holy people" and the "redeemed of the LORD" (Isa. 62:1-12) were meant to come together and which was destined to be a place of peace for the nations (see Isa. 60:1-22; Zech. 9:9-11), was experienced by Jesus in a very different way, namely, as a city of murderers of the prophets. The contrast between the promise and the judgment which he delivered could hardly be greater. This opposition invites us to look for a deeper interpretation of Jesus' words of judgment. Before asking how Jesus came to his judgment, we must take note of other utterances which point in a similar direction.The main problem addressed by Schwager's book, and by any Girardian who ventures into Christian theology, is what to do about the words of judgment if one is to maintain that the revelation in Jesus Christ shows us a God who is completely nonviolent, and who saves us from our violence by sending Jesus into the midst of it. Jesus suffers the violence without returning it. Or does he? What about the words of judgment?In the parable of the wicked winegrowers, Israel's leaders are addressed as those who systematically persecute and kill the master's servants and finally even the last messenger, the beloved son (Mark 12:1-12 and parallels). In this parable, rejection with violence appears as the recurring denominator in the wicked actions of the winegrowers (leaders of Israel), and from this point of view a continuity is suggested between the fate of the prophets and that of Jesus. The problem of violence thereby holds a structural importance for the understanding of the entire Scriptures. (p. 59)
One of Schwager's primary strategies is to emphasize the story of Jesus as an unfolding drama. In Act 1, at the outset of his ministry, Jesus comes proclaiming the Kingdom of God as a love of God, even toward God's enemies, such that forgiveness enables repentance (see excerpt on "God's Turning toward His Enemies"). But in Act 2, Jesus begins to experience the resistance to this Good News, primarily on the part of those for whom the status quo seems preferable. This is where the above quote enters in, as Schwager begins to diagnose the opposing will. Jesus' words of judgment are basically words diagnosing a self-judgment on the part of those who would resist such Good News. He takes us these words of judgment more fully in one of my favorite sections of the book, "Doubling of Sin and Hell" (excerpt).
The problem still remains, however:
But does it make a difference whether an angry God damns people or whether a "kind" God looks on as his creatures damn themselves almost of necessity? The result is the same. So the pressing question faces us: is Jesus' message of salvation after all really a message of salvation? (p. 81)To get the full answer, it's best to read Schwager's book, as he takes the reader carefully through the drama of Jesus. In Act 3, the bringer of salvation is himself brought to judgment and crucified. In Act 4, the Resurrection signals the Heavenly Father's judgment. It is the latter which must especially clear up the question of those who damn themselves by resisting God's love. Here is what I take as Schwager's primary answer to that question -- and notice that it is followed up by the same passage which follows up our initial quote on page 59, the parable of the wicked winegrowers:
In the resurrection brought about by the Father it is consequently not enough to see merely a verdict for his Son and against those who opposed him. Certainly, this view is correct, as Jesus' opponents are convicted as sinners. But the verdict of the heavenly Father is above all a decision for the Son who gave himself up to death for his opponents. It is therefore, when considered more deeply, also a verdict in favor of sinners. The opponents of the kingdom of God, closing themselves off, had the way to salvation once more opened for them by the Son, who allowed himself to be drawn into their darkness and distance from God. Although they had already turned their backs, as far as they were concerned, the self-giving of the Son got around this hardening of hearts once more, insofar as he allowed himself to be made the victim of their self-condemnation.Essentially, this leads us right back to where the drama started: a love that even extends to one's enemies. God models such love with a 'judgment' that brings salvation to sinners, i.e., to God's enemies. Jesus has not just preached it. He has incarnated it, by giving himself up to the violence of God's enemies, with a love that cannot be vanquished -- in fact, it instead brings the power of new life in the Spirit (Act 5).The saving dimension of the Easter message, and the revelation of God contained in it, can be clarified from yet another angle. In the parable of the wicked winegrowers (Mark 12:1-12 and parallels) a lord is presented who at first acts with unfathomable goodness, in that, after the rejection and killing of several servants, he even risks his own son. This goodness however comes to an end, for after the murder of his beloved son it is transformed into retribution, and the violent winegrowers are in their turn killed. (1) But the heavenly Father in his Easter "judgment" acted differently from the master of the vineyard in the parable. Even the murder of his son did not provoke in him a reaction of vengeful retribution, but he sent the risen one back with the message "Peace be with you!" (Luke 24:36; see also John 20:19, 26) to those disciples who at the critical moment had allowed themselves to be drawn into the camp of the opponents of the kingdom of God. The judge's verdict at Easter was consequently not only a retrospective confirmation of the message of Jesus, but it also contained a completely new element, namely, forgiveness for those who had rejected the offer of pure forgiveness itself and persecuted the Son. Through the Easter message of peace there came about a redoubling of that readiness to forgive expressed in the message of the basileia, a pardon for the earlier nonacceptance of pardon. It could be summed up in that saying from the Old Testament, which, taken together with the parable of the wicked wine-growers and seen in the light of Easter, says something quite new and can serve as the hermeneutical key to the Gospels: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was accomplished by the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes" (Mark 12:10). The miracle of Good Friday and of Easter once again embraces those people who hardened their hearts and made their decision against the Son. A rightly understood doctrine of the atoning death is therefore, even when seen from the viewpoint of Easter, not in opposition to Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God. On the contrary, it is precisely the peace of Easter which shows how the Father of Jesus willingly forgives, even in the face of people's hardened hearts. (pp. 135-136)
Ephesians 3:1-12
Resources
1. James Alison, The Joy of Being Wrong; Alison does a brief exposition of the letter to the Ephesians in the section "Redeeming the Time," pp. 229-232.
Matthew 2:1-12
Resources
1. See resources on Matthew 2 at Christmas
1A.
Reflections and Questions
1. Link to the sermon "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light,"
based on the contemporary hymn by Kathleen Thomerson (see the Lutheran
worship resource With One Voice, #649). I use the reference in that
hymn's chorus to 1 John 1:5, to seriously ask what it means that God is
light, and in whom there is no darkness at all.
Return to "Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary" Home Page
Note from Jesus in the Drama of Salvation
1. In Matthew, of course, Jesus poses only the question about the action of the owner, and the hearers themselves answer that the owner will put the wretched tenants to death (21:40-41).