Daily Mass Gospel Reflection-

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 04.08.22 | Aux. Bishop R. Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Fifth Week of Lent

John 11:45-56

Friends, in today’s Gospel, the chief priests and Pharisees unite in
a plot to kill Jesus because he raised Lazarus from the dead.

The Crucifixion of Jesus is a classic instance of Catholic philosopher René Girard’s
scapegoating theory. He held that a society, large or small,
that finds itself in conflict comes together through a common act of blaming an individual
or group purportedly responsible for the conflict.

It is utterly consistent with the Girardian theory that Caiaphas,
the leading religious figure of the time, said to his colleagues,
“It is better for you that one man should die instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish.”

In any other religious context, this sort of rationalization would be validated.
But in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, this stunning truth is revealed:
God is not on the side of the scapegoaters, but rather on the side of the scapegoated victim.

The true God does not sanction a community created through violence; rather,
he sanctions what Jesus called the kingdom of God,
a society grounded in forgiveness, love, and identification with the victim.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what Jesus had done began
to believe in him.
But some of them went to the
Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened the Sanhedrin and said,
“What are we going to do?
This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will
believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our
nation.”
But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year,
said to them,
“You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is
better for you
that one man should die instead of
the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish.”
He did not say this on his own,
but since he was high priest for
that year,
he prophesied that Jesus was going
to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the
dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to
kill him.

So Jesus no longer walked about in
public among the Jews,
but he left for the region near the desert,
to a town called Ephraim,
and there he remained with his disciples.

Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
and many went up from the country
to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to
one another
as they were in the temple area,
“What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?”+++

[ebb tide]

I'm not surprised the heretic and homo-friendly Boobie Barron would source Rene Girad:

Some dangers of Girardian mimetic theory and its application to Scripture

Problem #3: Misapplication to moral problems

One of the most popular current uses of Girard’s work is providing a theological framework for approving of immoral behavior. There are two “moments” in this argument. First, for Girard, there are no objectively ordered desires. All desire–see Problem #1 above–is mimetic, according to Girard. All desire leads to societal tension, and thus violence and scapegoating. No desire is for the good in itself.

Secondly, any disapproval, any natural law or moral argument against any behaviors, can be simply attributed to the scapegoating mechanism. Rather than making any meaningful claims about right and wrong, society is merely scapegoating persons for its own purposes of equilibrium.

It's no wonder, Barron dares hope Hell is empty, despite Christ's very words in Scripture.

[MurphsLaw]

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