Liberating the Excluded and Scapegoated
From the very beginning of the Gospel accounts, it becomes apparent that these aren't just tales about a scapegoat. No, they are narratives penned by individuals who themselves were scapegoats. The authors of the New Testament told the stories of Jesus and the early church from a place of marginalization. They directed their focus towards the stories of those on the fringes — the marginalized, the outcasts. These were the individuals Jesus taught, healed, and stood beside during his time — the societal casualties and those ostracized, not just by the empire, but by their own society.
The gospel story, then, it's a story about a victim, written by victims, and featuring victims. It's a message of hope for those who have been victimized; it's the gospel of a scapegoat. Jesus' crucifixion lays bare the brutality of scapegoating. He willingly takes on the role of a scapegoat to shine a light on those who scapegoat others; he submits to death on a cross to redirect our attention from the scapegoats themselves.
In his life, Jesus championed the cause of women, befriended and healed the impoverished and the disabled, and welcomed those on the margins. In his death, he becomes one with the women, the infirmed, and the outsiders. The Jesus who saved women from the shame imposed by society was himself publicly shamed, stripped bare, and scorned. The Jesus who healed the sick and disabled found himself in a state of disability, his flesh pierced and torn, his body weakened and nailed down.
If Jesus' life was a reversal of the fate of the victims he encountered, then his death is the reversal of the fate of future victims. He becomes the scapegoat to end all scapegoats and lays bare the truth that could put an end to human blame and violence once and for all.
As the Gospel writers recount the story of Jesus, they make sure that his followers understand the significance of his scapegoat death. They reveal the innocence of Jesus so that we may see the innocence of all scapegoat victims before it's too late. After Jesus becomes a victim on the cross, exposing the mechanism of scapegoating and its destructive consequences, the story is carried forward by the scapegoats of Jesus' society. It is the women disciples who find the empty tomb and become the first witnesses to the resurrection, the first evangelists to share the news with other followers of Jesus.
The death of Jesus urges us to stand in solidarity with the scapegoated. Without a deep understanding of the pattern of Jesus' life and death, those of us who follow him might inadvertently become the ones who scapegoat instead of those who follow the scapegoat. But when we enter into Jesus' story with a focus on society's victims, we can grasp more fully the life, ministry, and death of the scapegoat that was meant to end all scapegoats — Jesus. Perhaps then, we can put an end to the cycle of creating scapegoats and instead work tirelessly on behalf of those who have been scapegoated.
