Christology
The story of Jesus
Matthew 9, Romans 1, Colossians 1
What does the incarnation suggest about who God is?
What might be the relationship between the crucifixion, scapegoating, and forgiveness?
How might Jesus’ death free us from the “Triangle of Punishment?”
The crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ
original icon by Betsy Porter, used with artist permission
What do we imagine…
…is being revealed to us in the story of Jesus about who God?
“‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
For I have come to call
not the righteous
but sinners.” (Matt 9)
Where God’s “wrath” is mentioned in the Greek scriptures, we find no mention of associated punishment. If we define punishment as “stress inflicted to the point of brainstem alarm, the pattern we find in scripture instead is the opposite. God does not desire sacrifice. God visits sinners and eats with them. God forgives sin. God “gives people over” to the natural consequences of their choices. In Romans 1:18–32, Saint Paul’s emphatic message is that God’s wrath does not lead to punishment through violence or death, even if punishment is deserved.
So then, who passed down to us the mistaken notion that sin must be punished?
Where then did we encounter the false notion that God cannot not punish sin?
When did the misperception that God’s forgiveness must be purchased with death slip first into our thinking?
“The Scapegoat Mechanism”
Throughout human history, we find a pattern where rivals will establish peace, sparing both their lives, by sacrificing a third party—a Scapegoat. And in order for this sacrifice to establish peace, the crowd must be convinced of the Scapegoat’s “badness” and of the necessity for “badness” to be punished. Or to put it another way, the crowd must be persuaded that God is the one punishing the Scapegoat, or that the sacrifice of the Scapegoat is pleasing to God.
he scholarship of René Girard has helped many readers recognize this pattern in literature and the anthropological record. Neuroscience has helped us understand the mechanism by which the human brain is hardwired to “mirror” or imitate other brains. Girard intuited this in his writing about “mimetic desire,” or the notion that we want something because we observe someone else wanting it. When the object of our mutual desire is perceived to be scarce—in short supply—this gives rise to rivalry, the sacrifice of the scapegoating, and the misperception that God is the one demanding it.
The scholarship of Stephen Karpman has helped many readers recognize a pattern in human relational dynamics he called the “Drama Triangle.” This diagram helps us visualize how a Persecutor and Victim will continue “swapping” positions on the triangle, until a third party “Rescuer” is recruited to help establish peace. Typically the Rescuer is recruited to punish the Persecutor, or a Scapegoat, thereby creating a New Victim.
“Triangle of Punishment”
We might call this the “Triangle of Punishment” because neurobiologically speaking, it is our fear of punishment which keeps our stress dialed up so high, and our trust in God and one another dialed down so low. This further distorts our ability to perceive reality clearly; we can scarcely see another option. The "Triangle of Punishment” presents a trap from which we seem unable to release ourselves. This diagram may help us recognize this same pattern throughout scripture, when human beings are fearful of punishment from God, or misperceiving God to be a threat—a rival. The pattern is formed when humans then create new victims through scapegoating and then make the false claim that God demanded it.
This is one of the profound aspects of the story of Jesus—when Jesus entered our story, he entered as a “Rescuer” who refused to punish anyone. From there, he became a “Scapegoat”—an innocent Victim. And even when he was resurrected, he refused to become a “Persecutor,” or punish those who had scapegoated him.
At every point in the story, Jesus reveals to us the way to “opt out” of the “Triangle of Punishment” through forgiveness rather than punishment. The transformative potential of this story, however, hinges on the notion of the incarnation—the idea that Jesus is God. This notion holds that there is no part of Jesus that is not a reflection of God, and no part of God that is not reflected in Jesus.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Col 1)
If we take seriously the notion of the incarnation, then Jesus’s nonviolent defiance of the Triangle of Punishment is not simply a heroic act, but a revelation of precisely who God is and how God relates to us.
We may understand that Jesus is—once for all time—correcting our misperception of God as violent or punishing. As we reflect on this revelation, over time, we may find our own trust in God being restored, our stress decreased, our nervous system regulated, and our human relationships healed—despite our circumstances. We may find ourselves—for the first time—neurobiologically capable of forgiveness ourselves.
This is the transformative potential of us coming to understand what the story of Jesus reveals about who God is. As we contemplate this story, we may find ourselves on the inside of it. e may find our trust in God being restored, which decreases our stress; and through this process, we may discover ourselves in a process of being spiritually, neurobiologically and relationally saved from ourselves.
∞
In our stress,
we misperceived punishment as necessary,
and we sacrificed scapegoats
in attempts to purchase forgiveness from God.
We made up falsehoods about our scapegoats
to justify our own violence,
and we waited for God to rescue us
by punishing those who had victimized us.
Instead, God came near,
in the body of Jesus,
and entered our story—
a Rescuer who refused to punish;
a Scapegoat who refused to retaliate;
a “Persecutor” who declined the role.
By dying nonviolently,
Jesus revealed God to be preemptively forgiving,
utterly nonpunishing,
and wholly trustworthy.
Listening with you,
Questions for reflection:
Where have you witnessed scapegoating as a strategy to establish peace between rivals?
How do you understand the relationship between sacrifice and forgiveness?
What impact does reflecting on the nonviolence of Jesus have on your nervous system?
Further reading:
Matthew 9:1–10; Romans 1:18–32; Colossians 1:15
Sermons & homilies: What Does It Mean to be Rejected?
The Brain & the Spirit, Chapter 4, A Borrowed Body, “The Scapegoat Mechanism,” pp. 82–90; “Jesus,” pp. 90–91; “Forgiveness,” pp. 91–96; “The Story of Jesus,” pp. 96–97.
