"Of Goats and Chickens" - Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent

Of Goats and Chickens
Lent 3 – Narrative Lectionary 4
March 4, 2018
Grace, Mankato, MN
John 18.12-27

Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people. (John 18.14)

One of the benefits of using the Narrative Lectionary is that each Gospel has its own “year.” We are currently in John and see the unique version of Jesus’ journey to the cross through John’s eyes. Another benefit is that we get to take our time on the way to Calvary. Although you will hear the story again on Good Friday, we will spend linger over the major events and characters in those events. However, the texts get harder to read, but no less important.

Last week we heard the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, an act of love and service that they are to emulate. During this “Last Supper,” Jesus gives his followers last minute instructions and prepares them for his death. Since then, Jesus has gone out to the Mount of Olives and been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Today’s reading focuses on Jesus’ interaction with Annas, a Jewish religious leader and father-in-law of the current high priest, Caiaphas. It was Caiaphas “who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.” Caiaphas’ words made me think of a scapegoat.

An online dictionary defines a scapegoat as “a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.” Did you know that the term “scapegoat” originated in the Bible? In Leviticus 16 a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it. But the scapegoat is not limited to Judaism. Until his death a few years ago, Stanford scholar Rene Girard identified in every society and culture a scapegoating mechanism. In all societies you can find violence perpetrated on an individual or class of peoples for the purpose of uniting the community, creating calm and dispelling conflict. It is ironic that the Jewish people have suffered the most from the practice they developed.

It’s easy to see how some biblical interpreters have used Girard’s work, especially regarding Caiaphas’ comment, “it is better to have one person die for the people.” The Jewish people are under the thumb of the Roman Empire and Jesus’ presence has not helped. He has stirred up people, not the least of which are the Jewish leaders and something has to give, at least from their perspective. As we will see in the weeks to come, John is going to portray Jesus as the Passover lamb whose sacrifice liberates and delivers the people. However, Caiaphas, et al. view Jesus as a goat whose sacrifice takes the pressure off and restores peace. It’s a different kind of sacrifice.

If Peter’s behavior in our reading for today is any indication, Caiaphas’ strategy appears to be working. No way is Peter a hero in this story and he is not even a goat, at least as we define it today. He’s a chicken, symbolized by the vocal presence of the rooster behind him. While Jesus denies nothing, Peter denies everything, even his very identity as a follower of Jesus. Even as Jesus is arrested and says, “I am,” Peter three times emphatically insists, “I am not!” Fearing death, Peter lays aside his promise to follow Jesus everywhere, while Jesus remains loyal to his destiny to save the world. On this side of the resurrection it appears that Caiaphas and others like him will win the day.

The resurrection, of course, as it always does changes everything. Jesus willingly accepts the scapegoat role but only to overthrow it and undermine it. Because of the resurrection, a new counter-community—led by Peter of all people—will emerge and say “No” to violence. Peter’s three denials today will be expunged and replaced with three promises to tend and feed the sheep of God. And Jesus, as the risen Christ, will be the crucified one who will carry the wounds of the cross. We who are baptized into Christ’s death carry those wounds to remember that violence doesn’t win; love wins.

Today, as we walk the way of the cross, to the empty tomb and beyond, we are reminded how easy it would be for us to end up on the side of Jesus’ murderers by talking about Jesus’ sacrifice for us. We must own up to our own part in the structures of violence in this world, whether active or passive. We must remember that violence is never redemptive and when we are faced with the choice of resorting to violence we must always ask if it is necessary, knowing that the answer is almost always, “No.” We are able do this because of Jesus’ promise to give life still holds in the midst of fallible human beings, like Peter and even Caiaphas, like me and even you. Amen.