The Epiphany is the celebration of the revelation of God to humankind through the Incarnation. In Jesus, we believe we see the fullness of God, and by contrast we see the reality of ourselves and our wayward condition. Jesus reveals to us that God is our true desire, and the true home of our souls, while everything else is merely a shadow of that true longing. The only one that satisfies.
When not rooted in God, the things we desire are influenced by the wants and desires of others, or they are mimetic, as French philosopher Rene Girard says. 1 This actually is quite obvious when we think about it. Think of luxury brands or TikTok influencers, home renovation styles or the cars we drive. All are influenced by social behavior.
Our wants are always socially constructed, and this social triangulation between want, thing, and other invariably leads to conflict.
James says it like this:
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. (James 4:1-3 NLT)
In order to relieve this conflict, Girard argues, societies create scapegoats, or people upon whom we place the blame in order to temporarily relieve social pressures.
This makes sense. Think of the middle school in circle — a condition from which we hardly ever evolve if we’re honest. In it, there’s a set of conduct, behaviors, code words, and often material good that indicate our belonging. But even then, there’s a social wrestling over position. In order to relieve this tension, people in the group, or others outside are frequently targeted and ridiculed in order to maintain group integrity. In my time, every child had to have Nike shoes to belong. But even then, the style, color, and make of the shoes made a difference (as did your social pedigree). Be prepared to be on the receiving end of a social jab if you didn’t get the combo right. The same is true of larger groups like countries. When something goes wrong, or the economy tanks, simple straw men are established to relieve the tension. Think immigrants, prisoners, the other party, or another country. Even wars are introduced as distractions.
Girard argues that this scapegoating is only ever a temporary pax, and never truly satisfies. What’s more is that it seems completely normal in nature that there should be a scapegoat. It’s so prevalent that it’s a common condition within religion2, societies, and even animal groups to pick one member, or set of members, to burden with the blame to save the larger group.
Bishop Robert Barron, the author of the section about Girard from whom I stole this concept, argues quite convincingly that Jesus is the ultimate scapegoat for the evil of the world.3 In order to protect the temple system, Caiaphas the High Priest even argued in consequentialist fashion, “Is it not better that one should die so that many might live?” 4
As an aside, the church when it hides from its own storied past commits the sin of Caiaphas.
Scripture paints a picture of all of us scapegoating God himself that we might continue to hide from our condition and maintain the mirage of health. “Crucify him, crucify him” the crowd screamed.5 Like any addiction, we believe by killing God we might escape the truth, and continue to live in our self-denial.
But the Epiphany destroys this lie, revealing it for what it is. The whole thing is wrong, from the wayward desires to the group mimetic behavior, to the scapegoating itself. It’s all broken.
By allowing himself to be the scapegoat, God undermined the whole house of cards, and declared it for what it was.
Here’s the thing. That this is wrong is not obvious. The rights of the weak and vulnerable were not honored by the ancient societies that we laud today. That scapegoating is horrific when it is so embedded in nature is not a natural philosophy. It has to be revealed.
In his coming, Christ lifted the veil on our condition, revealing what we do and who we are. In this way, the Incarnation is not only the salvation of humankind6, but it is the revealer of all things. Nothing is hidden.
Everything that is hidden will be shown, and everything that is secret will be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an inner room will be shouted from the housetops. — Luke 12:2-3 NCV
The Incarnation, or God’s Epiphany is like a mirror that reflects ourselves, our condition, but instead of merely deconstructing and abandoning, it reveals our hope and our path to life.
God’s Epiphany is mercy. And without it, we would have continued in great darkness, unable to see the condition from which we long to be freed.
Blessings to you all this Epiphany. May God continue to reveal yourself, and more importantly himself to you in your life, and may you experience his freedom.
20+C+M+B+25
Aaron
- I am not a Girard scholar. This concept is adapted from Robert Barron, “Rene Girard, Church Father,” in Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism (Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire, 2016), 20-23. Highly recommended book and chapter. ↩︎
- See Leviticus 16 ↩︎
- Barron, 22. ↩︎
- John 11:49-50 (paraphrase) via Ibid, 22. ↩︎
- Mark 27:22-23. ↩︎
- Although it definitely is that. ↩︎