The Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, finds its origins in Leviticus 16, which lays out the complexity of the ritual for the people to atone for their sins and seek forgiveness from God.
Part of this spiritual practice was putting Israel’s sins onto a goat.
“When he has completed the atonement rite for the sanctuary, the meeting tent, and the altar, Aaron shall bring forward the live goat. Laying both hands on its head, he shall confess over it all the sinful faults and transgressions of the Israelites, and so put them on the goat’s head. He shall then have it led into the desert by an attendant. Since the goat is to carry off their iniquities to an isolated region, it must be sent away into the desert.” (Leviticus 16: 21-22)
From this ancient Jewish practice, we get both the word and the idea of “scapegoating”.
A need for mercy
All of us have sinned; we all need forgiveness and mercy; an awakened conscience seeks reconciliation with God and others and a relief from guilt.
Left to our fallen selves, we stand in a position of radical alienation from God.
We seek redemption and only a savior can offer what we so desperately need.
In light of Yom Kippur, we Christians can see how Jesus, the Son of God, voluntarily became the scapegoat to save the entire human race from sin and death.
On Palm Sunday, He triumphantly yet humbly enters Jerusalem to embrace His Passion and death, to take upon Himself the overwhelming weight of evil to destroy its power and to set us free.
How astonishing that God Himself volunteered to become the scapegoat, upon whose head falls the totality of depravity, hatred, and evil! See how much the Lord loves us!
We can contemplate this mystery of Christian salvation all our lives and never fully plumb its depths.
By becoming the scapegoat Himself, Jesus has destroyed our need to scapegoat, exclude, and victimize others.
When we do these sinful things, we are acting as if Christ’s sacrifice of reconciliation has never occurred.
The wrong sacrifices
Some wicked tendency in our fallen nature feels the need to scapegoat others, to siphon off our collective fears, guilt, and hatred onto a chosen victim.
It is as common as the proverbial child who gets picked on and bullied at school and as demonic as Hitler’s violent destruction of the Jews. It is the wicked force behind all racism.
Until we know ourselves as sinners who have accepted the salvation of Jesus, until we have given Him our evil, violence, and hatred, we will place our darkness upon the head of another.
We will sacrifice somebody else so that we can feel justified and at peace.
We see this dynamic of sacrifice in every ancient religion which offered first fruits, holocausts of animals, or even human victims to gain divine favor or forgiveness.
This innate desire to atone for sin, to siphon off the fears, anxieties, and evil of the community finds its fulfillment and resolution in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.
Jesus became the scapegoat to put an end to all scapegoating.
This is what we see in the dramatic events of Holy Week.
A helpful examination of conscience for us as we prepare to celebrate the death and Resurrection of the Lord would be to ask: Who are the individuals or groups of people whom I scapegoat? Upon whom do I project my own fears, shame, and hatred? Who do I irrationally blame for what is wrong in my life and the world?
When we encounter the saving mercy of Jesus poured out on the cross through His Precious Blood, we are freed and forgiven.
We can acknowledge our own sins and find peace, not needing to point fingers, blame, or scapegoat anyone else.
We can speak with honesty and candor when justice demands the correction of others, but we do so in love and truth.
When I was in grade school, many students in my class picked on a particular girl, just because she was a little different. Why? Why do people need to hurt and bully others in order to feel better about themselves?
The only plausible answer is that they do not know themselves to be loved by Christ.
This Holy Week is a sacred time to let ourselves be loved!