Jesus is our Model...the OTHER other....

Perhaps my last post about mimesis in Ephesians was “putting the horse before the apple cart.” I mentioned what Paul had to say about mimesis…and how he proclaimed himself as a model for those living in his era…and for the rest of us down through the ages. Imitate me…as I imitate Christ. Mimesis is inborn…it is in you…you will pick a model whose desires you will take on as your own…so choose to imitate me….as I imitate Christ. Choose, as James Allison refers to him, the OTHER other.

Jesus, of course, knew all about mimetic rivalry and scapegoating and it was, in part, what he came to save us from. He “knew what was in man”…..our mimetic nature and our egoic mind, oozing with the travails of the pain body…which has been passed down from the time of Adam, not only individually but also corporately. But also dwelling within us…. the Christ nature…the light that lights every man that comes into the world…...the nature of our Father…whom Jesus perfectly represented and demonstrated for us….for all the world to see.

As Girard emphasizes, the Bible is the only sacred writing that points a finger at mimetic rivalry and scapegoating. Obliquely in the Old Testament…..with more clarity in the New after the veil had been rent and Jesus had played out the drama of the innocent scapegoat right before our very eyes. Once you begin to look for it in scripture you can find it everywhere. The Bible exposes. Other sacred writings are part of the cover up. And the Gospels, probably more than any other part of the Bible, addresses humanity’s ugly little secret….our need to vent our individual and collective displaced anger on an innocent (or not nearly as guilty as presumed) victim…and then cover it up (even in our own minds) as a justified and oftentimes sacred act.

Jesus came to set us free. His life was an example of the way to live non-violently….the way to overcome our rivalrous natures……

"For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. John 13:15

Jesus often said, "Follow me."  I read somewhere the exact number of times he entreated people to follow him in the Gospels....but I'll be darned if I can find it now...even on google.  He said it a lot though...and I think he meant it as an all around do as I say, do as I do kind of thing.  From the Amplified...both from Matthew:

4:19 And He said to them, Come  after Me [as disciples--letting Me be your Guide], follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!

16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].