Doing Theology From BelowSample

The Forgiving Victim

Today, let’s build on yesterday’s reflection on the Road to Emmaus. If you’ll remember, Cleopas and his friend don’t recognize Jesus. He is a stranger to them. When they do finally recognize Jesus, it’s not until he plays host to a mysterious meal later that evening where the stranger, who is the guest in the story, turns out to be the host of the meal. The word, host in Latin is Hostia, it means “victim.” And when they break bread together, with their host, their eyes are opened and they finally see Jesus for who he is – the risen Christ who, according to theologian James Alison, is the "Forgiving Victim". It’s a provocative image.

But what does it mean?

First, it helps to remember that when victims die, they don’t get to tell their story, because…well, they’re dead. It’s the living, not the dead, who tell stories. That is why we say that history is told by the winners, not the losers.

Jesus, then, is the first victim in all of history to return from the dead and speak, telling their side of the story. This Victim turns out to be God, and what does God want to say?

It’s here we pause to notice something really weird. Something hugely obvious is missing in this encounter and from all of the resurrection narratives. Why isn’t Jesus at least scolding the disciples who abandoned him in his time of need? It’s stunning that not once in any of the resurrection narratives do we see Jesus angry – not with those who murdered him and certainly not with those who abandoned him. There is not a whiff of judgment and not an ounce of vengeance. This absence is astounding, shocking, and perhaps even a little disturbing.

He is the first victim in the history of the world to be resurrected to face his victimizers. Instead of wrath, he pours out the Spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. If there is a judgment on humanity from the God who is lynched and murdered, it is the judgment of mercy.

The victim who speaks is the Forgiving Victim who allows us to interpret sacred texts from a whole new perspective, with the intelligence of the victim…the forgiving Victim.

This, Alison argues, is the hermeneutical key to how Christians read the text and see the world and God. It’s what empowers us to withhold judgment that binds us and blinds us. It frees us to forgive, and this is what allows us to see things as they really are. In the end, Alison says, “It is as we undergo forgiveness that we come to see what really is.” It’s as we undergo forgiveness from the one we lynched and murdered that we are set free. For who else has the authority to forgive us other than the Victim themselves? It is the Forgiving Victim who heals us and frees us to seek true justice in a world hell-bent on vengeance.

So take a few minutes and reflect on what it means that Jesus is the Forgiving Victim. How does that impact the way we see God and each other?