We are all rather quick to lay claim to the title “victim.” The truth is we are all victims. Every mother’s son of us has, at one time or another, been the victim of someone else’s sins against us. It happens to all of us, however, because it happens by all of us. Every mother’s son of us has, at one time or another, victimized someone else with our sins. This, please understand, does not flatten out all sins. Neither does it excuse any sins. I cannot escape my guilt for victimizing others by pointing to my having been victimized by others. I’m not suggesting either that when we are victimized our calling is ever and always to pretend it never happened.
My goal instead is to demonstrate the contrast between the ways of the world and the way of Jesus. To achieve the status of “victim” in our day is to win the prize. We seem to think that parading around the sins committed against us somehow atones for the sins we commit. We win sympathy, accolades, sometimes even fame and fortune. We are led to the front row, the head of the class and eventually, our face graces the cover of People magazine.
Jesus, we should remember, does identify with victims. When He confronted Saul on the road to Damascus He asked not why Saul was persecuting the church, but why he was persecuting Him. That’s solidarity. Jesus warns us that the persecution He experienced is precisely what we should expect from those around us, reminding us that the servant is not greater than the Master. We are, when persecuted for His name’s sake, united with Him.
That said, the true gospel glory is found in this- Jesus identifies with us, victimizers. It is in our sin that He finds us, that He is united to us, that He is punished instead of us. When we confess our sins, He is the one who cries out, “Me too.” He confesses not just before the watching world, but before His own Father- “I did that.” And what did He receive for identifying with us victimizers? Crucifixion. The outpouring on Him of the full wrath and fury of His Father. Shame, degradation, and death. All of which is what we are due.
Jeffrey Epstein, the cruel victimizer, having taken the innocence of so many, took his own life. Jesus of Nazareth, the gentle Lamb of God, having taken the guilt of so many, laid down His life. Both died of their own wills. One, however, did so to escape earthly judgment for his own sins. The Other did so to take on the heavenly judgment for the sins of others, for my sins and yours.
Identity politics is a stinking morass of self, defining ourselves by our victim group. Identity theology, wherein Jesus identifies with sinners like us is a sweet aroma of grace and life, of paradise. Because He identifies with victimizers He leads us, once dead, to victory. #metoo
