Judah and Jesus -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 15:17:01 04/16/08 Wed
Author: Caitlin
Subject: Judah and Jesus

While in class today, the meaning behind Judah's offer of substitution was discussed. Upon reflection, I started to see a few similarities, and a few differences, between Judah's offer and Christ's offer.

The first similar thing that I thought about was the willingness to *offer* one's life so that another could live. Both Judah and Jesus do this and both do it entirely willingly. They both offer the substitution of their lives for the sake of another, and in my view, neither of these offers is particularly sacrificial in the traditional Girardian sense.

Then I got to thinking about some of the details and there are quite a few things that are different between the two substitutions. First, Judah was not the favorite of the father, nor was he the only. Jesus was the only son of God and he was most beloved of all. Secondly, each has a completely different motivation for their offer of substitution. Judah, as we talked about, wanted to be able to substitute himself because he wanted to get into better standing with his father Jacob. On the other hand, Jesus is motivated not by a desire to get into better standing with his father for himself, but for others to get into better standing with God. Jesus' offer was motivated out of love and in self-confidence. Judah's offer was motivated out of envy and a form of twisted desire to stick one to his dad; to say "see, Dad? I was willing to die for my brother. Why didn't you love me more while you had the chance?"

These are just some of my musings, with no real textual support, but I think it makes sense.

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