Mimetic Desire: Our Desires Are Imitations
Matthew 21: 33-46
Put ten kindergarten kids in one room with ten balloons. Nine balloons are white. One is red.
How many kids run for the red one?
Almost all of them.
Within a minute, someone is crying. Someone is pulling.
Someone is a little too proud of winning.
Nothing was wrong with the white balloons. The kids simply wanted what someone else wanted.
Why?
Because our desires are imitations of other people’s desires.
The French thinker René Girard called this mimetic desire.
We copy what others want, because most of us never stopped to ask what we want ourselves.
Keeping up with the Jones is an apt description.
Sound like anyone you know?
Before you read on, name one "red balloon" in your life right now.
The Vineyard Story
Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 21:33-46 that is hard to hear.
A landowner builds a vineyard. Fence. Winepress. Watchtower.
Everything is ready. Then he leases it to tenant farmers and leaves.
At harvest, he sends servants to collect his share. The tenants beat one, kill another, and stone a third. He sends more servants.
Same result.
Finally he sends his son. "They will respect my son," he says.
They don't. The tenants see the heir and think, "Kill him, and the inheritance is ours."
Notice what they desire. They desire what was never theirs. And they will kill to get it.
Think of a small restaurant where the manager is trusted with the keys. Over time she starts to feel the place is hers.
Then someone from the owner's family walks in, and suddenly that person is a threat.
The tenants forgot they were caretakers. They started acting like owners.
Ask yourself: where have I started acting like an owner of something I was only trusted to tend?
The Stone Nobody Wanted
Jesus then quotes Psalm 118: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."
Girard saw something here. Communities often settle their tension by finding someone to push out. A scapegoat.
Once that person is gone, everyone feels a little peace. The Gospels pull back the curtain and show us that the one we cast out was innocent.
This is where Matthew gets uncomfortable, and where we must read with care.
Matthew 21:43 says the kingdom will be taken away "from you" and given to a people who produce its fruits.
For centuries, some Christians twisted that to say the church replaced the Jewish people.
That reading is wrong.
Jesus was a Jewish teacher speaking to Jewish leaders inside a Jewish argument about faithfulness.
It was never a verdict on a whole people.
Look at who Jesus is talking to. The chief priests and Pharisees "realized that he was speaking about them."
They were very upset, and desired to kill him.
Jesus is giving a warning for anyone with power whose desires do not align with God’s love for God’s creation.
That includes us.
Perhaps we can ask ourselves: who has our church or presbytery pushed to the edge, and what would it cost to bring them back to the table?
One of our confessions says that "in a world full of injustice and enmity God is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged" (Article 4, Belhar Confession).
God is on the side of the rejected stone.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it plainly: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
Is your church neutral about something it shouldn't be?
The Fruit Question
Jesus does not end with doom. He asks for fruit.
What does fruit look like?
It looks like the Matthew 25 invitation our denomination has lifted up.
Feed the hungry. Welcome the stranger. Visit the prisoner. Dismantle structural racism. Eradicate systemic poverty. Build congregational vitality.
Fruit is someone who was hungry and now eats. Someone who was lonely and now has a seat.
Throughout my travels at Mission Presbytery, I have met wonderful people of God who have inspired me to be more and more like Christ through their actions.
I have seen ruling elders and teaching elders, Deacons, and many other people in local congregations who serve God’s mission selflessly. They show that with their love for God’s people and creation.
Copying can go two ways. We can copy the crowd running for the red balloon. Or we can do what Paul said: "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."
Who in your life has inspired you to imitate Christ? How can you copy them purposely?
Your Next Step
Name one red shiny balloon you have been chasing.
Name one person your community has pushed aside.
Do one concrete thing this week, such as a phone call, a meal, or a seat at the table, that moves them toward the center.
We at Mission Presbytery are so blessed beyond measure. Every congregation has incredible strengths and challenges. Our hope is in Christ, whom we seek to imitate.
To God be the glory!
Grace and peace,
Rev. Bobby Musengwa
Transitional General Presbyter
Mission Presbytery
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