Fake facts
are not new. The Greek tragedies hinge on them. The gods are by no means
predisposed to overlook them. Confronted by catastrophe, Chorus knows that
every one shall be afflicted by the resulting fall.
Who
believed history tucked safely into the past? Catastrophe overturns the
existing order; fatal reversal. Chorus hears it in the death of Agamemnon:
“Anyone can see it, by these first steps they have taken, they purpose to be
tyrants here upon our city.”[i] Chorus foresees, inquires, fears, recounts, witnesses,
prophecies. “Where shall I turn the brain’s activity in speed when the house is
falling?”
Jesus,
also, faces his followers as prophet. In Wycliff’s translation: “Moreover when
ye se the abominable desolacion, whereof is spoken by Daniel the prophet, stond
where it ought nott, let hym that readeth it, understonde it.” (Mark 13:14) What
is standing in the wrong place now? Your
role is Chorus: stay awake. Meanwhile
the disciples are absorbed by the problem of who is worthy.
You still
have a spiritual life. What is the state of your soul? The great and troubling
mysteries of Lent and Holy Week are before us. (Let whoever reads understand).
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