Our Greek Tragedy Era

Are we living in a Greek tragedy?

Antigone is the daughter of a disgraced king, part of a scandal-ridden political dynasty. In one heartbreaking moment her two brothers kill each other, battling it out for supremacy in her hometown of Thebes.

In the ensuing power vacuum, Antigone’s uncle Creon takes power on a promise to “make this city great”. That can’t help but feel familiar.

Creon denounces Antigone’s brother Polyneices as a traitorous “nothing”, and sentences Antigone to death for honouring her “nothing” brother with a secret burial. In Creon’s world, you’re a winner or a loser.

There’s a reason these ancient stories feel fresh. Including the fact that, like Antigone, we recoil when we are asked to treat our loved ones as “nothing”.

But how can we avoid being a Creon? How can we secure peace and safety without demonising our enemies? How can we stop passing on intergenerational hate?

Jesus had a different schema to Creon, one that he outlines in his Beatitudes.

Jesus was not interested in making Jerusalem great, and he didn’t declare the “nothingness” of his political enemies. Instead, Jesus used the category of “blessed” to explain his mission.

Who are the blessed ones? Those who mourn, and those that are poor in spirit. Those, like Antigone, who might be crying in the ruins. And also, the “peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”.

Perhaps our contemporary Greek-tragedy existence could be the source of unexpected blessing: a punk-hope moment. Where we can dare to hope for a big human family with non-squabbling siblings. Where we are allowed to cry and bury our dead. Where we can find ways to become peacemakers. Pausing the murderous words on social media; the violence in our streets; the deadly bombs falling on already smashed-up communities.

This Thinking Out Loud was first published on Facebook.