In Plain Sight
There have been a number of theorists who have tried to explain this. In my classes, we watch a clip where people are passing basketballs around. Meanwhile, a person in a bear suit moonwalks by (in some versions it is a gorilla). Most students miss the bear. When told about it afterwards, they don’t believe me. The clip has to be rewound to show them that while they were focused on the people passing the basketballs, something quite out of the ordinary was happening on the very same screen.
The point of the clip is to introduce the concept of selective attention. While we are focused on one thing, something else can be happening, and no matter how spectacular it is, we may miss it. There is nothing abnormal about this. It is simply part of being human.
If we want to notice the important things in our lives, we have to take the time to look.
In today’s gospel, Jesus chides the Pharisees for failing to recognize Him as the messiah. The Pharisees, according to Jesus, will “die in their sin,” failing to recognize the identity and significance of Jesus as they stubbornly refuse to listen. It is not, initially, a feel good passage.
The Pharisees in the passage are focused on their view of the law, their view of what a messiah should be, their view of the world. They are not taking the time nor making the effort to look at what is happening right in front of them.
I would like to think that, were Jesus physically in front of me, talking about being the messiah and so on, that I would recognize Him. And yet, I still miss signs of God’s love that are right in front of me. Too often, I do not make the effort to look. I take for granted the many signs of love that surround me on a daily basis. Lent, for me, has been about making the effort to look.
In the end of the reading, there is a message of hope. “Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.” They decided to look, and what they saw was wonderful.
Author: Jonathan Segal, Theology Department
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