During Monday of Holy Week, at the Gospel of the Mass, Mary of Bethany anointed the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume. Judas who betrayed Jesus seeing the actions of Mary criticized her. Judas supposedly saw the possibility of using that money for the poor.
Mary of Bethany and Judas are both introduced to us at the beginning of Holy Week. Mary and Judas both see Jesus differently. Mary did something that with an objective worldly standard did not make sense. She used a large amount of expensive perfume to anoint the feet of Jesus.
On that day it was clear that Judas was not alone in seeing the actions of Mary as foolish, illogical and was joined by many other disciples as noted by the other synoptic Gospels.
There is no doubt that the way we live, our genes, things we have experienced, our scars, our good deeds, knowledge, our environment, and many other stimuli are all present in what we see and hear, consequently, we often see and hear what we want. St.Thomas Aquinas put it very succinctly: we receive in the manner of the receiver. (Quidquid Recipitur...)
Truth should be our goal in all our discussions, however, truth alone without mercy often engenders violence in its many forms. "Truth should free us."
During this last part of Lent, we see Jesus' movement toward death increasing. Many only saw the harm to the nation with his talk and behavior. The very thing they feared did come about 40 years after the death of Jesus, the destruction of the Temple, and the end of the Nation.
Mary of Bethany and a few others did see Jesus rightly which made all the difference in their actions. The point was for them rather obvious.
Does missing the point in our many discussions bring about our polarization? We should be helping each other to find the truth but we are so taken up with our opinions that we sacrifice civility, and mercy, in our desire to destroy the opposition. Jesus made his approach on a donkey into Jerusalem last Sunday a laughing matter for those who want to see it that way.
We have a fancy word for the argument that misses the point. The Latin word for ignoring the refutation, missing the point, and failing to deal with the issue is ignoratio elenchi. Probably all the fallacies can be reduced to this basic fallacy of missing the point.
Mary, when she looked at Jesus, saw the God of Heaven. Judas saw a man who he hoped was the Messiah according to his understanding but was not. Most of the Apostles and disciples did not see Jesus like Mary of Bethany until after the Resurrection.
Missing the point about Jesus is the issue for Christians, but in our discussions with others, both online and offline is it not necessary to make sure we are talking about the same thing and understand as fully as possible what the other is saying or trying to say and have the kindness to try to help them say it and likewise for the other to do the same. The truth will always suffer from our efforts to prove that we are right without efforts to understand the other. For we are missing the point and no longer in search of truth.
