My wife and I tell this true, comedic, story—about me!
Here is the picture. I am standing in front of a kitchen cabinet with the door open, I yell to her, “Where’s the peanut butter?” She responds, “Fifth shelf up, about eye level, right in front.” My reply, “It’s not there, I don’t see it.”
A moment later, an arm comes over my shoulder, past my face, and picks up the peanut butter jar. You know, the jar that is on the fifth shelf, eye level, and right in the front!
True story. True more than once.
Sometimes, even when it is right in front of me—I miss the obvious or the most important.
Before we look at today’s reading, I am struck by how the disciples have been grinding on a few issues:
1. In Chapter 18 they had asked Jesus about who was the greatest, and Jesus called little children to himself. Then they learned how many times they must forgive.
2. In Chapter 19, after some testing by the Pharisees and Jesus again telling them to let the little children come to him, the disciples witness Jesus engaging a rich man who was told to give up everything. Peter, concerned that somehow they will miss out on their place, the place they feel they have earned, speaks up.
Which brings us to the Scripture today and its three stories:
1. Verses 17 – 19, as Jesus is going up to Jerusalem, he tells them that the chief priests are going to hand him over. He will be scourged and crucified. He will die a terrible death.
2. Verses 20 – 28, right after he tells them of his death, we get the scene where James and Johns mother, right in front of them, ask for them to have places of honor with Jesus. Jesus explains the real situation, and the disciples are more than a little annoyed with their colleagues.
3. Verses 29 – 34, we come across two blind men crying out for mercy. The disciples rebuke them, telling them to be quiet. Again, Jesus intervenes. The men receive their sight.
No doubt there were many things going on around the disciples. Yet, when Matthew lays out the stories and events as he does, he is not doing so to pick on the disciples.
Matthew, as he retells these events, is not only telling us about how people of Jesus’ day reacted to him. He is also no doubt seeking to have those in his own community, you might say his own church, understand they need to keep all that Jesus has done in front of them.
Jesus calmly, almost quietly, went to Jerusalem and died for us.
You would think we, as members of his family, would always keep it in front of us, but we do not.
What might you do, to help you not miss that which is right in front of you?