In Sunday’s Gospel we are told that Jesus was invited to a meal at one of the leading pharisees. If you are familiar with Luke’s Gospel, you would be aware of when Jesus attends dinner party’s things don’t always go the way the host would have desired. We are told that they watched Jesus closely – there were
waiting to see what he would do or say. There is an ominous feel to the text, to the watching.
We too have a similar experience, we watch others – especially people who are already in the public eye – to see what they are going to do or say. There is something in our human nature that intrigues us, that leads us to ‘watch’ others. Sometimes we watch others so that
we can learn from them. Other times we watch because we are attracted by them. If someone is in the public eye, a ‘personality’ or ‘famous’ person, we might watch them because there is a kind of mystique around them.
However, our watching can also be the opposite. It can be – like we know it is for the scribes and pharisees – a watching to catch out, to critique or
to bring a case against someone. Sometimes we watch what others do to try and trip them up.
In the beginning of his Spiritual Exercises St Ignatius Loyola advises that we should always put a good interpretation on what another is doing. In other words, he suggests that we do not approach others with suspicion but rather with generosity. Although this is one
annotation of St Ignatius amongst many, it is a very important one – not just for the person engaging in the Spiritual Exercises but for all of us.
If we approached others, if we watched them, seeking to put a good interpretation on their words and actions, how different might our society and world look? If we watched people, putting a good interpretation on what
they say and do, would we not live very differently? If people from different races approached each other seeking to put a good interpretation on what the other says, might there be less racism and fear?
Spend some time reflecting on the people in your own life who you might be invited to see through new eyes, not the eyes of suspicious watching but the eyes of a
good or generous interpretation. How might that change the way you view them and ultimately approach all who are different to you? Finally, ask yourself, how might that change you and, perhaps, move you from a suspicious watching – and maybe even fear – to a watching that sets yourself and others free.
