#deflect

@brazenlystrong

"Megumiiiii. Ya wanna tell me something? Like, dunno, maybe something's on your mind? Or someone?" You didn't delete your search history, rascal.

Unprompted harassment.

Megumi's pencil stops right over the feather of a peacock. Eye twitching slightly, he slowly squints at the page, frown deepening. He knew that tone of voice very well, and Satoru knew he did as well. This was the beginning of a game that had been played before and would be played again many times to come, both refusing to lose.

What do you do when something hits hard? When it strikes a nerve?

When someone calls you out on your BS? How do you respond?

Deny it? Deflect it, with some “what abouts?”

Or like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, when Jesus strikes a nerve - get angry at the person who said it?

If we’re honest, you and I have done all of these at one time or another. Just like the Pharisees. Just like every other person in the history of ever. It’s human nature.

None of us like to be called out on our BS.

But none of those responses help. They don’t change anything.

And when we’re done reacting, we’re still stuck in our BS. Just like the Pharisees.  

I like to think of interactions like we see in today’s Gospel as “missing the point moments.” Because Jesus has a point in calling people out on their BS.   

It’s not the point I would have. If it were me, given the Pharisees constant efforts to embarrass and entrap Jesus, I would deeply enjoy publicly humiliating them. And I would do it every chance I got.

But that’s not who Jesus is (thank God). In spite of them absolutely not deserving it, Jesus loves them.

Which is why the point of what Jesus is doing is to hold up a mirror. To get them to look closely at themselves. To get them to ask themselves some questions. Questions like,

“Why am I having this reaction?” “Do I want to be someone who reacts like this?” “What is this telling me about me?”

The same questions you and I need to ask ourselves, whenever someone calls us out on our BS.

Whatever our answers might be, our answers will be pointing us to something that’s getting between us and God.

Something that we need to take to God in prayer. Something we cannot ignore.

Because anything that can make you and me react like that? It’s on the way to becoming the center of our lives. Whether we mean for it to or not.

It’s a subtle form of idolatry (not all false gods have statues) and one of the most toxic.

And if God puts it in your heart to ask whether you should talk to a therapist about it? You already know the answer.