Our perception of what is going on around us is not necessarily what is going on. Our perceptions are colored by our past experience, our relationships with others, our emotions, our need to take care of #1 even more than what our eyes see, our ears hear in any given situation. Just look at the examples in today’s lessons.

In the gospel the Jews working in the temple courts believed they were enabling people to worship God in the appropriate way. Jesus saw it differently and aggressively demonstrated his dismay at how off base they were in their relationship with the Holy One. Then when he responded to their questions by referring to the temple of his body, the Incarnation of God’s Love, the Jews—since they were standing right there in the Jerusalem temple—assumed he meant the temple edifice. Their perceptions of reality were different.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians points out that the crucifixion of Jesus is a stumbling block to some folks, but for those with open hearts to accept the call of God, the cross demonstrates the power of God’s Love. Where we’re coming from makes a difference in our perceptions, our response to what is right before us.

The psalmist too knew the power of perception. In v.12, “Who can tell how often he offends? Cleanse me from my secret faults,” the psalmist recognizes that, while we might think all is well in our relationship with God, our perception may not be God’s perception—something we would all do well to consider during our Lenten preparation.

In our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures, God reminds us of the place of the Divine in our salvation history. That’s something we tend to assume without reflection, without acknowledging how God continues to bring us out of our personal place of exile, out of the bondage of sin. If we have allowed our perception of God’s saving grace to become null and void, it is our Lenten task to wake up to the reality of God’s place in our lives and welcome the Divine Presence into our hearts.