A Blind Eye and a Dry Tongue
Summary
We accept faith, or grow our faith, not by dramatic events or fear of punishment, but by responding in our everyday lives through study, devotion and care for others, to the revelation that God has given us.
How does it affect our understanding of scripture if we read a story through the eyes of different characters? Gary Yamasaki, a Canadian biblical scholar, has written about the point of view through which we read a biblical narrative.1 Any experience of a narrative works the same way. When we watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, we see that a large chunk of the movie shows Butch and Sundance running from a posse. They try every trick Butch can think of to get away, but nothing works. Finally, they end up on a cliff. Straight down from the cliff is a raging river. At the top of the cliff stands the posse. The situation looks hopeless. In an iconic scene, Butch convinces Sundance to jump into the river. During the jump, we laugh at what Sundance shouts out. When they land in the river, we breathe a sigh of relief. Two train robbers get away from the lawmen who chase them. We cheer for the criminals who steal other people’s money.
In this instance, we watch the movie from the perspective of the criminals. Everything comes at us from their point of view. We never even see the faces of the lawmen in this scene because the camera never gets close enough. We don’t see the disappointment on their faces when Butch and Sundance make their daring escape. Seeing the movie from the point of view of Butch and Sundance makes a difference in terms of how we experience the narrative.
Point of view af
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