A Bridge of Grace

The most-viewed Super Bowl 56 commercial was called “Mind Reader” and featured celebrity couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost. In the commercial they wondered what if Alexa--the voice activated electronic assistant--could read your mind and they concluded it would be a bad idea. Probably right. But that doesn't stop us from trying with what Dr. Meg Arroll, Fellow and Chartered Psychologist with The British Psychological Society calls a common cognitive distortion, "mind-reading." She says this is where we "read between the lines and make assumptions about what other people might be thinking, as if we can mind read."

The mechanisms underlying these processes go slightly awry leading to distorted assumptions, like Peter did with Jesus that day on the lake shore. John writes that "Peter was hurt" after the third time of Jesus asking him, "do you love me?" maybe because Peter was reading Jesus' mind, making assumptions about why he kept asking the question. Jesus was building a bridge of grace over the chasm of guilt that Peter felt.