October 25, 30A (Matthew 22:34-46)
Jesus teaches us to always aim for the center. And repeat.
In 1993 Anders Ericsson, a cognitive psychologist, published a paper that examined distinctions among piano students of differing abilities, including those who performed at elite levels and those who were merely average. Among his findings were results suggesting that the key difference between a musician capable of performing at Carnegie Hall and one who just plays locally is the quality and quantity of practice. Perhaps your piano teacher was right: practice makes perfect.
Since then, Ericsson’s results have been both challenged and fine-tuned, as scientists have taken a closer look at elements of performance in music, athletics, language acquisition, and so on. As it turns out, things like memory, physical characteristics, the age of learning certain skills, and even how people deal with their mistakes can contribute to higher achievement. Nonetheless, repetition and careful practice remain critical elements.
As Matthew’s Gospel tells it, nearly everybody with any authority around Jesus seems to be practicing their skills at challenging him. Chief priests, elders, scribes, lawyers, Sadducees, Pharisees, and others have formed a coalition party to oppose him, despite their disagreements with each other about some matters and their probable agreement with Jesus about others.
