As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. – Matthew 9:9-10
Jesus saw a man named Matthew. So often, we overlook things and people. We all know the joke of a man seeking something in the fridge and exclaiming to his wife, I can’t find it. Just to have her arrive at the fridge, put her hand into it, and magically pull out the object that the man did not see in there. I often wonder why I did not see whatever was in there. I have sight; I can see colors. Though not as well as I could when I was in my youth, although my corrective lenses do a wonderful job at helping me see things clearer. But in this moment, Jesus seems to peer through the darkest and see a man sitting in his sin and calls him to follow. I often wonder if refrigerator blindness is real in men when we have perfectly fine vision. Could there also be blindness in the open world to things that are part of everyday life?
It’s amazing to me that Jesus seems to have an eye for seeing things. Think about it. First, He sees the faith of a paralyzed man and the friends who brought him to Jesus: “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” (v. 2b). Next, Jesus saw Matthew, the tax collector-turned-disciple: “‘Follow me,’ He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him” (v. 9). Then, if we would read on in Matthew, in the midst of a crowd, a bleeding woman touches just His cloak and finds herself healed: “Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ He said, ‘your faith has healed you.” (v. 22). Finally, Jesus saw the crowd of people who had come to hear Him preach the Good News and receive healing. Verse 36 says, “When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dejected, like a sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus is seeing people and situations way differently than other people and even the disciples. What was the difference? The difference was that Jesus was seeing from a kingdom perspective and not a worldly one. He was seeing the world through the lens of love. But he wasn’t just seeing it; he was moved by it. In the moment he saw the crowds like sheep without a shepherd, the Greek tells us that he saw and was moved to the core, the gut of his being. And it’s the same story with Matthew. He saw Matthew and had compassion for him. Jesus saw all of these people who were hurting and who needed healing not just in their bodies but in their souls as well. He saw them through the kingdom’s lens of love.
Love peers through the fog of darkness and sees people for who they are and where they are. Just like the love of Jesus peered through the social norm of Matthew being sinful and a tax collector, he peers through the darkness and sees us where we are as well.
My prayer today is for Jesus to give me his eyes to see the world for what it is. To see people who I normally overlook. We never know who Jesus might be bringing into our lives—not for us to help them, but for them to help us see things in a different way.
Prayer
“Jesus, help me refocus daily so that I se others through your eyes.”
*Prayer from the book, “Meditations in Matthew” by Dr. Stephen Manley