Whenever you walk around your neighborhood, enter your workplace, or go to the store, what do you see? Do you see people who do not know how to maintain their lawns or control their pets? Do you see people who love stirring up drama or who are blocking your aisle? Do you see people at all, or are you in such a rush to accomplish your goal that you are oblivious to all else? Do you know what Jesus saw as He lived life each day? As He “went throughout all the cities and villages”, He saw more than students needing taught and sick people needing healed – though He did both while He was there (Matt. 9:35). “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36).
Looking out on the world around Him, Jesus saw people. He saw people who desperately needed someone to care about them – though like sheep, they may not have fully realized or been able to articulate it. Jesus did not view people as customers He needed to satisfy with His entertaining teaching or powerful miracles, nor as hurdles to clear on the way to accomplishing His real goal. Jesus viewed the people around Him with genuine compassion – and we are His followers. That means when we look out at the people all around us, we need to see them like Jesus would.
“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Matt. 9:37-38). Jesus commanded “his disciples” – and if we have put our faith in Him, having repented and been baptized in His name, that includes us – to “pray earnestly” for God to send laborers. Do we regularly pray that? Have we ever prayed this prayer our Lord commanded of us?
We should: Jesus wants to help us open our eyes. Instead of seeing each other as people we either want something from or who want something from us, He wants us to pray our way into feeling His compassion. Learning to see how “harassed and helpless” we all are, He wants us to believe that God can do something about it and to start working with Him. So, ask yourself: “What do I see?” As we humbly follow Jesus, we will start to see things differently.
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