sent | seeing people like jesus
Author: Joe Marquez
Seeing People Like Jesus
Our culture has taught us to evaluate almost everything by speed and efficiency.
How quickly can I finish this? How easily can I get there? How can I avoid delays? How can I protect my schedule? How can I make this interaction shorter?
Efficiency can be helpful, but people are rarely efficient. People interrupt us. People need more time than we planned. People tell long stories. People carry needs we cannot quickly solve. People can complicate carefully managed lives.
Because of that, we can begin treating people as obstacles standing between us and whatever we are trying to accomplish.
But when we watch Jesus, we see something different.
Jesus was never too busy to see the person in front of Him.
In Matthew 9, Jesus sees the crowds and recognizes their spiritual condition. In Luke 19, Jesus sees one man hidden in a tree whom everyone else has rejected.
Jesus does not merely look at people. Jesus sees people.
C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”
Jesus Sees the People Others Overlook | Luke 19:1–5
Zacchaeus is introduced as a chief tax collector who was wealthy. The crowd saw him as a category: sinner, traitor, tax collector.
Jesus sees Zacchaeus as a person.
Zacchaeus climbs a tree because he wants to see Jesus. But the surprise of the story is that Jesus is already looking for him. Jesus stops. Jesus looks up. Jesus calls him by name. Jesus invites Himself into Zacchaeus’s life.
The crowd saw what Zacchaeus had done. Jesus saw what grace could do in him.
Jesus did not ignore Zacchaeus’s sin, but neither did He allow Zacchaeus’s sin to erase his humanity.
We often see people through categories: the difficult neighbor, the political opposite, the unreliable coworker, the awkward person, the struggling family, the person who always needs something, or the person whose life we do not understand.
Labels allow us to dismiss people without learning their stories.
Suburban life makes it possible to move through the same places every week without becoming meaningfully connected to anyone. We can use self-checkout, order food through an app, drive into our garages, fill every evening, and live near hundreds of people while knowing almost none of them.
We see faces, but not stories. We notice behavior, but not burdens. We make assumptions without asking questions.
Who have you reduced to a label? Who is easy for you to overlook? Whose behavior have you judged without knowing their story? Who might God be inviting you to see differently?
People become interruptions when our plans matter more than their stories.
Jesus Feels Compassion for What Others Ignore | Matthew 9:35–36
Jesus travels through the cities and villages teaching, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing sickness and disease.
Then Matthew tells us, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them.”
Jesus sees beyond the size of the crowd. He sees their spiritual condition: they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
The people were not simply uninformed. They were weary, wounded, vulnerable, and without spiritual care.
Others may have looked at the crowd and seen problems, moral failures, political instability, religious ignorance, social disorder, or simply too many needs.
Jesus saw sheep who needed a shepherd. He saw the pain underneath their behavior.
Compassion begins when we stop asking, “What is wrong with them?” and become willing to ask, “What might they be carrying?”
Sometimes we avoid really seeing people because seeing creates responsibility. If I notice my neighbor’s loneliness, I may need to make time. If I hear my coworker’s pain, I may need to listen. If I recognize someone’s need, I may have to rearrange my plans.
Biblical compassion is not merely feeling sorry for someone. Compassion allows another person’s condition to enter our hearts and move us toward them.
You cannot love people you refuse to see.
Compassion begins when someone else’s pain becomes more important than our convenience.
Jesus Moves Toward People and Sends Us to Do the Same | Luke 19:5–10 | Matthew 9:37–38
Jesus tells Zacchaeus, “I must stay at your house today.”
This is more than a brief conversation in the street. Jesus moves toward relationship. He enters Zacchaeus’s home. He shares a table with him. He publicly identifies with a man the community had rejected.
Notice the order of the story: Jesus sees Zacchaeus. Jesus calls Zacchaeus. Jesus enters his home.
Zacchaeus responds with repentance and generosity.
Grace enters the house before Zacchaeus gets his life together. Jesus’s welcome does not excuse sin. His grace produces transformation.
Then, after Jesus sees the crowds and feels compassion, He tells His disciples that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Jesus tells them to pray for laborers. The disciples eventually become the answer to the prayer Jesus teaches them to pray.
Seeing like Jesus leads to praying like Jesus. Praying like Jesus eventually leads to going where Jesus sends us.
Jesus does not call us to save people. Only He can do that.
He calls us to notice, pray, listen, ask questions, share a table, demonstrate compassion, and speak about the hope found in Him.
We are not responsible for transforming someone’s heart. We are responsible for being available when Jesus invites us to move toward them.
Mission usually begins with a name, a conversation, and a willingness to be interrupted.
The good news is not merely that Jesus teaches us to see people better.
The good news is that Jesus saw us.
Like Zacchaeus, we were not searching for Jesus nearly as deeply as Jesus was seeking us. We were lost in sin, hiding behind our accomplishments, failures, possessions, reputations, and attempts to control our lives.
But Jesus stopped for us. Jesus called us. Jesus moved toward us.
Jesus did more than enter the home of a sinner. He took the place of sinners.
At the cross, Jesus was treated as rejected so that we could be welcomed. He carried our sin so that repentance, restoration, and new life could become possible.
Luke 19:10 summarizes the mission of Jesus: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
When we know we have been seen and loved by Jesus, we no longer need to protect our comfort from other people.
We can slow down. We can listen. We can welcome.
We can move toward the overlooked because Jesus moved toward us.
Rhythms for the Week
Slow Down and Notice
Choose one part of your normal routine where you will intentionally slow down.
Put your phone away. Look people in the eye. Learn someone’s name. Avoid rushing out of the room. Leave margin for an unplanned conversation.
Pray each morning: “Jesus, help me see the person you want me to notice today.”
Ask One Meaningful Question
Move beyond surface-level conversation with one person each day.
Try asking: How are you really doing? What has life been like for you lately? What has been weighing on you? Is there anything I can pray about? What are you looking forward to right now?
Do not ask simply so you can respond. Ask—and listen.
Pray and Move Toward One Person
Choose one person who may be overlooked, isolated, or outside your normal circle.
Pray for them by name. Send a thoughtful text. Invite them for coffee or a meal. Sit with them. Offer practical help. Make yourself available. Do not attempt to fix everything.
Simply take one compassionate step.
Seeing People Like Jesus
Our culture has taught us to evaluate almost everything by speed and efficiency.
How quickly can I finish this? How easily can I get there? How can I avoid delays? How can I protect my schedule? How can I make this interaction shorter?
Efficiency can be helpful, but people are rarely efficient. People interrupt us. People need more time than we planned. People tell long stories. People carry needs we cannot quickly solve. People can complicate carefully managed lives.
Because of that, we can begin treating people as obstacles standing between us and whatever we are trying to accomplish.
But when we watch Jesus, we see something different.
Jesus was never too busy to see the person in front of Him.
In Matthew 9, Jesus sees the crowds and recognizes their spiritual condition. In Luke 19, Jesus sees one man hidden in a tree whom everyone else has rejected.
Jesus does not merely look at people. Jesus sees people.
C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”
Jesus Sees the People Others Overlook | Luke 19:1–5
Zacchaeus is introduced as a chief tax collector who was wealthy. The crowd saw him as a category: sinner, traitor, tax collector.
Jesus sees Zacchaeus as a person.
Zacchaeus climbs a tree because he wants to see Jesus. But the surprise of the story is that Jesus is already looking for him. Jesus stops. Jesus looks up. Jesus calls him by name. Jesus invites Himself into Zacchaeus’s life.
The crowd saw what Zacchaeus had done. Jesus saw what grace could do in him.
Jesus did not ignore Zacchaeus’s sin, but neither did He allow Zacchaeus’s sin to erase his humanity.
We often see people through categories: the difficult neighbor, the political opposite, the unreliable coworker, the awkward person, the struggling family, the person who always needs something, or the person whose life we do not understand.
Labels allow us to dismiss people without learning their stories.
Suburban life makes it possible to move through the same places every week without becoming meaningfully connected to anyone. We can use self-checkout, order food through an app, drive into our garages, fill every evening, and live near hundreds of people while knowing almost none of them.
We see faces, but not stories. We notice behavior, but not burdens. We make assumptions without asking questions.
Who have you reduced to a label? Who is easy for you to overlook? Whose behavior have you judged without knowing their story? Who might God be inviting you to see differently?
People become interruptions when our plans matter more than their stories.
Jesus Feels Compassion for What Others Ignore | Matthew 9:35–36
Jesus travels through the cities and villages teaching, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing sickness and disease.
Then Matthew tells us, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them.”
Jesus sees beyond the size of the crowd. He sees their spiritual condition: they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
The people were not simply uninformed. They were weary, wounded, vulnerable, and without spiritual care.
Others may have looked at the crowd and seen problems, moral failures, political instability, religious ignorance, social disorder, or simply too many needs.
Jesus saw sheep who needed a shepherd. He saw the pain underneath their behavior.
Compassion begins when we stop asking, “What is wrong with them?” and become willing to ask, “What might they be carrying?”
Sometimes we avoid really seeing people because seeing creates responsibility. If I notice my neighbor’s loneliness, I may need to make time. If I hear my coworker’s pain, I may need to listen. If I recognize someone’s need, I may have to rearrange my plans.
Biblical compassion is not merely feeling sorry for someone. Compassion allows another person’s condition to enter our hearts and move us toward them.
You cannot love people you refuse to see.
Compassion begins when someone else’s pain becomes more important than our convenience.
Jesus Moves Toward People and Sends Us to Do the Same | Luke 19:5–10 | Matthew 9:37–38
Jesus tells Zacchaeus, “I must stay at your house today.”
This is more than a brief conversation in the street. Jesus moves toward relationship. He enters Zacchaeus’s home. He shares a table with him. He publicly identifies with a man the community had rejected.
Notice the order of the story: Jesus sees Zacchaeus. Jesus calls Zacchaeus. Jesus enters his home.
Zacchaeus responds with repentance and generosity.
Grace enters the house before Zacchaeus gets his life together. Jesus’s welcome does not excuse sin. His grace produces transformation.
Then, after Jesus sees the crowds and feels compassion, He tells His disciples that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Jesus tells them to pray for laborers. The disciples eventually become the answer to the prayer Jesus teaches them to pray.
Seeing like Jesus leads to praying like Jesus. Praying like Jesus eventually leads to going where Jesus sends us.
Jesus does not call us to save people. Only He can do that.
He calls us to notice, pray, listen, ask questions, share a table, demonstrate compassion, and speak about the hope found in Him.
We are not responsible for transforming someone’s heart. We are responsible for being available when Jesus invites us to move toward them.
Mission usually begins with a name, a conversation, and a willingness to be interrupted.
The good news is not merely that Jesus teaches us to see people better.
The good news is that Jesus saw us.
Like Zacchaeus, we were not searching for Jesus nearly as deeply as Jesus was seeking us. We were lost in sin, hiding behind our accomplishments, failures, possessions, reputations, and attempts to control our lives.
But Jesus stopped for us. Jesus called us. Jesus moved toward us.
Jesus did more than enter the home of a sinner. He took the place of sinners.
At the cross, Jesus was treated as rejected so that we could be welcomed. He carried our sin so that repentance, restoration, and new life could become possible.
Luke 19:10 summarizes the mission of Jesus: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
When we know we have been seen and loved by Jesus, we no longer need to protect our comfort from other people.
We can slow down. We can listen. We can welcome.
We can move toward the overlooked because Jesus moved toward us.
Rhythms for the Week
Slow Down and Notice
Choose one part of your normal routine where you will intentionally slow down.
Put your phone away. Look people in the eye. Learn someone’s name. Avoid rushing out of the room. Leave margin for an unplanned conversation.
Pray each morning: “Jesus, help me see the person you want me to notice today.”
Ask One Meaningful Question
Move beyond surface-level conversation with one person each day.
Try asking: How are you really doing? What has life been like for you lately? What has been weighing on you? Is there anything I can pray about? What are you looking forward to right now?
Do not ask simply so you can respond. Ask—and listen.
Pray and Move Toward One Person
Choose one person who may be overlooked, isolated, or outside your normal circle.
Pray for them by name. Send a thoughtful text. Invite them for coffee or a meal. Sit with them. Offer practical help. Make yourself available. Do not attempt to fix everything.
Simply take one compassionate step.
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