Are We Willing to See as Jesus Sees?
“Are We Willing to See as Jesus Sees?” – September 28th, 2025
How do we see people? Are we willing to see as Jesus sees?
I recently discovered a wonderful book, Mathematics for Human Flourishing, in which author and mathematics professor Francis Su tells the story of Christopher, an inmate in a high-security federal prison. “He’s been in trouble with the law since he was 14. He didn’t finish high school, he had an addiction to hard drugs, and at age 19 he was involved in a string of armed robberies that landed him in prison with a 32-year sentence … When you think about who does mathematics, would you think of Christopher? Yet he wrote me a letter after 7 years in prison. He said: ‘I’ve always had a proclivity for mathematics, but being in a very early stage of youth and also living in some adverse circumstances, I never came to understand the true meaning and benefit of pursuing an education … over the last 3 years I have purchased and studied a multitude of books to give me a profound and concrete understanding of Algebra I, Algebra II, College Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus I and Calculus II.’ When you think of who does mathematics, would you think of Christopher?” Dr. Su quotes well-known French religious mystic and philosopher Simone Weil, who challenges us with this profound insight: “Every being cries out silently to be read differently.” He goes on to write compellingly about the intersection between human flourishing and the cultivation of virtues stemming from basic human desires including beauty, truth, justice, play, and love.
God desires that each one of his beloved image bearers would flourish and experience life’s full meaning, joy, purpose, and fulfillment through the intimacy of both knowing and loving God and being known by and loved by God. God entrusted all humans with the precious gift of free will. We have all, at times, abused this gift by failing to love God and others, easily seen when we willingly choose disobedience or selfishness. This is what sin is, and it is the core source of misery and violence in the world. Sin separates us from God.
The reality is that we cannot escape our sin problem on our own. This is why, about 2000 years ago, God sent Godself in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus, fully God and fully human, loved God and people perfectly. Jesus was without sin, sent by God to take on all of our sin, all of humanity’s sin. Why? Because of God’s great love for all people and all of creation. When Jesus died in our place and rose from the dead, he made the way for us – you and me and all people – to be reconciled to God.
How do we see people? Do we tend to see others as sinners who are condemned, doomed, or cut off from God? Are we willing to see as Jesus sees?
The Gospel of Luke tells us about John the Baptist, often nicknamed “the forerunner” of the Messiah. When John was eight days old, his father Zechariah prophesied in Luke 1:76-77 – “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.” As a Christ-follower and as your pastor, I want to be as faithful as I can to proclaim and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is so important to Luke that throughout his gospel he emphasizes it as one of two primary hallmarks of Jesus and of the Christian community. (We will look at the second hallmark next Sunday). I love that Kyle alluded to this very thing in his excellent communion meditation a couple of weeks ago – to Jesus, the gospel is the forgiveness of sins! I made a commitment decades ago to do my best to not allow any poop or poison to contaminate the goodness, truth, and beauty of the gospel. It’s not Jesus plus something else or Jesus plus someone else. It is simply the good news of Jesus Christ. Our allegiance as followers of Jesus is to Christ alone! We cannot give total allegiance to both God and money, to both God and country, to both God and any affiliation or party or group, or even to both God and family. This does not mean we do not love and serve our family, our church, our community, or our country. It means that we acknowledge that all of these other things, as good as they are, are simply not big enough to contain the wideness of God’s mercy, the kindness of God’s justice, and the wonders of God’s love. God’s mercy, justice, and love extend to all people and all of creation! This is why we do small things with great love, reaching out to neighbors and nations, for the greater glory of God! Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is our one and only Lord and Savior! Salvation, repentance, and the forgiveness of sins are free gifts from God, received through faith in Jesus Christ, for sinners as well as saints! Salvation, both an event and a process, means a changed heart, a changed life, restoration, reconciliation with God, a fresh identity, a fresh start, healing, deliverance, forgiveness, freedom, fruitfulness, flourishing, and sharing in God’s beautiful and eternal life.
John the Baptist prepared the way. And then Jesus came along, announcing in Luke 5:32, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Both John the Baptist and Jesus proclaimed this central message: You are not doomed because of your sin – repentance is available! You are not cut off from God – a restored relationship is available! Jesus went even further by doing things to prove it, like healing and restoring and forgiving sins.
How do we see people? Are we willing to see as Jesus sees? We’re going to look at an account in Luke to discover how Jesus saw two individuals. Then we’ll consider what needs to change in our lives today, so that we, too, can see as Jesus sees.
Someone Who Showed Great Love
Luke 7:36-50 – “One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’ Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ ‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”
Before we discuss the two people Luke focuses on in this passage, I want to highlight a problem with editor’s titles, which are not part of the original Greek from which we get the New Testament. Listen carefully to the titles for this passage in the six most popular Bible translations in English:
- KJV and NAB – “A Sinful Woman Anoints Jesus”
- NIV and NLT – “Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman”
- ESV and NRSV – “A Sinful Woman Forgiven”
What two words appear in each of these titles? [“Sinful” and “woman”]
I want to share a very timely and convicting description of this passage that hits very close to home for all of us, especially in the light of some recent events and divisions in our own time and place! In his book, Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy, Ched Myers notes that Luke’s account “invites readers to reflect on how we routinely distance ourselves from persons and groups by the way we either engage or ignore them (out loud or in our heads, consciously or unconsciously) through the lens of negative stereotypes and name-calling.” Ouch!
Instead of passively accepting the negative stereotypes and name-calling in these editors’ titles, maybe we could try and see as Jesus sees. In Luke 7:47, Jesus says, “I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love.” Perhaps, a more appropriate title for this passage could be, “Someone Who Showed Great Love.” Jesus sees each person as a beloved bearer of God’s image with whom God wants a restored relationship.
Cuban-American historical theologian, Justo González, notes that “apparently [Simon] thought that he was doing Jesus a favor by inviting him to dinner.”Patrick van der Vorst, former Sotheby’s art expert turned priest, describes the scene as one of the most unforgettable moments in all of Scripture … an uninvited woman suddenly enters, and, overcome with emotion, begins to weep so intensely that her tears fall onto Jesus’ feet: “With remarkable tenderness she wipes them away with her hair, kisses His feet repeatedly, and pours out costly ointment from the alabaster jar she has brought with her … a dramatic and extravagant display!”
This is pretty intimate stuff. Also, so inappropriate – this woman was unclean, disrespectful, sexually provocative, wasteful. The New Testament in Color paints this as “another story of contrast and reversal, in which the so-called wrong person does the right thing and the so-called right person does the wrong thing.” Surely everyone could see how scandalous this was for Jesus, a rabbi, to disregard purity laws and tolerate such an unclean person. And all this, in a clean and pure Pharisee’s house! Van der Vorst concludes that “to the Pharisee hosting the meal, her behaviour was shocking and improper, especially since she was known in the town as a sinner. Yet Jesus sees not scandal but love.”
Jesus gets what Simon is thinking. And as he does so often, he tells a parable to illuminate for his hearers what is really going on. Simon’s a smart guy; he easily understands Jesus’ point about debt forgiveness and love. But then Jesus gets personal by turning to look at her while still talking to Simon: “Do you see this woman?” Ched Myers notes that “of course Simon has seen her – but only as stereotype and social disaster, and not as a person yearning for dignity, freedom, and love.”
González points out that “even though Jesus is a religious teacher, his teaching is not about religion. It is not about how to be more religious. It is not about how to gain God’s acceptance. [Jesus’ teaching] is about a God whose acceptance of sinners the religious find jarring. It is about a God whose love cannot be bought even by great acts of praise or mighty deeds of justice. It is about sinners who rejoice at the great forgiveness they have received, and religious people who wish God were more religious.”
Religious and self-righteous Simon and his guests could not understand the woman’s demonstrably pure and humble devotion. 1 John 4:19, 21 assures us that “We love because [God] first loved us … those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” It is only after we have received Christ’s freely given and unconditional love that we are able to love one another. N. T. Wright explains that for Luke, true faith is what happens when someone looks at Jesus and discovers God’s forgiveness; and the sign and proof of this faith is love … Social convention is thrown out of the window; forgiveness and love set new standards and raise new expectations; human beings appear, not as society has ‘constructed’ them, but as God sees them.”
Van der Vorst points out that Jesus “understands that her unconventional actions are the outpouring of a heart that has already tasted God’s mercy through Him. Her gestures are gratitude embodied. Love in response to love. She had received forgiveness, and in return she now gives everything. Isn’t this absolutely beautiful.” Jesus confers great dignity, freedom, and love upon this woman by assuring her that her faith has saved, healed, and restored her. Jesus affirms her faith and blesses her to go in peace. Jesus’ open-ended parable confronts us now as it did to all who were present then with this challenge: Are we willing to see as Jesus sees?
Seeing as Jesus sees
The apostle Paul instructed the early church in seeing as Jesus sees, in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 – “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Luke emphasizes this message of reconciliation in Luke 24:47, in which Jesus commissioned us, the church, to proclaim “repentance and forgiveness of sins … in [Messiah’s] name to all nations.” I recently heard a beautiful description of reconciliation, drawn from the etymology of that word. The word “reconciliation” is formed from the roots re (again), con (together with), cilia (eyelashes), and tion (a process). Putting that all together, reconciliation can be understood as the process of coming together eyelash to eyelash again. We proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins not to condemn people, but to invite them to come together eyelash to eyelash with God again. Whether we consider someone an “outsider” or an “insider,” whenever someone repents of sin, we are to proclaim forgiveness and welcome and restore them as our sister or brother in Christ. Jesus sees each person as a beloved bearer of God’s image with whom God wants a restored relationship. Are we willing to see as Jesus sees?
New Testament professor David DeSilva offers this beautiful vision of how we, the church, can reflect the character and heart of Jesus, not by separating ourselves from sinners, but “by reaching out to them, calling them to repentance and newness of life, acting as the agent of God’s continued restoration of the lost and wayward, and thus becoming the source of ongoing joy in heaven.”
N. T. Wright emphasizes that the whole point of Jesus dying and rising again is so that the whole world would be brought into the embrace of God’s saving and healing love. This repentance and forgiveness of sins is both personal and communal. We must each turn away from sin and celebrate God’s forgiveness. Additionally, there are necessary widespread actions. In every conflict and dispute in the world, whether we’re talking about problems in families, political factions, group wranglings, or global wars, each side is usually convinced that they have the moral high ground. Each faction or group can easily list their opponents’ failures and atrocities. N. T. Wright says that “it is simply impossible to give an account of the conflict in which one side is responsible for all the evil and the other side is a completely innocent victim. There is only one way forward … the one we all find the hardest at every level: repentance and forgiveness. The resolute application of the gospel, under the Lordship of the risen Jesus, is the only way forward towards the creation of new hope and possibilities.”
Matthew Hallam, in a blog post on https://www.themondaychristian.com/ writes that Jesus revealed the heart of God by consistently stopping for those who are unseen by others. “If Jesus were walking through your community today, who would He stop for? … It’s easy to overlook people who make us uneasy or challenge our perspectives … Loving the unseen is not about picking one cause and making it your identity. It’s about following Jesus’ example, seeking out those who are hurting, and offering them a place at the table. It’s about recognizing that every person we meet carries a burden we may never fully understand. Jesus didn’t hesitate to engage with those others ignored. He knew their pain, their pasts, and their struggles, yet He still reached out.”
As we continue to share in Jesus’ ministry and message of reconciliation, let’s consider what needs to change in our lives today, so that we will be able to see as Jesus sees? I want to leave us with three ideas that might be worth trying.
- Instead of, “I disagree with this person, so I’m going to just cut them out of my life” how about, “Even though I disagree with this person, I’m going to invite them to sit down over a cup of coffee and listen to them and together consider the limitless beauty and transformative power of the good news of Jesus Christ.”
- Instead of, “They didn’t respond with as much outrage as I think they should have had on this issue,” how about, “How can I better speak of and show the goodness, presence, and power of Jesus in this person’s life?”
- Instead of, “They must be clueless to not understand things the way I do,” how about, “Are my thoughts, words, & actions springing from my love for God and love for people, even enemies?”
Let’s pray. Lord God, we ask you to help us each to better reflect the character and heart of Jesus in our thoughts, words, and actions. Would you give us the desire to reach out to others, especially those who are different from us, even enemies. Would you give us the grace to accept, welcome, and love others, as God first accepted, welcomed, and loved us. Would you help us to see each person as a beloved bearer of God’s image with whom God wants a restored relationship? Holy Spirit, please empower us as agents of God’s restoration to generously proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins, to invite others to come together eyelash to eyelash with you! May we embody our gratitude to you for your great love and forgiveness by continuing to do small things with great love, reaching out to neighbors and nations, for the greater glory of God. May your Kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven! Come, Holy Spirit, breathe on us, fill us afresh again!
Are we willing to see as Jesus sees?
