Nearsighted Compassion
I will never forget the first time I put on my pair of glasses when I was in the first grade. "Mom, I can see all the leaves on the trees!" I exclaimed. The slow process of nearsightedness "blinded" me, in a sense, to my own impairment. As much as I love my glasses and contact lenses, my vision is still impaired. To this day, I sometimes forget how bad my nearsightedness is until I take off my glasses or contact lenses. I can't recognize people across the room, and I can't even read a book in front of me on my lap.
This got me thinking, what I really need is a laser surgery! That would correct the inner problem - the real problem - not just temporarily fix my nearsightedness with a set of lenses that can put on or taken off or put in and taken out. Because in reality, even with my lenses and glasses on, I am still nearsighted. But with a laser surgery, my eyes could be corrected and made whole again. How cool would it be to have a new pair of eyes that can see the leaves on the trees and the stars in the sky without a set of corrective lenses?
Before Jesus fed the 5,000, he kind of had a rough day. He had spent all day teaching and healing people, which would be exhausting enough. The Bible says Jesus and his disciples had not even had a chance to eat anything. On top of that, Jesus and his disciples had just received word of John the Baptist's tragic death at the hands of evil Herod. Tired, grief-stricken, and hungry (I imagine the disciples might have even been a little "hangry"), Jesus and his disciples try to withdraw to a quiet place to get some much needed rest and recuperation after such a day
But instead of arriving to a quiet place, they were followed and met by a large crowd of people. If this happened to me, I would have said, "Go away, I need some rest. It's been a long day, I haven't had time to eat, and my best friend just died." And I would have expected them to understand. But that's not what Jesus did.
He looked at the crowds and had compassion on them. He is known for seeing the crowds as "sheep without a shepherd". And so he told the disciples to sit them down and feed them. And then we get the feeding of the 5,000. Just when it seems like Jesus would have nothing left to give after such an exhausting day, he feeds and satisfies 5,000 people.
What impresses me about the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 is Jesus' amazing compassion. He was never too tired to show compassion. Even in the middle of grief, fatigue, and hunger, He did not focus on Himself. Instead of seeing His own needs and requesting time-off, he saw the needs of the people around him, and he never left the sheep without a compassionate shepherd.
How did Jesus have such an inexhaustible compassion like this? Maybe it was because he had an amazing set of spiritual eyes to see the needs of people. And it wasn't just contact lenses that he could take in and out or glasses that he could take on and off. That's what I have: a compassion that I can take off when I'm too tired or busy to deal with what is set before my eyes. No, Jesus didn't take his compassion on and off or in and out. He didn't just have lenses, he has an unimpaired set of eyes.
If there is one thing I am learning from Jesus right now, it is this: fatigue and busyness are never an excuse to not love on people. I want to have the eyes (not lenses) of Jesus to see people...really, really see people. I want to look at them and see their needs like Jesus did, and I want to point them to the One who can satisfy. I don't want to be blinded by my own nearsightedness - my own busyness, fatigue, hunger, or even grief. I want a laser surgery. Remove the pride and selfishness so I can see every leaf on every tree, every person and every need.
This seems hard, even impossible, but then I remember that Jesus offers us the same Spirit that lived in Him. The Holy Spirit that dwells in us and empowers us is the same Spirit that enabled Jesus to overcome exhaustion to miraculously feed the 5,000. He didn't do that just because he's Jesus. He did that because he had a relationship with God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and a spiritual set of eyes - all of which we can have, too.
So I am asking God for ocular surgery, a laser procedure of the heart, I suppose. I am asking him to smash the lenses of compassion that I can so easily take on and off and instead give me a new set of eyes to see people the way He sees them. On he can correct our nearsightedness and give us an inexhaustible compassion like Jesus.
This got me thinking, what I really need is a laser surgery! That would correct the inner problem - the real problem - not just temporarily fix my nearsightedness with a set of lenses that can put on or taken off or put in and taken out. Because in reality, even with my lenses and glasses on, I am still nearsighted. But with a laser surgery, my eyes could be corrected and made whole again. How cool would it be to have a new pair of eyes that can see the leaves on the trees and the stars in the sky without a set of corrective lenses?
Before Jesus fed the 5,000, he kind of had a rough day. He had spent all day teaching and healing people, which would be exhausting enough. The Bible says Jesus and his disciples had not even had a chance to eat anything. On top of that, Jesus and his disciples had just received word of John the Baptist's tragic death at the hands of evil Herod. Tired, grief-stricken, and hungry (I imagine the disciples might have even been a little "hangry"), Jesus and his disciples try to withdraw to a quiet place to get some much needed rest and recuperation after such a day
But instead of arriving to a quiet place, they were followed and met by a large crowd of people. If this happened to me, I would have said, "Go away, I need some rest. It's been a long day, I haven't had time to eat, and my best friend just died." And I would have expected them to understand. But that's not what Jesus did.
He looked at the crowds and had compassion on them. He is known for seeing the crowds as "sheep without a shepherd". And so he told the disciples to sit them down and feed them. And then we get the feeding of the 5,000. Just when it seems like Jesus would have nothing left to give after such an exhausting day, he feeds and satisfies 5,000 people.
What impresses me about the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 is Jesus' amazing compassion. He was never too tired to show compassion. Even in the middle of grief, fatigue, and hunger, He did not focus on Himself. Instead of seeing His own needs and requesting time-off, he saw the needs of the people around him, and he never left the sheep without a compassionate shepherd.
How did Jesus have such an inexhaustible compassion like this? Maybe it was because he had an amazing set of spiritual eyes to see the needs of people. And it wasn't just contact lenses that he could take in and out or glasses that he could take on and off. That's what I have: a compassion that I can take off when I'm too tired or busy to deal with what is set before my eyes. No, Jesus didn't take his compassion on and off or in and out. He didn't just have lenses, he has an unimpaired set of eyes.
If there is one thing I am learning from Jesus right now, it is this: fatigue and busyness are never an excuse to not love on people. I want to have the eyes (not lenses) of Jesus to see people...really, really see people. I want to look at them and see their needs like Jesus did, and I want to point them to the One who can satisfy. I don't want to be blinded by my own nearsightedness - my own busyness, fatigue, hunger, or even grief. I want a laser surgery. Remove the pride and selfishness so I can see every leaf on every tree, every person and every need.
This seems hard, even impossible, but then I remember that Jesus offers us the same Spirit that lived in Him. The Holy Spirit that dwells in us and empowers us is the same Spirit that enabled Jesus to overcome exhaustion to miraculously feed the 5,000. He didn't do that just because he's Jesus. He did that because he had a relationship with God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and a spiritual set of eyes - all of which we can have, too.
So I am asking God for ocular surgery, a laser procedure of the heart, I suppose. I am asking him to smash the lenses of compassion that I can so easily take on and off and instead give me a new set of eyes to see people the way He sees them. On he can correct our nearsightedness and give us an inexhaustible compassion like Jesus.
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