Matthew 9:24-26 (ESV)
[24] he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And
they laughed at him. [25] But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in
and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. [26] And the report of this went
through all that district.
Jesus
was asked by a “ruler” to come to his home and lay hands on his dead daughter
so that she would live. On the way to the girl, a woman touched the hem of
Jesus’ garment and was healed. The world would have seen her as unclean and
shouldn’t be touched. Jesus saw a woman of faith. When Jesus entered the home
of the girl, he found a crowd of people grieving the death of the daughter. Those
present saw a girl who had died. Jesus saw a girl who was sleeping. 2
Corinthians 5:16 says, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to
the flesh.” Jesus sees through a different lens than that of the flesh.
We
tend to see things through the lens of our weaknesses, our inabilities, our expectations
based on past experience. We view people through the lens of appearance. We
make snap judgments. We fail to see what God is doing in a person’s life. We
don’t share the gospel because we have already decided that no one will
respond. We fail to help those in need because we have already decided that they
are people without the willingness to help themselves. Because we see through
the lens of the flesh, we fail to see what God is up to in people’s lives.
I’m
not talking about being presumptuous. I’m not talking about the idea that if we
only believe hard enough then God is somehow obligated to comply. I’m talking
about listening to the Spirit, being sensitive to what God is doing around us.
I’m talking about trusting him when everything around us says to fight. I’m
talking about living in peace in a world filled with angst because we know who
is ultimately in control. Had we been with Jesus, would we have seen an unclean
woman and a dead daughter, or a clean woman and a sleeping daughter? Let us
learn to see through the eyes of faith rather than the eyes of the flesh.
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