My Favorite Jesus
Matthew 20:29-34

Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us

My favorite Jesus is the Jesus who sees the ones overlooked by the crowd, the Jesus who stops to speak to those everyone else is trying to silence. The Jesus who sees the woman crawling beneath everyone to grab his hem, who takes the hand no one else will touch, and the one who 'sees' the two blind men on the side of the road in Matthew's Gospel. Even while surrounded by what I imagine to be complete chaos, Jesus hears the two men cry, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us," stops and calls to them over those who have disregarded them to ask what they need. Jesus has compassion on them, touches their eyes, renews their vision, and they begin to follow him.

The Greek word for compassion the writer of Matthew uses is splangchnizomai, which means to be moved to one's bowels or feel something in one's gut. Matthew wrote that Jesus felt compassion for the blind men in the deepest part of his being, a physical reaction to hearing their cries and seeing their plight. He had a gut reaction that all of us can have, too, when we "see" the other as Jesus saw them. As followers of Jesus, all of us can choose to see those who others deem unseeable, we can choose to hear the voice calling for help through the crowd, and we can follow our gut when it calls for compassion. We can also cry out to Jesus with our own need, knowing he will hear our voice, stop to listen, and be moved to his core by us as well. My favorite Jesus sees everyone, even you and me.

Holy God,

Help me see those waiting to be seen and hear those longing to be heard, and if it is me who feels invisible and unheard, give me the courage to cry out for your compassion.

Amen