Open Our Eyes: See All the People

Jun 07, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Jesus in Seeing Distance

Jesus didn’t observe crowds from a safe remove. He stood close enough to smell their sweat, hear their coughs, and lock eyes with the weary. Being "in seeing distance" meant proximity – not just physical nearness but relational availability. This challenges us to examine where we position ourselves: Are we behind church walls or leaning into the messy edges where people ache? True seeing begins by stepping into shared spaces, not waiting for others to come to us. [35:56]

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you intentionally place yourself to truly see others? What practical step could bring you “in seeing distance” of someone outside your usual circles this week?

Day 2: Where’s Waldo and the Incarnational Christ

Jesus didn’t hide in holy huddles. Like Waldo hidden in bustling crowd scenes, Christ immersed himself in the human fray – markets, wells, fishing docks. The arrow pointing to Jesus in the boat (purple robe and all!) reminds us incarnation means entering others’ worlds, not demanding they enter ours. Our mission starts by being findable – present in the ordinary chaos where life happens. [37:26]

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. (Matthew 9:35, ESV)

Reflection: Where’s your “boat” or “palm tree” – the everyday spaces you’re called to inhabit? How might being consistently present there change how you see your neighbors?

Day 3: Compassion Before Solutions

Compassion isn’t a spiritual buzzword. For Jesus, it was gut-level response to human pain (the Greek splagchnizomai means “to be moved in one’s bowels”). Before strategizing about the harvest, he let himself be wrecked by love. We often reverse this – rushing to fix problems without first letting people’s stories rupture us. True laborers let their hearts break before their hands work. [40:02]

When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” (Luke 7:13, ESV)

Reflection: When have you rushed to “solve” someone’s pain instead of sitting with it? What would it look like to let compassion, not efficiency, lead your next encounter?

Day 4: Laborers, Not Resource Managers

The harvest’s problem isn’t scarcity but scarcity mentality. Jesus didn’t tell the 12 to fundraise or build barns. He sent them empty-handed, trusting the harvest itself would sustain them (Matthew 10:9-10). Our obsession with budgets, buildings, and programs often blinds us to the truth: the real resource is obedient people willing to work where they’re planted. [44:30]

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38, ESV)

Reflection: What “resource anxieties” keep you from laboring freely? How might relying on the harvest (not reserves) change your approach to serving others?

Day 5: Mirrors in the Crowd

Staring at crowds, Jesus saw more than needs – he saw family. The harassed and helpless weren’t projects but siblings bearing God’s image. When we truly see others, we stop asking “How can I fix them?” and start wondering “Where is Christ already at work here?” Every face becomes a mirror – revealing our shared humanity and hinting at the divine. [45:40]

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40, ESV)

Reflection: Whose face most challenges you to see Christ’s presence? What might shift if you approached that person as a sibling rather than a stranger?

Sermon Summary

The season after Pentecost names a rhythm and a mission. By counting Sundays, the church remembers that the Spirit has empowered and sent Christ’s people, not for self-care alone, but for witness, hospitality, and service. Songs in worship become songs for the neighborhood. Prayers at the altar become intercessions for the streets. Testimonies in the sanctuary become stories told at the mailbox and the market. Pentecost shapes a people who are being trained to offer Christ.

Matthew sets the starting point where it belongs. Jesus saw the crowds. Vision comes first. Presence comes before programs. He is within seeing distance, not hidden behind doors, not passing through on the way to the next engagement. Accessibility marks his ministry, attention tunes his steps, and nearness opens his eyes.

Compassion then takes its proper form. Matthew says that seeing the crowd, he had compassion. This is not disembodied thoughts and prayers, not abstract caring that sorts problems before seeing people. Compassion grows from presence, from the refusal to prejudge, categorize, or reduce. Real sight honors persons as worthy of care, whether they appear harassed and helpless or quietly resilient.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Even this urgency rests on a deeper act of prayer. Ask the Lord of the harvest. The work begins where Jesus begins, in looking and in asking. Mission does not run on the church’s stash of answers or on the comfort of familiar resources. The field belongs to God, and the strength to labor comes from the Lord who sends.

Jesus then calls the Twelve. Matthew shows that the call gathers so that it can scatter. The community is summoned not merely to tend its own souls but to go where the crowds are, to carry a presence that upsets the status quo with good news, open hands, and steady courage. The instruction is austere and risky because dependence is the point. Reliance falls not on accumulated provision, preferred worship styles, or private theological shortcuts, but on the hospitality of others and the hospitality of God.

The picture finally sharpens. To see the other is to risk being seen too. In looking long enough, the church discovers the mirror and the mystery. It sees neighbors with new specificity, and it glimpses Christ in them. That recognition becomes an occasion for praise, because grace gathers all into the loving arms of God.

Key Takeaways

1. Start where Jesus starts: seeing Real ministry begins within seeing distance, not from behind walls or on the way to something else. Attention dignifies, slows assumptions, and lets persons rise above the labels that flatten them. Sight is prayerful presence that listens before it speaks and notices before it names. Vision is the first act of love. [35:56]
2. Compassion refuses abstraction and distance Compassion that never moves close stays vague and powerless. Matthew ties mercy to Jesus’s nearness, not to a theory of needs. When love stands among the crowd, it trades solutions-first for people-first and learns what help actually looks like. Proximity deepens mercy into action. [39:44]
3. Pentecost turns worship outward Pentecost trains a community to sing to the world what it sings to God, to pray for neighbors as it prays in church, and to testify on the block what it claims at the table. Liturgy becomes rehearsal for life, shaping a people who carry blessing past the doorway. Spirit-given power aims at public witness, not private sentiment. [32:56]
4. Calling gathers to scatter in mission Jesus calls the Twelve so that they can be sent as laborers, not as curators of their own souls. The gathering exists for the going, and the going leans on God more than on comfort or control. Mission resists the status quo because grace rearranges what power protects. Vocation is always centrifugal. [42:36]
5. Come empty handed, receive your neighbors The way of Jesus sets aside prepackaged answers, preferred rituals, and narrow language so that neighbors can be seen without filters. Empty hands make room for unexpected gifts, including the strength and grace present in those being met. In that exchange, Christ appears, and gratitude grows. [43:58]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[28:19] - Harvest Is Plentiful Prayer
[31:58] - Counting Sundays After Pentecost
[32:16] - Empowered And Sent By The Spirit
[32:56] - Worship As Practice For Witness
[33:33] - Bringing The World Into Worship
[33:53] - Harassed And Helpless Neighbors
[35:56] - Starting Point: He Saw The Crowds
[36:33] - Presence, Approachability, Attention
[37:26] - Where’s Jesus In The Crowd
[39:44] - Compassion Over Abstraction
[42:11] - Calling The Twelve As Laborers
[42:36] - Sent Beyond Comfort And Resources
[43:58] - Coming Empty Handed To Neighbors
[45:40] - Finding Christ And Ourselves

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Matthew 9:36-10:8 (ESV)
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 10:1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction… 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go… proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.”

Observation questions

In Matthew 9:36, what specific emotions or actions does Jesus display toward the crowds, and what does the text say caused this response?
The sermon emphasizes that Jesus’ ministry began with “seeing” the crowds. What details in Matthew 9:36-38 suggest that physical presence and attention mattered to Jesus?
According to Matthew 10:5-8, what instructions did Jesus give the Twelve when sending them out? What does this imply about their dependence on external resources?

Interpretation questions

Why might Jesus’ act of seeing the crowds be described as the “starting point” for ministry? How does this contrast with starting with programs or solutions?
The sermon states, “Compassion grows from presence, not abstraction” [39:44]. How does Matthew 9:36-37 connect Jesus’ proximity to His compassion?
Jesus tells the Twelve to “give without pay” (10:8) and to rely on hospitality. What does this reveal about the relationship between mission and control over outcomes?

Application questions

“Vision is the first act of love” [35:56]. What habits or practices could help you slow down to truly see the people in your daily routines (e.g., coworkers, neighbors, family)?
The sermon warns against “solutions-first” approaches [39:44]. When have you rushed to fix a problem instead of listening to someone’s story? How might you shift toward “people-first” compassion this week?
“Pentecost turns worship outward” [32:56]. How could the songs, prayers, or testimonies from your worship gatherings shape your conversations with others in your neighborhood?
Jesus sent the Twelve with “empty hands” [43:58]. What “prepackaged answers” or assumptions do you carry that might hinder you from learning from those outside your community?
The sermon says, “To see the other is to risk being seen too” [45:40]. Where might you hesitate to let others see your vulnerabilities? How could mutual openness create space for Christ to be recognized?

Sermon Clips

54s

#CalledAndSent

“Pause a moment here. Something significant is going on. According to Matthew, anyway, Jesus calls the 12 in order for them to be those laborers that are so few. The community isn't called together for their own sake. The 12 aren't called in order to just tend to their own souls, to make sure they are right with God. No. They are called to go out, to be the church that sees the crowds, that has compassion. As we work through the rest of this text, we can't help but wonder how that might apply to us today.”

50s

#SeeFirst

“But how do we rely on something other than our resources, our comforts when we seek to see the people? It must be exactly that, that we see first. We don't approach the other with our answers already and tie it up in a package with our preconceptions ready and waiting. We don't come to our neighbors because we want to fix them or threaten them or chastise them. We come to see them and to have compassion. We don't rely on our particular limited understanding of theology, on our preferences for worship, and our language for prayer.”

45s

#JesusAmongUs

“What's the point of me showing you where's Waldo type pictures of where's Jesus? Right? Well, it's because he was there in with all those people. He saw them. He engaged with them. We know he engaged because of the phrase in the next verse. Not only did he see the crowd, but seeing it, he had compassion. His compassion wasn't disembodied thoughts and prayers, caring in the abstract, seeing problems, needing solutions. He had compassion because he saw the people around him.”

42s

#SeeChristInOthers

“But we try again and again to see those who surround us. Maybe we'll see them as harassed and helpless, but harassed by whom and helpless in front of what? And maybe we'll see them as resources of strength and grace that cause us to be amazed and to give the god they may not even know thanks for the blessing and seeing of them. What is most likely is that if we look long enough, we will see ourselves, and we will see Christ in them.”

46s

#SeeWithoutJudgment

“So what does it mean to see the people, to really see them? Not to prejudge, not to categorize, but simply to see. To see them worthy of compassion and care. We might see the people around us are indeed harassed and helpless. Remember that? Harassed and helpless. Suffering from the lack of a savior or just plain suffering from the lack of food or water or rights or justice. But we won't know what it is we will see until we look. Sure. We can assume. But what do we see?”

46s

#SeasonOfMission

“By counting the days or the weeks all season long from spring through summer into fall, we are saying that we have a mission. We have a purpose. We don't just gather to worship for ourselves. We aren't just about taking care of our own souls. We are being shaped. We are practicing how to offer Christ to the world. The songs we sing to one another, to God and worship are the songs we sing to the world. The prayers we pray to God with one another in worship are the prayers we pray on behalf of the world.”

52s

#EmptyHandedCompassion

“We don't rely on our particular limited understanding of theology, on our preferences for worship, and our language for prayer. We come truly empty handed so that we can see our neighbor without the filters. That is how we can have empathy. That is how we can have compassion. Is this easy? Is it just a matter of saying, that's what I'm going to do? Is it just flipping a switch to turn off our prejudice? Of course not. But we try again and again to see those who surround us.”

44s

#BeyondCatchphrases

“As catchy as that phrase is, I'm not really going there. That is an assessment, an interpretation. There's probably some space for that in the sermon, but it isn't the best starting place. On the other hand, there's another famous phrase in this text, one that seems like it could be a starting place. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Matthew nine thirty seven. Now that is another truth that we can't help but latch onto. This idea, this statement has launched all sorts of mission and ministry in the church, and rightly so.”

44s

#RadicalMission

“As we work through the rest of this text, we can't help but wonder how that might apply to us today. Sure. We can name missionaries of history and even some of today who still go out like this, expecting payment, not relying on an abundance of resources, but relying on the hospitality of strangers. As we read on to the next verses, we see the austerity of the call, the danger, but also the radical call of the gospel. The laborers in the fields come to upset the status quo, and that is never an easy task.”

50s

#BeginBySeeing

“Ask the lord of the harvest is something that needs to find a place in this proclamation that there is another starting place which seems to be lurking in this text. Well, not really lurking. It's it's really right there at the front where it belongs. He saw the crowds. That is our starting place. It is his starting point. Therefore, it should be ours. My starting point as preacher and our starting point as a congregation wanting to engage the community around us, wanting to live as Pentecost people, that is people filled with and sharing the holy spirit.”

49s

#WorshipForTheWorld

“The prayers we pray to God with one another in worship are the prayers we pray on behalf of the world. The testimonies we share in worship are the stories we tell in our communities and neighborhoods the world. By counting the days, we are reminded that this matters. It is part of God's purpose in the world. We are part of God's purpose in the world. So our task is to bring the world into worship, to welcome it, to be reminded that we are preparing a part of what God is doing, already doing in the world around us.”

49s

#StandInTheirShoes

“Perhaps it would be helpful to stand in the place of the other for a moment, to consider what it means, what it feels like to be seen as opposed to the times when we feel overlooked or ignored or pigeonholed. To know that someone has seen the real self hidden underneath and still manages to love and accept us. What a profound difference that makes in our lives, in our hearts, in our self image. Can we do less when we seek to engage the community around us?”

43s

#MoreDoersNeeded

“Now that is another truth that we can't help but latch onto. This idea, this statement has launched all sorts of mission and ministry in the church, and rightly so. It is the reality that faces the church all the time. There is too much to do and not enough doers. There's too much need in the world around us and not enough resources to meet those needs. Except, maybe it isn't about resources. Maybe it is about something else that is lacking.”

38s

#HarassedAndHelpless

“This week's theme is open our eyes, see all the people. So how might we see our neighborhood, our community? Matthew nine thirty six says, harassed and helpless. What a great descriptor, don't you think? If there is a phrase that seems to sum up the world around us right now, it is harassed and helpless. That would probably make a good sermon title too. Right? Great one. Harassed and helpless film at eleven. As catchy as that phrase is, I'm not really going there.”

40s

#PresentAndApproachable

“saw the crowds, which means he was within seeing distance. He was not removed. He was not behind walls or doors or hiding. It means he was approachable and accessible. He was where the people were. It means that he wasn't just passing through on the way to his next engagement, next meeting, next speaking opportunity. It means he was engaged in the world around him, paying attention.”

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Open Our Eyes: See All the People

Devotional

Day 1: Jesus in Seeing Distance

Day 2: Where’s Waldo and the Incarnational Christ

Day 3: Compassion Before Solutions

Day 4: Laborers, Not Resource Managers

Day 5: Mirrors in the Crowd

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Open Our Eyes: See All the People

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