Worship - Sept. 27, 2026 10:30am - "When Jesus Sees

Sep 27, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Gut-Level Seeing That Disrupts Convenience

When Jesus encountered crowds, his compassion wasn’t surface-level politeness. The Greek word "splonchnizomai" describes a visceral reaction—a gut-punch of empathy that compelled him to engage messy, inconvenient lives. This kind of seeing refuses to reduce people to obstacles or categories. It pauses long enough to let their humanity unravel assumptions. Modern life trains us to scan crowds for efficiency, but Christ’s way demands we feel the weight of individual stories. [26:30]

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

Reflection: Where have you trained yourself to look past people for convenience’s sake? What one relationship or interaction this week requires you to swap efficiency for gut-level seeing?

Day 2: From Scenery to Story

Cashiers, strangers, and "those people" fill our periphery like background noise. Jesus disrupted this by noticing the woman with chronic bleeding, Zacchaeus in the tree, and the widow’s mites—people others had labeled or dismissed. Seeing requires naming: learning the barista’s name, asking about the neighbor’s limp, wondering what the sign-holder’s eyes reveal. Every labeled person has a story that defies categories. [28:43]

A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”
(John 4:7-9, NIV)

Reflection: Who in your routine have you turned into “scenery”? What single question could you ask this week to uncover a fragment of their story?

Day 3: Praying Ourselves Into the Harvest

Jesus told disciples to pray for workers, then sent them as the answer. Prayer here isn’t passive—it’s the doorway to becoming the compassion we seek. When we plead “Lord, send help,” we risk becoming the hands holding the help. The harvest isn’t abstract: it’s the overwhelmed parent, the lonely teen, the coworker hiding grief. Workers go where their prayers have already taken them. [33:25]

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, NIV)

Reflection: What specific need have you prayed about that God might be inviting you to address? How does praying shift your posture from observer to participant?

Day 4: Stewardship Starts With Staring

Stewardship isn’t budgets or obligation—it’s recognizing everything as a conduit for love. Jesus redefined resources: time, skills, even attention become currency for connection. The boy’s loaves, the widow’s coins, and Peter’s fishing net all mattered because they were surrendered to seeing. What’s in your hands? A listening hour, a spare seat, a forgotten talent? Love weaponizes ordinary things. [35:50]

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
(1 Peter 4:10, NIV)

Reflection: What overlooked resource (time, skill, object) do you dismiss as “not spiritual enough”? How might it bridge a gap for someone this week?

Day 5: Seeing Without Solving

Jesus didn’t rush to fix the rich young ruler or correct the Samaritan woman’s theology. He saw first, acted second. Our urge to “help” often skips the sacred work of witnessing—letting someone’s pain unsettle us without immediately reaching for bandaids. True seeing holds space: the grieving friend needs presence before platitudes, the addict needs dignity before solutions. [37:14]

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
(Mark 10:51-52, NIV)

Reflection: Who needs you to ask “What do you need?” instead of assuming? Where is God calling you to witness pain without rushing to erase it?

Sermon Summary

Matthew shows Jesus moving through cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming good news, and healing. Jesus does not merely look at the crowds around him. Jesus sees the people in them. Matthew says they are troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and Jesus has compassion for them.

Compassion is more than feeling bad for somebody. The Greek word, splonchnizomai, comes from the inward parts, the gut, the deep place inside. Jesus allows what he sees to affect him. Jesus sees pain, need, grief, sickness, and people pushed to the edges, and something inside him moves.

Crowds can be noisy, messy, and demanding. Categories can be convenient too: customer, cashier, homeless, immigrant, conservative, liberal, poor, rich, annoying person, those people. Categories do not have stories. People have stories. Jesus keeps noticing those whom others have learned not to see: the sick, the grieving, the outsider, the sinner, the problem, the person everybody thinks they already understand. Being seen by Jesus changes things.

Jesus does not tell the disciples to fix everybody. Compassion sometimes requires food, shelter, money, advocacy, and real action. God’s people respond when people are hurting. But Christian ministry cannot turn people into projects. Ministry cannot stop at needs, programs, annual-report numbers, or good things done for somebody else. God calls the church into relationship with people: the child, the neighbor, the family, and the story.

Jesus then says the harvest is abundant but the workers are few, and he tells the disciples to pray for workers. Matthew immediately makes the point clear: the disciples praying for workers become the workers. Praying, “God, somebody ought to do something,” can become God’s invitation to step forward.

Stewardship begins there. Stewardship is bigger than money, budgets, or pledge cards. God places resources, time, gifts, relationships, community, attention, and life itself into human hands so that they can become love in another person’s life. An hour, a meal, a skill, a ride, a phone call, a listening ear, and learning someone’s name can all become acts of generosity.

Jesus gives a small assignment: see the people. Before deciding what someone needs or what should be done, Christ calls his people to pray, “Jesus, help me see this person as you see them.” Jesus already carries the work of saving. Compassion, generosity, community, and the visible kingdom of God begin when someone in the crowd becomes a beloved, cherished child of God.

Key Takeaways

1. Seeing people is deeper than looking. Jesus sees beyond the crowd and refuses to let human beings become scenery. Categories make life efficient, but they can also hide a person’s story, pain, dignity, and joy. Christ calls attention away from quick labels and toward the sacred reality of the person standing nearby. [27:25]
2. Compassion must reach the gut. Jesus’ compassion is not distant sympathy or polite concern. Splonchnizomai names a deep inward movement, where another person’s suffering is allowed to matter. Christlike compassion begins when seeing someone changes something inside the one who sees. [26:30]
3. People are not ministry projects. Compassion can provide food, shelter, money, and advocacy, and those acts matter deeply. But action without relationship can assume answers before listening to the person. Christian ministry joins God’s love to real people, not merely to needs, programs, and statistics. [31:44]
4. Those praying for workers become workers. Jesus tells the disciples to pray for laborers, then sends those same disciples into the harvest. Prayer can expose the distance between asking God to act and offering the life God has already placed in human hands. The request for somebody else may become Christ’s invitation to participate. [33:47]
5. Stewardship begins with open eyes. Stewardship asks more than how much money someone should give. God can turn time, skills, meals, rides, phone calls, attention, and presence into love for another person. Generosity begins when a person asks what God has placed in hand for the good of someone else.

## [35:24]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[23:25] - Stewardship Is Bigger Than Money
[25:03] - Jesus Sees the Crowds
[26:17] - Compassion From the Deep
[27:25] - Looking Versus Truly Seeing
[28:16] - Categories Do Not Have Stories
[30:16] - Compassion Is Not Fixing People
[32:24] - Ministry Means Relationship
[33:08] - Pray for Workers
[33:47] - The Disciples Become the Workers
[35:08] - Stewardship Begins With Seeing
[36:30] - A Small Assignment: See the People
[37:14] - Jesus, Help Me See

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 9:35-38
“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. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 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.” [25:01]

Matthew 10:1-8
“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” [34:02]

Observation questions

In Matthew 9:35-38, what are the three main ways Jesus ministers as he travels through the cities and villages?
How does Matthew describe the condition of the crowds, and what image does Jesus use to describe them? [26:14]
What difference is drawn between merely looking at a crowd and truly seeing the people within it? [26:02]
After Jesus tells the disciples to pray for workers in Matthew 9, who does he send out in Matthew 10? [34:02]

Interpretation questions

Jesus is moved with compassion when he sees people who are troubled and helpless. What does it mean that his compassion comes from deep within rather than being simple pity? [27:03]
Why might it be important that Jesus sees people before sending his disciples into ministry? How does this shape the way Christians approach those who are hurting? [31:56]
Jesus tells his disciples to pray for workers and then sends those same disciples. What might this reveal about the relationship between prayer and participation in God’s work? [34:11]
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. What kinds of needs or people in a community might be part of the “harvest” Jesus wants his followers to notice?

Application questions

Where are you most likely to move through your day without really seeing the people around you—at work, school, church, in a store, online, or in your neighborhood? What tends to keep you from noticing them? [36:36]
Think of a person you may have placed into a quick category—such as “difficult,” “different from me,” “needy,” or “those people.” What might change if you became curious about that person’s story? [28:41]
When you encounter someone’s pain or need, do you tend to pull away, rush to fix the problem, or listen first? What would it look like to offer compassion without turning that person into a project? [31:28]
What has God already placed in your hands—time, a skill, a meal, a ride, a phone call, attention, or a listening ear—that could become love in someone else’s life this week? [35:53]
Is there a need you often hope “somebody” will address? Could God be inviting you to take one small, faithful step rather than waiting for someone else to act? [34:25]
Choose one person you regularly pass by or overlook. How could you pray, “Jesus, help me see this person as you see them,” and then respond with simple attention this week? [37:05]

Sermon Clips

49s

#SeeThePeople

“And then pay attention. You don't have to fix anything. You don't have to save anybody. Jesus already has that job. Just begin by seeing, because perhaps compassion begins there, and perhaps generosity begins there, and perhaps community begins there, and perhaps the kingdom of God becomes visible there when someone who has been part of the crowd becomes in our eyes a person, a beloved, cherished child of God.”

69s

#CalledToServe

“And, of course, they prayed that there would be workers. We pray there will be workers. And if we stop reading at the end of chapter nine, we might be here imagine the disciples saying, absolutely, Jesus will pray that God finds somebody. But then comes chapter 10. And who does Jesus send? The disciples. Right? The people praying for the workers become the workers. I love that, and I'm also a little bit uncomfortable with it because, apparently one of the occupational hazards of praying, God, somebody ought to do something, is that God may very well respond, yes, I agree. I was thinking you would do that.”

63s

#LoveInAction

“Because when Jesus sees people, he doesn't ask, what can I get from them? He asks, in effect, how can God's love reach them? And that changes the stewardship question. Instead of how much am I supposed to give? We begin asking, what has God placed in our hands that can become love in someone else's life? Maybe it's money, absolutely. But maybe it's also an hour, a meal, a skill, a ride, a phone call, a listening ear, a willingness to learn someone's name, a willingness to sit beside someone whose life you don't understand, a willingness to notice.”

53s

#StewardshipOfLove

“Maybe that's why seeing matters so much. Because once we really see people, once we learn someone's name, once we hear someone's story, once their joy becomes real to us, once their pain becomes real to us, it becomes so much harder to walk away unchanged. Because we are about mutual transformation. Amen? Amen. And maybe that's where stewardship begins. Not with a pledge card, not with a budget, not with figuring out how much money the church needs. Maybe stewardship begins when we look at the world God loves and allow ourselves to see it.”

51s

#PracticeSeeing

“So I'm not giving you a big assignment this week. I'm giving you a very small one. See the people. That's it. As you move through this week, pay attention. At the grocery store in your neighborhood, at work, at school, here at church, notice someone you normally pass by without really seeing. And before you decide what they need, before you decide what you should do, before you decide anything about them, Pray, Jesus, help me see this person as you see them.”

59s

#PeopleNotProjects

“And that's different from the way Jesus sees. Jesus sees people before he turns them into a project, and that matters here because we do a lot of ministry. We feed people, we collect things. We support schools. We work with community organizations. We fill refrigerators and little food pantries. We respond when people are hurting. And I am very grateful that we do all of this because it matters and it makes a difference. But we can't stop there because the question underneath all of that ministry has to remain, do we see the people? Not just the need, not just the program, not just the number we put on an annual report, but the person, the child, the neighbor, the family, the story.”

46s

#MinistryThroughRelationship

“Because Christian ministry isn't ultimately about doing good things for people, it's about joining God in relationship with people. Amen? And that begins with seeing. Then Jesus does something really interesting. He turns to his disciples and he says, the size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. And he tells them to pray.”

36s

#CompassionNotControl

“But notice something else in our scripture. Jesus does not immediately tell the disciples, fix them. He doesn't say, they are, there are hurting people out there. Go solve all their problems. Thank God. Thank God we do not have to fix people. We don't have to solve their problems because sometimes, I think, Christians have compassion confused with fixing.”

Ask a question about this sermon

Algoma Blvd. UMC Oshkosh WI This sermon · AI assistant

What changes when compassion moves beyond fixing people?

How does seeing people reshape Christian stewardship?

Why might praying for workers implicate us?