DO YOU SEE HER?

Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman” (Luke 7:44)? Do you really see her? Jesus asked Simon a poignant question; one he didn’t wait for, nor did he want an answer to. Yet, I believe Simon wrestled with Jesus‘ question the rest of his life, and it is a question we should also wrestle with. So, do you see her?

Jesus’ question to Simon leaps off the page and into my own life; it seems to me that Jesus was not asking Simon, nor, is he asking us if we see who we think she is, or if we can list the things she has done wrong. Jesus is asking if we can see her the same way he sees her.

Like Simon, we struggle to see our own sins and failings, but somehow, we have become experts at seeing the sins and failings in the lives of others. Those who like me are within the organized church seem to be especially astute when it comes to pointing out other people's flaws. Even those who profess tolerance as their highest value, are often intolerant toward those who do not see the world as they do. There was a time in my own life when I believed I had perfected tolerance, except, I hated being around those who were not as tolerant as I saw myself to be.

Those of us who are in the church tend to separate people into two categories, “holy and unholy”  which creates an “Us and them” dichotomy. There is a sense in which we are correct, there are in fact two kinds of people, “holy and unholy,” there is Jesus and then there is the rest of us; he is holy, we are not. Jesus knew Simon’s heart, and he knows ours as well. Jesus is also well aware that Simon’s eyes and our eyes are filled with splinters, so he extends to us an opportunity to get a glimpse of this woman, and indeed the world through his eyes.

As we look at others through the eyes of Jesus, who do we see? So much that we let divide us when we put it in perspective doesn't matter.

Martin Luther King Jr, wrote an article entitled “The World House,” where he said, 

“the great new problem of humanity (is that) we have inherited…a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together…unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interest…(we) must learn somehow to live with each other in peace…”

I don’t believe it was a great “new” problem when Martin penned those words, I think it was the same “great problem,” Jesus asked Simon about over dinner all those years ago, when he asked, “Do you see this woman?” Do you really see her?