Do You See This Woman?

During a trip to Haiti, I rode in the back of a Jeep driven by some missionary friends. As we lurched through the dusty streets, I noticed a man pushing a heavy cartload of wood. Perspiring in the afternoon heat, grunting as he lifted the heavy cart, the fellow wore nothing but a tattered pair of shorts and a pained expression on his face.

I teased our driver: "That guy with the wood is making better time than we are!" More than once, we got stuck in traffic while the wood-mover trudged past our Jeep. But gradually a humbling realization filled my mind: "God loves that man with the cartload of wood just as much as he loves me. The Lord counts the hairs on his head, cares about his family, values his soul." It made a big difference when I began to view that man from God's point of view.

Once Jesus visited the home of a prominent Pharisee named Simon. There a sinful woman, deeply moved by Jesus' talk of God's love and grace, rained tears of repentance and joy onto Jesus' feet. Using the only towel available—her own long hair—she wiped Jesus' feet and poured perfume on them out of an alabaster jar.

She was making a scene—disrupting the Pharisee's dinner party with all her weeping, wiping, and wailing—and Simon was getting upset. The Pharisees believed the touch of an immoral person could make you unclean. Smugly, Simon thought to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner" (Luke 7:39).

Big mistake, Simon. Jesus knows exactly what kind of woman she is. The real problem? You don't understand what kind of Savior Jesus is.

Responding to Simon's unspoken thoughts, Jesus told a story about two men who had their financial debts canceled by a gracious moneylender. One man's debt was very large; the other's was quite small. "Which of them will love him more?" asked Jesus.

"I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled," Simon replied.

Turning to the woman, Jesus asked Simon, "Do you see this woman?"

Interesting question. Of course Simon saw her with his eyes, but he didn't really see the woman. Simon saw a problem; Jesus saw a person. Simon saw a nuisance; Jesus saw a need. Simon saw a situation to avoid; Jesus saw a chance to help.

Simon's detached, critical attitude can even slip into the church. How do we view the single mom? The troubled teenager? The lonely senior citizen? The middle-aged jet-setter whose career is on the fast track but whose heart is filled with despair? Do we avoid people from different racial backgrounds and associate only with "folks like us"?

Do we see others as numbers who pad our church attendance, competitors who might get the recognition we desire, playthings to use and discard, mere machines to meet our needs? Worse, do we overlook others entirely unless they're beautiful or talented or popular?

Jesus saw more love in that streetwise woman than he saw in the do-everything-by-the-book Pharisee. Standoffish and cautious, Simon hadn't offered Jesus even the basic social courtesies: a kiss of greeting, water to wash his feet, a bit of oil for his head. Awkward but sincere, the woman had washed and kissed Jesus' feet and anointed him with perfume. Her sin-debt was great, but so was her love when the debt was canceled.

Jesus saw her sin clearly, but he also saw her faith and her potential. He forgave her and sent her away in peace (Luke 7:48-50).

What would you and I have seen if we had been at Simon's house that day? Do we dare to look at people through the eyes of Jesus?