The Question of Compassion: "Do You See This Woman?" - Jesus Is The Question

Welcome and thanks for joining us today for our sermon here at Trinity Church, Streetsville.

This is episode 2 of our new sermon series, Jesus is the Question.

We have Rob Hirkman with us today, where we will be looking specifically at the question

Jesus asks, do you see this woman?

This question is directed at Simon Peter, his beloved disciple, and of course, Simon

will have seen this woman.

But did he really see her?

Did anyone really see her?

Rob tells us that this is possibly one of the most powerful questions Jesus asks.

Well, I hope you really enjoy this message today, and we hope it encourages you and stirs

some thought as well.

Here it is, enjoy and God bless.

Good morning everyone.

My name is Rob.

I'm a minister here at Trinity Streetsville, and it's a great pleasure to be here.

If you're new, a special and very warm welcome to you.

I have a great privilege, and that is that every morning I get to walk to work.

It's a very short walk.

It's only about one or two kilometers.

Basically I just walk up River Road and then go onto Ellen Street, and then I wave at the

Bemons sometimes in the morning, and then I turn and I cut across this beautiful little

path that leads...

There's this path that's...

Whoops, what's going on there?

There it is.

There's this path that on the one side there's the river, and there's all these beautiful

gorgeous trees there, and there's so much to see along this path.

Sometimes you get to see some birds flying by, there's wildlife, there's rabbits that

are running around, and this path comes out right behind Trinity, so it's a nice little

shortcut to work.

Sometimes you get to see squirrels.

There's all sorts of wildlife.

Sometimes you see Dan Beaman.

That's a different kind of wildlife that you might see along this path, but there's lots

to see.

Now, a couple years ago when our family was living in downtown Toronto and I was working

at a different church, my walk to work, my commute to work looked very, very different.

What I would do then is I would get up in the morning and I would take the 92 bus up

to Woodbine subway station, and I would hop on the subway, and I would take that down

toward the downtown and usually get off at Sherbourne station.

Once you got off at Sherbourne, you still had a couple of blocks to walk, but of course

you didn't see a lot of rabbits or you didn't see a lot of squirrels or birds.

What you saw was a crush of people who are trying to get to work and trying to get to

their jobs, the busy, busy commuters.

Now, I say that I saw them, but actually that's probably an overstatement because while I

saw them, I didn't really see them.

We saw a crowd, but did I actually see these people, like really see these people?

I don't think so.

We were all just heading off in our own direction, you know, with our cell phones in our hands

and our morning Starbucks in our hands.

And so there wasn't a lot of real seeing that happened.

And then the last few blocks that I walked along Bloor Street to get to the church I

was working at, there was another bunch of people that...

Well, this time I actually chose, if I'm honest with you, I chose not to see.

I tried not to see.

And what I'm talking about is I'm talking about people who were seeming...they were

panhandling along the sidewalk.

They seemed to be people who were homeless.

They were begging for money.

It was a very interesting scene because here you were in the business center of the largest

city in all of Canada, and then right there in front of you, there was people who had

absolutely nothing.

You'd have your morning Starbucks in your hand and they would have an empty coffee cup

and they would just be holding it out.

And maybe...what were they hoping for?

Maybe they were hoping that you put a dollar or two into their cup, maybe.

Or maybe what they really, really wanted was for you just to see them, just to see them.

Just to notice them.

Just to be seen, to be recognized somehow.

But of course, but of course, I tried not to see them.

Because once you see someone like that, once you see them, then well, they might see you

back and then once you recognize that you've seen each other, well, then there might actually

be an interaction.

There might actually be a conversation and that could be awkward.

And after all, who has time for that anyways?

We've got to keep on moving.

We've got to keep on going, right?

I tried, I really tried actually, not to look at these people, I confess.

But after a year or two of doing this, you know, I got to tell you, it got a whole lot

easier walking that street.

It got easier because here's the thing.

You see, after intentionally ignoring someone for that long, pretty soon you don't even

have to try.

You just don't see them anymore.

It's second nature not to see them.

I got really, really good at seeing past these people, seeing past the poverty, seeing past

the problems.

I kept my eyes on myself.

I kept my eyes on my own life, my own agenda, my own to-do list, my own things.

What about you?

Who do you see?

And this morning, who do you see sitting around you in this church?

Who do you see in your neighborhoods?

In your apartment building, who do you see?

In your school, who do you see?

When you turn on the news and you see children in refugee camps, who do you see?

Do you see them?

When you see homeless people living under the overpass, who do you see?

Do you see them?

Or do you look past them?

Do you avoid them?

The truth is, it is not easy to truly see another person, which is so incredibly sad

because one of the basic human needs that we all have is the need to be seen, the need

to be noticed, the need to be valued, the need to be understood.

I have to apologize, I forgot which book it was, but there was a quote I came across yesterday

and the author said this, psychologists tell us that much pathology and mental illness

results from the experience of being unnoticed, especially early in life.

Over time, people internalize the pain of this unnoticedness.

Over time, we learn to compensate for this pain.

Some of us become high achievers and others of us, we withdraw.

Others addictively attach themselves to someone else.

And so we have to wonder as we sit in church or at a coffee shop or as we walk through

the supermarket, how many of the people around us feel isolated and overlooked.

I mean, you can fake seeing someone, you can pretend to see someone, but people know whether

they've been seen or not.

It is entirely possible to look right at someone and still not see them.

Jesus once asked a question, actually we're tackling a whole bunch of the questions that

Jesus asked.

Jesus asked 307 questions, at least that's how many we have recorded in the New Testament.

And it's surprising Jesus asked way more questions than he ever gave answers.

But the one question we're going to look at today is this question, do you see this woman?

Do you see this woman?

It sounds like a bit of a strange question, but as we unpack it together this morning,

I think you're going to agree with me.

It is one of the most powerful and potentially life changing questions that Jesus ever asked.

One day, Jesus was invited to a banquet.

It was one of those fancy schmancy banquets, the kind of a banquet you'd love to be invited

to that had all the respected people, the busy people, the GTA, Mississauga, power people,

Bloor Street people, right?

The kind of a banquet we'd all love to be seen at, but someone crashes the party.

A woman of the city who was a sinner learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house.

Now there is so much packed into this one little sentence.

Let's just look at this.

First of all, a woman of the city.

This is a translation by a Bible teacher named Ched Myers.

The intention here is for us to understand that she was a prostitute, which she probably

was.

Some of the people I passed along Bloor Street, probably they had the same line of work, but

that's the first thing we're being told.

She's a prostitute.

Secondly, she was a sinner.

Now that is another social label that is given to her.

Isn't it true that one of the ways we're able to distance ourselves from others and one

of the ways we're actually able to keep away from and not truly see people is by giving

them labels?

I mean, I don't really need to see you for who you are.

If I can just label you, right?

Oh, I know all there is to know about you because I've already got a label on you.

I don't need to really see you.

I know all about you.

Your label tells me everything that I need to know.

And thirdly, we also know that she had somehow learned that Jesus was eating at this Pharisee's

house.

I just find this interesting.

How did she know?

Well, maybe the word was on the street that Jesus was there.

Maybe she had actually already interacted with Jesus at another time and she was kind

of following him around.

Some people have wondered how she even got access to the house.

How did she know the way in?

Could it be that her host was a client of hers at one time?

Who knows?

But there she is for all to see.

The question is, did anyone actually see her?

I mean, if you were at that banquet, would you have seen her?

I mean, you would have seen her, right?

You would have seen her, but would you really see her?

Would you really look?

Would you really pay attention to her?

I dare say we would not.

We would not.

And here's why, because she does a whole bunch of these inappropriate things.

First of all, I'm just telling you, try not to look.

Try not to look at her, okay?

But she's weeping.

She's crying.

I don't know.

Is it blubbering?

Is it whimpering?

Is it wailing?

Well, it sounds like it could be wailing because there's so many tears coming out of her eyes

that she's actually wetting Jesus' feet.

But I'm actually not looking at it.

Are you looking at it?

I'm not looking.

Pay no attention to the woman over there who is crying in the corner.

Pay no attention.

Don't really see her.

Okay?

The second thing that we would not want to look at is the fact that she is wiping Jesus'

feet with her hair.

Do not look at that.

Avert your eyes.

Why?

Because proper women in those days would never even be seen in public with their hair unbound,

much less wiping their hair all over the feet of someone like that in public.

I mean, it's so intimate.

It's so inappropriate.

Do not look.

I'm not looking.

I am not looking.

Pretend like nothing's happened.

Come back to your dinner.

Isn't this a wonderful meal?

Isn't this great?

No, I'm not paying attention.

Are you paying attention?

No, no, no.

And thirdly, avert your eyes because she's now going to pour perfume all over Jesus'

feet.

And man, oh man, does it smell.

Whew.

You can't miss that.

You can't ignore the smell of that.

But you know what?

I am going to ignore it.

I'm going to pretend I can't smell it.

I'm not going to pay any attention to what is going on over there.

I'm still not looking.

Are you?

I'm still not paying attention.

I'm still not seeing that.

Are you?

No, no.

You see, so while this game of seeing,

but not really seeing, about looking,

but not really looking, noticing, but not really noticing,

while this game is kind of going on,

that's the moment when Jesus breaks the tension.

Jesus breaks the tension and we come across these words.

Then turning to the woman, Jesus said to Simon,

do you see this woman?

Now, I don't want you just to picture this for a second.

Turning to the woman, Jesus says to Simon,

where's Simon?

I don't know.

Jesus is looking at the woman, but he's talking to Simon.

This is a pretty powerful scene right here.

Simon, do you see this woman?

For everybody at the party that day,

this woman was invisible, except for Jesus.

They knew nothing about this woman's history.

They knew nothing about her identity,

beyond her labels, beyond the stigma that's attached to her.

So she's invisible to everyone.

And so Jesus actually has to ask the question,

do you see this woman?

It's actually not a rhetorical question.

No one actually sees her, except for Jesus.

I mean, what they see is a prostitute.

They see a streetwalker, but they don't see her.

They see a problem.

They see an embarrassment, but they don't see her.

Jesus is looking at her.

They're looking away from her.

They're trying not to see her.

Jesus can't take his eyes off her.

Simon, do you see this woman?

It's a powerful scene.

It's even more powerful when you realize

that the biblical way that the word see and seeing gets used

is actually often associated with compassion.

Seeing and compassion go together.

Seeing and compassion go together.

And the reason that they go together is because often,

once you really see someone, once you really see them,

then you know what?

You're actually going to have compassion for them.

Because now we're not just seeing a label.

We're not just seeing, we're not looking past them.

We're empathizing with them.

We're actually seeing ourselves in their shoes.

We're seeing ourselves in their situation.

Jesus did this all the time.

For example, when Jesus was kind of getting off the subway

in his day and there was a crush of people,

there was crowds of people around him.

We read that Jesus said, when Jesus saw the multitudes,

he saw, he was moved with compassion for them.

For Jesus, you see, seeing leads to compassion.

Many of us don't wanna see because we don't wanna feel.

Seeing someone's despair, seeing someone's hurt,

seeing someone's suffering, it's like a gut punch.

It hurts.

It makes us feel guilty.

It makes us feel sad.

It makes us feel awkward.

It makes us feel all sorts of things

that we don't wanna feel that way.

So we'd rather just not look in the first place.

We'd rather just not see them.

In the first place, let's look away instead.

But the more we see them, the more we really see them,

I would dare say that those feelings of guilt or sadness

will eventually give way to feelings of compassion.

And of course, it's a very short trip

from compassion to action.

Once you see someone, you'll feel compassion for them.

Once you feel compassion for them,

very soon you'll find yourself wanting

to help them in their situation.

That's exactly what Jesus does.

Jesus sees this woman.

He sees her.

And then he has compassion for her.

And that means he then wants to help her.

And indeed, Jesus does help her.

Because if we keep reading the story,

what does Jesus end up doing?

He recognizes her dignity.

He celebrates her love.

He blesses her.

He forgives her.

He sets her free.

He grants her peace.

Pope Francis once pointed out that there

are certain realities in life that we can only

see through eyes that have been cleansed with our tears.

But unfortunately, in this story,

the only tears that are being shed

are being shed by the woman.

While the woman's crying, nobody else

seems to be crying tears of compassion.

There's no compassion because, of course, they don't see her.

And I don't think they ever really do see her in the story.

Even at the end of our story today,

all people seem to be able to talk about is, oh, my goodness,

Jesus forgave her sin.

Who does this guy think he is that he can forgive her sins?

Can you believe it?

Who is this?

How dare he?

Who does he think he is?

They are so upset with Jesus.

And they are standing.

And they are fighting.

They're probably they're PO'd by his actions.

They're upset by his words.

And meanwhile, in the middle of all this hubbub,

guess who is once again not being seen?

There she is, still unseen.

Like the people at the party, sometimes we are unable to see,

whereas other times we are unwilling to see.

And there's a big difference between being unable to see

and being unwilling to see.

Sometimes we're unable to see because we're just so busy

looking at our own things.

We're so busy looking at our own life, our own problems,

our own situations.

Or we're looking at frivolous things.

We're not really looking at the important things of life.

Those party goers, they were looking at lots of things.

They were looking at the people, the food, the atmosphere,

the music, whatever the case may be.

But they were just looking at the wrong things.

They were looking at the wrong things.

They were blinded by their own agendas.

They couldn't see the woman for who she was.

They were unable to see.

And actually, I should just add as a side note,

because they were unable to see the woman for who she was,

they were actually unable to see Jesus for who he was as well.

Because they assumed that, oh my gosh,

if Jesus could really know who this woman was,

Jesus would know that she is a sinner.

Therefore, Jesus can't possibly be a prophet or anybody great.

He's a total fraud.

He's a fraud.

But you see, don't you see the connection?

Because they couldn't see the woman for who she was,

then they couldn't see Jesus for who he is.

Keep that in mind, that our inability

to see others for who they really are

can affect our ability to see Jesus for who he truly is.

So yes, sometimes we are unable to see.

And other times, though, we're unwilling to see,

because there's a cost to seeing someone.

If you actually see this woman, if you actually see her,

you might need to move beyond your stereotypes.

You might need to move beyond all those labels you give her.

And you might actually have to start treating her

with dignity and worth.

And that kind of change, that's a heart change.

That's a life change.

And that is hard to do.

So yeah, sometimes we are unable to see.

Other times, we are unwilling to see.

One author says that Simon only sees

what sort of woman she is.

Jesus does not see a sort of woman.

He sees this woman.

And moving from one way of seeing to another way of seeing

can be painful for many of us.

So while some are unable to see Jesus is able,

and while some are unwilling to see Jesus is willing,

and while all the men at the party, they stand,

and they shout, and they disagree, and they argue,

Jesus keeps his eyes on the woman,

and in the end, offers her a blessing.

Go in peace.

Here at Trinity, we want to be a community of people

who are learning to see.

Learning to see each other for who we are,

learning to see God for who God is.

Do you see each other this morning?

I mean, do you really?

Do you really see one another this morning?

With a growing church, there is always this fear

that we actually stop seeing one another.

Of course, you see the crowds, and you'll see the people

around, yes, yes, maybe, maybe you even go and after church,

you connect with one or two of your favorite people,

but all the others, we don't really see them.

We don't really know them, and maybe we

don't really want to know them.

But please, Trinity, promise me this,

that if by God's grace this church continues to grow,

that we will not stop learning to see each other

and not stop knowing each other.

That every week our eyes and our hearts

will be open to new relationships and to new people.

But that's not the only way that we're learning to see here

at Trinity.

I want to take you back to our trip that we took to Honduras.

When we went to Honduras a couple months ago,

we never called it a mission trip.

We never called it a mission trip.

It wasn't like we were going down there

to do something that they couldn't do for themselves

or anything like that.

No, actually, we called it a learning trip.

But we actually could have called it a seeing trip.

It was really just a trip to get down there to see the people,

to see the children, to see the context,

to see some of the wonderful children

that you and I and others chose to sponsor.

It was a seeing trip.

Because seeing, as we just learned,

seeing leads to compassion.

And then compassion then leads to action.

Even more, though, we're also learning how to see right here

in Mississauga.

One of the big things that can happen to a church

sometimes is that we live in our community, and we just assume.

We assume that we know everything about our city.

We know everything about streetsville.

We know everything about Mississauga.

We've been here for years and years and years.

After all, we live here.

We may think we know this place, but do we really see it?

One problem a church can fall into

is to be nestled right in the midst of a community,

right in the middle of a city like we are,

but not really take the time to learn,

to see who are these people and what is God doing here.

So that's why I'm so grateful that coming up this fall,

we are going to be undertaking, under the leadership of Kyla

Lones, a proper neighborhood analysis of streetsville

in Mississauga, where a team from Trinity

is going to spend several weeks together really learning

to see our community and to see where God is calling us

as a church to get more involved.

So please pay attention and stay tuned for more about that.

But there's also another way that we need to learn to see,

and it's a bit of a more personal way.

Oh, yes, it's very exciting to learn

to see people in Honduras and to learn to see our community.

But where the rubber really hits the road

is can we learn to see in our own homes?

Do you see this woman when that woman is your wife,

when that woman is your daughter,

when you look around your dinner table at your son,

your husband, your father, your mother, your brother,

your sister, do you see them as they really are,

or do you see them as who you want them to be?

Do you see them as who Jesus sees them?

Is your home a home of compassion?

If not, we need to learn to see our families

like Jesus sees our families.

We're almost done here, but related to that

is learning to see ourselves properly.

A part of the change that occurs within us

is when we look in the mirror, do we really

see the man and the woman that is in that mirror properly?

I mean, there's probably parts of you that you do see rightly,

and there's other parts of you that you don't want to see.

It's a very challenging question,

but do you even see yourself rightly?

The good news is Jesus sees you, and Jesus sees me,

and he can't take his eyes off you.

He loves you.

He gave his life for you.

Can you see yourself the same way that Jesus sees you?

And that leads us to the very last way

that we need to learn to see, and that is we

need to learn to see Jesus himself.

Let me take you back to my trip down Bloor Street, my commute

a few years ago.

As you get closer to St. Paul's Bloor,

right outside of St. Paul's, there

is a sculpture that is out there.

The sculpture is called When I Was a Stranger,

and it's a sculpture by an artist named Timothy Schmulz.

And it depicts, as you can see from this picture,

it depicts Jesus sitting there alone on a stool.

He's poor.

He's hungry.

He's alone.

And you can actually sit down on one of those other stools,

and you can sit there, and you can just look at Jesus.

And the lesson is clear.

We need to learn to see Jesus in the face of the poor,

in the face of the lonely, in the face of the lost.

If we don't learn to see Jesus in the hurting,

if we don't learn to see Jesus in each other,

if we don't learn to see Jesus in our families,

then we will never see Jesus, because Jesus

is found in the poor, in the stranger, in the pew

beside you, in the mirror.

So you can see there is an awful lot at stake

in that one little question, do you see?

We can always choose to turn away or look away,

but that's not the Jesus way.

Jesus sees the people of our city.

Jesus sees the people of our church.

Jesus sees your family, your friends.

He sees you, and He loves you completely.

So let's learn to see, because without seeing each other

rightly, we can never really love each other fully.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Thanks for listening in to our sermon today,

and we're so glad that we can share

our message of the good news with you in this way.

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Thanks again, and please join us next week for yet

another question Jesus asks.

Today's sermon was taken from the July 30, 2023 service

at Trinity Church, Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario.