When you see a crowd of people, what do you feel? When you go to a concert or a movie or take public transportation, what emotions run through your mind about the people around you? Is it mild curiosity? Annoyance? Perhaps indifference?
I'm probably a combination of all three. I love people watching so there's always a part of me that's curious about the stories of the lives of the people that I see on the street. But the majority of me is simply indifferent, followed by annoyed if any of them happen to get in my way or make life in any way unpleasant or uncomfortable for me.
I think that's a natural human reaction. Here in Korea, it is very common, indeed. While Koreans are famous for going above and beyond the call of duty with their friends, they're also famous for being incredibly rude to the people that they do not know. They don't care about you, they're indifferent to your circumstances, and so they push and shove and ignore strangers with little or no disregard for their well-being.
That's why, if we contrast Jesus' behavior with ours, His reaction is all the more shocking. Jesus looked at crowds and had compassion for them. He saw masses of people and felt, no indifference or annoyance, but love. After reading about this in Matthew 9, I tried to go to my school and see my huge classes of students as individuals worth loving, not as a homogenous whole. It's a difficult, if not impossible task.
Perhaps that's why we're supposed to ask God for help on this journey of ours. He knows that we cannot do it, and so He also knows that when we succeed because of His presence in our lives, that His name will be glorified and His plans further established, not ours. That is, after all, the purpose of our existence, isn't it?
As you go about your day today, I encourage you to pay attention, looking for groups of people that you typically mentally homogenize. Ask God to help you see them as people, not just groups, and to show you how to love them and have compassion on them, even if you don't know them. Ask God to make you more like Him. Ask God to teach you how to love.
I'm probably a combination of all three. I love people watching so there's always a part of me that's curious about the stories of the lives of the people that I see on the street. But the majority of me is simply indifferent, followed by annoyed if any of them happen to get in my way or make life in any way unpleasant or uncomfortable for me.
I think that's a natural human reaction. Here in Korea, it is very common, indeed. While Koreans are famous for going above and beyond the call of duty with their friends, they're also famous for being incredibly rude to the people that they do not know. They don't care about you, they're indifferent to your circumstances, and so they push and shove and ignore strangers with little or no disregard for their well-being.
That's why, if we contrast Jesus' behavior with ours, His reaction is all the more shocking. Jesus looked at crowds and had compassion for them. He saw masses of people and felt, no indifference or annoyance, but love. After reading about this in Matthew 9, I tried to go to my school and see my huge classes of students as individuals worth loving, not as a homogenous whole. It's a difficult, if not impossible task.
Perhaps that's why we're supposed to ask God for help on this journey of ours. He knows that we cannot do it, and so He also knows that when we succeed because of His presence in our lives, that His name will be glorified and His plans further established, not ours. That is, after all, the purpose of our existence, isn't it?
As you go about your day today, I encourage you to pay attention, looking for groups of people that you typically mentally homogenize. Ask God to help you see them as people, not just groups, and to show you how to love them and have compassion on them, even if you don't know them. Ask God to make you more like Him. Ask God to teach you how to love.
Matthew 9:35-38
35 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. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on 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 workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
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