“Do you See What I See?”    Romans 9.1-5

Christmas, 1969—school Christmas pageant.  I was sure that when Darlene Goss sang ‘Do You Hear What I Hear?’ there was no more beautiful girl alive.  Now, I was in 5^th grade and she was in 6^th, but I thought she was magnificent, and her song alluring.  Of little lambs and dancing stars and shepherd boys… all asking, “Do you Hear What I Hear?  ‘See what I see?”  Then the shepherd boy asks the king, “Do you know what I know?” referencing the Christ Child.  Hmmm . . .

When Paul looked at his unbelieving Jewish brethren, what did he see?  What filled his heart with such sorrow?  Again, the passage:

"With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.  I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.  God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises."   Romans 9.1-5, NLT

What did Paul see?  He saw lost people.  He saw people in need of a Messiah—the Messiah who had come and lived amongst them, walked with them and taught them, loved them and died for them. 

Remember, Paul the righteous, Christian-hating Jew, had been blinded on the Damascus Road, (Acts 9), knocked to the ground, and spoken to by Jesus himself . . . but then he was able to SEE.  Once Paul saw, it changed everything.  And then … he heard God’s impassioned plea, “Do you see what I see?”  Paul, do you see why I gave my son for them?  Tell them, tell them!  Oh, so powerful. 

When I see Paul’s heart here in these first couple verses of Romans 9, and how it broke for those around him who did not know Jesus, it brings me up short.  I wonder, do I see what God sees?  Do I see those around me who need God? 

You know, one of the things that set Jesus apart when he walked the dusty roads of Palestine, was his ‘seeing’.  No one ever ‘saw’ like Jesus.  Others walked by blind beggars like the regular roadside fixtures they had become, not Jesus.  Others walked by sinful, loose women, not Jesus . . . he saw them.  Others walked by societal cast-offs, not Jesus . . . he saw them.  And once he saw them, his heart was moved.  ‘Moved so greatly, that he met their needs—moved so deeply, that he bore the stripes, the nails, the agony, and death.  Yep, Jesus saw . . . and so he asks you and me, ‘Do you see what I see?’

One of the last things he said before he ascended into Heaven was, ‘Be my witnesses.’ (Acts 1.8)  A witness tells what he has SEEN, what he has experienced. 

The close of Matthew’s gospel records Jesus’ words that we are to go into the world and make disciples—you know, followers of him.  From the time I was knee-high and in Sunday School at the Missionary Baptist Church, I knew those Matthew 28 verses were called ‘The Great Commission.’   I knew that Jesus was looking at his main men and a handful of other stragglers and giving them an assignment, so the whole world would know.

To commission someone is to give him authority—to empower her and charge her with a job to do, an office to uphold and assignment to carry out.   Jesus commissioned Peter, John, Mary, Philip, the other Mary, Martha, and others that day on that hillside.  But guess what?  Jesus didn’t just commission those people on that day—he commissioned you, and he commissioned me—we who have SEEN something about Jesus that has changed us, something about Jesus that has made us different, something about Jesus that gives life meaning, something about Jesus that gives us hope for the future—that one day, all of this thing called ‘life’ will make sense.  And one day, our friendship with him will be a face-to-face one.  Hmmmmm.

He commissioned us first to SEE . . . to see what he sees; in this case, people who need him.  He asks us, ‘Do you see what I see?’  Then, let it move you.

He commissioned us next to BE HIS WITNESSES . . . tell what we have SEEN, and what we have experienced of him.  That’s all, just tell them that, so that they may SEE.

Christine