3. Eyes Wide Open: God the Son Who Sees
- Eyes Wide Open: God the Son Who Sees.
“Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to Yahweh, who had spoken to her… El-Roi. She said, ‘You are the God who sees me.’” (Genesis 16:13).
Like Father, Like Son. The qualities of Jesus as seen in the gospels will be perfectly consistent with what we read of Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible. In essence, they are one and the same Persons. Their union is complete. Jesus is Yahweh with flesh on, Yahweh incarnate. One overlooked ability by God is the ability to see. It is impossible for God to be blind to the needs and joys of this world. He is always keeping a close eye on His creation. As goes Yahweh, so goes Jesus.
Learn to See. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us, one of His first orders of business is to transform our eyes, our vision, how to truly see. As believers acquiring the mind of Christ, the Spirit is intent on giving us the eyes of Jesus, who didn’t miss a thing. He had what trained trackers call wide-angle view, or the “relaxed vision,” and literally saw the big picture of what was around Him at all times. He also was able to zero in and focus on the individuals and their needs. Nothing escaped the notice of the Messiah during His ministry, or now, for that matter, as He sits at the right hand of the Father. And the Son shares the same eyesight as the Father, who doesn’t miss a thing either. God has His head on a swivel every second of the day and night. Our God is a God who sees.
Two Ways to See. In the Bible, there seem to be two ways to see: to physically see with one’s eyesight; and to spiritually see, to understand, to perceive. To spiritually see is to notice, focus, think about, discern, and understand. It appears that God created us with physical eyes that have straight lines north to the brain and south to the heart. They’re all connected. When we truly see something, it kicks our minds into gear to think about it, and it jolts our hearts to respond to what it is that we see. The Gospel writers went into great detail about how Jesus became deeply moved after seeing something that went directly to his heart. What Jesus saw greatly affected Him: from getting a gut punch after seeing a need and being filled with a compassion that was literally felt in the pit of His stomach; to a moment of great zeal in the Temple marketplace; to a visceral emotional response that resulted in overwhelming anguish; to literally jumping with joy over what He has witnessed, filled with great gladness, ecstatically rejoicing with what He has seen.
El-Roi in the Flesh. Just as with Yahweh God, nothing escapes the notice of Jesus. He has universal vision and particular vision. He can always see everything perfectly. He seems to have a special antenna always working for those in any kind of trouble, for any who are in need of God’s touch and attention. There are a number of passages in the gospels that prove this unerring ability of Jesus to observe His surroundings, and allowing His awareness to result in meeting those needs with compassion. We read a number of passages like this… “When the Lord saw her…” (Luke 7:13, the widow’s dead son); “When Jesus reached the spot He looked up...” (Luke 19:5, to Zacchaeus); “When Jesus saw him lying there...” (John 5:6, a severely crippled man); “When Jesus saw her weeping...” (John 11:33, Mary of Bethany); “When He saw the multitude...” (Matt. 9:36, the helpless crowds); “When Jesus saw the large crowd...” (Matt. 14:14, the feeding of the 5,000). Jesus saw everything there was to see, and then some. He saw the multitude, He saw the individual. He turned and saw two future disciples in John 1:37; He saw Nathanael in John 1:47; He saw the man born blind in John 9:1; He even had the ability while being tortured on the Cross to compassionately see His mother Mary and John in John 19:26. Nothing escaped His attention And Jesus had compassion for whomever He saw. This is what Jesus said as He looked over Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” (Matt. 23:37). Yahweh’s eyes were always wide open. Jesus had the same set of eyes as His Father. Jesus is El Roi, the God who sees.
Moved With Compassion. The literal meaning of the Greek word used here is “to have one’s bowels yearn,” which makes sense since the root word for it is “intestines.” Since the innermost organs were considered at that time to be the seat of human emotions, and since love is the emotion being implied, this phrase could be understood as a visual experience that has resulted in true compassion that began down deep in the gut. This word points to an intense emotional experience that is felt in the pit of one’s stomach. This profound compassion is not superficial by any means, not casual, not distant. This compassion is immediate and so deeply felt that it demands action. This compassion is so visceral that it must find an outlet, a target, in doing something physical and helpful.
Living Into the Gut of Christ. As we deepen our union with Christ, as we live into His reality and character, we also live into His compassion, into being deeply moved to our very innards. As theologian Jeff McSwain once said, “If we truly are ‘in Christ,’ then just as we’ve been given the mind of Christ, we’ve also been given the ‘gut’ of Christ. In all acts of compassion, believers can give credit where credit is due, to the Savior who in solidarity with humanity shares his sensitive gut with us.” And the more we live into Christ, the more our gut matches the gut of Christ. For the Christian believer, to see human need is to bring to us a gut reaction.
The Virtue of Observation. There are a number of gospel passages in which Jesus experienced this gut punch of compassion. It is fascinating to witness His profound innermost feelings after carefully observing: the people who were living like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36 and Mark 6:34); when He was surrounded by neediness (Matthew 14:14); when He observed the huge throng of people skipping meals just to hear Him teach and preach (Mark 8:2); when He encountered a man who was leprous and two men who were blind (Mark 1:41, and Matthew 20:34); when He came upon a grieving widow who just lost her only son (Luke 7:13). The gospel writers also reported that Jesus used this fancy Greek word for gut punch in three of His famous parables: The Unforgiving Servant (Matt. 18:21-35); The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37); and The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). By using this particular word in His stories, perhaps Jesus wants us to so identify with this idea that we would want to demonstrate it ourselves. Perhaps He wants us to be vitally aware and observant of our surroundings, to feel compassion from the pit of our stomach like He did. If we are to follow this Man Jesus, we need His Spirit to develop the ability to see with His eyes, to dip deeply into the well of compassion, to develop a sensitive gut.
Jesus remains El-Roi to this day. As our heavenly Intercessor at the right hand of the Father, there is no doubt Jesus continues to acutely observe with divine awareness the needs of the world and of His people. In His response to what He observes at this very moment, Jesus certainly has the same sensitive gut, the same compassionate heart, that He did on earth. He has left us His Spirit to develop within each of His followers the same eyesight, the same heart, the same mind.