Eyes To See Jesus - Matthew 25:31-26:13
All of us, that various times, discover that we haven’t been seeing things correctly. Of course, you can see with your eyes. You see me standing here. You saw how to get here today. But I mean the “seeing” that relates to “thinking” or “understanding” things in life. We all realize, “I didn’t see that the right way.”
The Scriptures acknowledge this difficulty with seeing in life. The apostle Paul writes that “now we see as in a mirror dimly.” A more literal translation of that might be “as a in a mirror puzzled.” Put aside for a moment that life is puzzling. You and I are puzzling. We puzzle ourselves. Why?
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Well, in part, we don’t always see things the way they truly are. And this nowhere truer than with Jesus. [2] Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3)
We do not naturally see as God sees. We base what we think and do on what we see. But we don’t always see things the way they truly are. Now, you may be thinking, “I agree! I know someone who doesn’t see things correctly.” And that may be true . But you don’t always see things as they truly are. We lie to ourselves. We can deceive ourselves. We can be blinded to things.
But Jesus came to save us from our blindness. He came to give sight to blind eyes, but also to blind hearts, because sin is blinding. We need Jesus to help us see clearly. We need Jesus to help us repent. But what kinds of things do we need Jesus to help us see. What things do we often fail to see as Jesus does?
Well, three things apparent in these verses today: people, Jesus Himself, and worship.
We pick up today where we left off last week in Matthew 25with another description of Judgment Day, the Last Day, the Second Coming of Jesus. What Jesus says here is reminiscent of his parable about the wheat and weeds in Matthew 13. Believers and non-believers all mixed together, living side by side, like wheat and weeds growing side by side. But at harvest time, Jesus separates them.
The sons of the kingdom and the sons of the evil one exist alongside each other, in the churches and throughout the nations, Jesus says here. Even in the covenant community -
the local church - not everyone is truly born again. Not all are true believers. And so Jesus, the Good Shepherd or Chief Shepherd, who sees the hearts of all people, who sees each person as he or she truly is, will, on the last day, sort people out in a way that no mere human ever could.
The criteria Jesus will use, according to these verses, is sometimes misunderstood. This phrase “the least of these” is said to refer to the poor or the downtrodden, exclusively. The problem with that interpretation is that it sounds like a person is made righteous by humanitarianism. In other words, you are one of Jesus’ “sheep” based on what you did to help the poor in life.
Now, certainly, the church should minister to the poor. But notice that what Jesus says in verse 40 is “the least of these my brothers.” You could translate that “brothers and sisters.” He’s talking about his disciples: those who believed in and followed him. Look again at verse [34] Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
What gives people the right to enter Jesus’ kingdom? Well, faith in Jesus, turning from sin. But here, Jesus says they are welcomed in because they accepted Jesus and showed compassion and concern for him. But verse [37] Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when…” When did we do these things for you? Feed you, welcome you, clothe you, visit you?
He responds, “When you did it for my brothers.”“When you accepted my disciples, you accepted me.” “When you cared for my disciples, you cared for me.” The righteous do those things for Jesus’ people because they trust in and love Him. After Jesus’ arrest, conviction, and execution, his followers would be severely mistreated. They would be persecuted. The apostle Paul, who initially went by his Hebrew name Saul, persecuted the church. In Acts 9, when Jesus appears to Saul and confronts him with his sin, Jesus says, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul was mistreating, even killing, the followers of Jesus. Why? Because he rejected Jesus and His gospel.
In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples, [18] “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [20] Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
Do you see Jesus’ people the way he does? Not just the seemingly important ones, Jesus tells us, but even the seemingly insignificant ones. Even the least, the smallest. We are not to show partiality in the church. We don’t play favorites. We don’t treat some better than others. Because even the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters is connected to him in a special union. Jesus had said this about his disciples before.
Matthew 10, [40] “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. [41] The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. [42] And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” We need Jesus to give us eyes to see people as He does
The world persecutes followers of Jesus to its own detriment. Do you mistreat any of God’s people? In your home? In the city in which you live and work? Be careful if you’re gossiping about or slandering even the least of Jesus’ people. The church should have great concern for all people, but especially for the body of Christ.
Also, We need Jesus to help us see Himself as He does. This next section describes religious leaders who did not have eyes to see Jesus. Jesus turns to his disciples and points out again that he will be crucified soon. It would take place during the Passover festival.
Passover was a time when they commemorated when the Israelites left slavery in Egypt. Something happened that foreshadowed the final Judgment Day. God instructed the Israelites to kill lambs and smear the blood of the lamb on the board above the door to their homes. This would signify their trust in the one true God. God’s angel of death would “passover” those homes but would visit judgment upon the homes of those not marked with the blood of the lamb.
God’s judgment on the Egyptians was the death of the firstborn in each home. A brutal judgment, but one that had not come without warning. Why was it necessary for Jesus to be crucified during the Passover feast? Because he was the true and eternal Lamb of God whose blood takes away sins. The hearts of many Jewish religious leaders in Jesus’ day were so hardened by sin that they did not see who Jesus was.
They did not recognize the Savior. Notice verse [3] Then the chief priests and the elders of the people, in other words, the session of elders, gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, [4] and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.
They had to do it secretly because Jesus was so beloved by the people. Verse [5] But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.” The Jews were all gathered together. It would be a huge scene.
But that’s what Jesus wanted. That was God’s will. At the Passover, the Jews celebrated God’s salvation. The Passover meal was a celebration of his gracious covenant of redemption. It was a meal that pointed forward to Jesus. But they couldn’t see Jesus as he saw himself. Do you see Jesus? You can be very religious - a seemingly “good” person - and still not see Jesus for who he truly is. Why did these leaders hate Jesus so much? Because he had made fools out of them. He had revealed what they really were.
If you would see Jesus and trust in him, you must first let him reveal you for the fool you are, for the terrible sinner you are, for the self-righteous, egotistical person that you are. When a person is confronted by what Jesus actually claims about God, about Himself, and about the world, there are only two responses: either you love him, or you hate him. There is no in-between. See his description of the last Day: sheep on the right, goats on the left, no in-between. We need Jesus to help us see Himself as He does.
And we need Jesus to help us see worship as He does. This event is described in the gospels of Mark and John as well. There was a similar but different event that is described in Luke. John tells us that the woman here is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. They also lived in Bethany. But they are at the house of Simon the leper. Leprosy was a skin disease that made a person ceremonially unclean. It seems that Simon had been cured by Jesus. Now, look again at verse [7] a woman (Mary) came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.
John says the ointment was made from pure nard. It was a type of perfume worth about 300 denarii (approx. one year of a working man’s salary). She pours it on Jesus. She anoints him with it. And Matthew says the disciples complain, but John is more specific. He says specifically that Judas complained; obviously the others joined in, saying that this was a waste. They argue that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Perhaps.
But look again at what Jesus says, verse 10, Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. [11] For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. [12] In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.
Did Mary understand that Jesus was going to die? Not necessarily. Jesus connects the anointing to his upcoming death and burial. But for the woman,what she does is an act of worship. She understands the majesty of Jesus. She sees His glory. She sees the worth of Jesus. In fact, she sees that Jesus is worth more than a year’s pay.
We aren’t told how she got the perfume. Did she save up and purchase it? Was it given to her? Did she inherit it? We don’t know. But I expect that typically people didn’t use it all at once. Even today, perfume and cologne can be very expensive, and a little bit goes a long way. A bottle can last a long, long time.
But notice here that Mary pours it all out. She sees the worth of Jesus, and her worship reflects that. Do you see his worth? Judas and the other disciples did not. They don’t see Jesus. They see the money. The degree to which you see the worth of Jesus is proportionate to the degree to which you see your own sinfulness.
True worship is not giving Jesus your leftovers. Your leftover time, your leftover energy, your leftover love and attention, your leftover money or whatever resource you have to offer for his kingdom in the world. True worship is bringing Jesus your best, giving to Him right off the top.
He sees Himself as worthy; but do you see him that way?
Jesus says that Mary’s act of worship would go down in history. We should ask ourselves: what have we ever done for our majestic, eternal King that could even be a footnote in the history of His church? Obviously Jesus is not here, physically, for us to do this kind of thing for him. We do not bow physically at his feet. He is here spiritually. He is present. As we go to this table today, Jesus is spiritually present at the table and with these elements.
We’ve offered up our worship this morning in all the things we’ve done here. And you can offer your worship to Jesus every day, wherever you are, as you treasure him in your heart and see him as he sees himself: the Lord of glory.
But there is another way you can do a beautiful thing for Jesus. You can serve and bless and humble yourself before even the most insignificant of his followers. When you give of yourself for those who follow Jesus, you give of yourself for Jesus himself. This is a different way of looking at the church and looking at your life. To value and serve Jesus’ people is to value and serve Him. To love his people is to love him.
I admit that sometimes the ins and outs of church planting feels like a hassle. I can lose perspective on what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I lose sight of the vision. But do you know why we go through all the trouble every Sunday morning? We do it for the people of Jesus, and as a result, we do it for Jesus himself.
And we must continually see Jesus in order to remember that you can’t give too much for Him. Jesus poured it all out. He poured out his whole life for his people. You and I would never do that. We would hold back, at some point. As we go to the table today, we remember that Jesus was able to do what was necessary for our salvation because he saw clearly. He did not see as we naturally see. He saw things as they truly are. And when we trust only in Him, he can help us see that way as well. Turn from your sin and trust in Him today.
Let’s pray together.