See, Saw

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

- Matthew 5:1

* Over twenty years ago I was blessed to visit what is known as “The Mount of the Beatitudes” location - it is rather amazing. I’ve spoken to a few large crowds in various locations without a microphone and it is crazy taxing. I remember that day trying to think what it must have been like to have preached that day. I walked away from the group and up the hill as high as I could and sat down Indian Style and just looked out and tried to put myself there.

I think each week of what I see when I look out: IT is not JUST a crowd, but it is Kim who so loved her husband and is now dealing with great grief. It is Darcy who never married but wants to be fulfilled and wonders why it hasn’t happened for her. It is Seth out of work - he’s been downsized 3 times since I met him. It’s Mark who is questioning his life and faith and Becky always full of questions. It’s Bob who’s been hurt and now doesn’t trust anyone - especially church leaders. I could go on. Yet, even as I do, I am aware that I have such limited knowledge and don’t know where they really are at that moment or how they got there.

But Jesus did. He knew all - He knew every hurt and the hurt behind the hurt. He knew every struggle, and the sin behind the struggle, He knew every heartache, and the heartbreak behind the heartache, He knew every fear, and the focus that brought on those fears, He knew every secret, and the striving to save it as secret, He knew every anxiety and angst behind the anxiety, He knew every question and the quietness they held their questions in, He knew every lost dream, and the desperation that drove that loss, He knew every doubt, and the defeat that doubt drives, He knew every feeling of insignificance, and the insecurity behind that feeling of insignificance. He knew the names of the nameless, the dreams of the dreamers - He knew every need of every person in that crowd. 

He knew these were people He loved and people who needed to be blessed. He knew their past, their present, and their future. He saw who they were then and who they could be. He knew the ones who felt they could not be saved, and He knew that some would flee to Him for salvation. He knew the unabated joy that these would feel. He knew how they would marvel with amazement when He finished this lesson. He knew how they would worship when He walked on water. He knew they would struggle with some of His teachings. He saw them and He knew them.

Oh that we would strive to see those to whom we preach as MORE than a crowd or an audience. 

Oh, and He knew YOU then too. He saw you that day. And His words that day ring through the centuries to your life today, to your needs, to your heart. He knows the teen struggling with anxiety, He knows the middle-aged person struggling for meaning, He knows the hurting widower groping for how to go forward alone, He knows the guilty trying to outrun their own guilt. He knew all that He has in store for you. All that He can do though and with you. He knows every fiber of you and loves you still and gave Himself for you in that knowledge. He knows.

• Note: Jerry Elder asked me (Dale) to be with him on his series “Think About It” and asked me to speak on What Jesus Say, from Matthew 5:1. Afterward, he suggested I should publish it, so here you go. And, thanks Jerry for making me think.