Seeing deeper, loving better

 

Sunday, 14 June, 2026.

From the Gospel of the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 9:36–10:8)

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matt. 9:36).

Celebrating St. Barnabas last Thursday, we reflected on this Gospel and reminded ourselves that it is now our turn.

The word of God, as we were saying yesterday, is always alive. Each time we come to it, we should come with a disposition to receive something new. I actually shared a reflection on this same verse in a video which I will still share here. There, the focus was more on how, due to lack of proper vision and compassion, we sometimes end up rendering the sheep the Lord has entrusted to us harassed and helpless.

Today, however, I would like us to look at this passage from another perspective. I would like to remind us that we can become instruments through whom God brings healing and peace to this wounded world.

How?

We need to learn to see beyond the surface.

Jesus did not stop at what He saw externally. He saw beyond the crowd before Him. Others may have seen a multitude of people; Jesus saw persons carrying burdens, disappointments, fears, wounds, and struggles. What others saw as a crowd, He saw as sheep who were harassed and helpless.

Often, we tend to look at people simply from how they appear, from what they say, or from what they do. Yet sometimes what we see on the surface is not the whole story.

For example, someone who constantly tells lies or avoids certain discussions may not simply be refusing the truth. It may be that the person has been deeply hurt whenever he or she tried to open up in the past. Someone who appears difficult, defensive, or distant may be carrying wounds that are invisible to us. Compassion does not deny personal responsibility, but it helps us understand the person before we judge the behaviour.

Instead of focusing only on a person's faults, can we be compassionate enough to recognize that there may be struggles, wounds, disappointments, and experiences of being let down by those who were meant to guide, protect, and shepherd them?

Why do I say we need to look beyond the surface?

Because many people never show us their wounds. They smile, work, joke, interact, and appear perfectly normal. Yet deep within, they may be carrying burdens known only to God. This is why we need the Holy Spirit—to help us see what the eyes alone cannot see and to reveal the hidden struggles of those whom He places on our path.

After all, how can we become instruments of healing if we do not even recognize that the person before us is wounded?

Looking at the level of blame and division in our world today, one cannot help but wonder: government officials blame the governed; the governed blame their leaders. Teachers blame students; students blame teachers. The rich blame the poor for laziness; the poor blame the rich for selfishness. Congregations blame their pastors, and pastors blame the stubbornness of their people. Then there are the constant tensions between men and women, each side often speaking from a place of hurt.

Are these not sometimes signs of deeper wounds and unresolved pains?

This is what Jesus did.

Think of the woman in Luke 7:36–50. Simon saw a sinner. Jesus saw a woman whose heart had been touched and transformed by mercy. Simon saw her past; Jesus saw her love. Simon saw what she had been; Jesus saw what she was becoming through God's grace. The difference was not in the woman, but in the eyes with which she was being seen.

And perhaps that is one of the dangers of remaining on the surface: we may become so focused on a person's faults, failures, and weaknesses that we fail to recognize the good that God is accomplishing in that person's life. We may see only the sin and miss the love, faith, and desire for God already at work in the heart.

Jesus looked deeper. Beneath the woman's troubled past, He recognized a heart overflowing with gratitude and love. What others condemned, He received. What others dismissed, He restored.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the harvest is plentiful: the world is full of people silently carrying burdens, disappointments, fears, and wounds. Many appear strong on the outside, yet are harassed and helpless within.

Perhaps this is also why the Gospel does not end with Jesus merely feeling compassion for the crowds—His compassion leads to mission.

Seeing the crowds in their brokenness, Jesus calls and sends His disciples.

He sends them to cleanse, heal, raise up, and restore.

The same Lord sends us today. He sends us into a world filled with people who are, in one way or another, harassed and helpless. He sends us not first to complain or condemn, but to cooperate with Him in bringing healing, restoration, and peace. He sends us to become instruments of His compassion in a wounded world.

But we can only do this well if we learn to see as He sees—with His compassionate gaze.

For when we begin to see beyond appearances, beyond labels, beyond past failures, and even beyond present weaknesses, we become capable of recognizing both the wounds that need healing and the grace that is already at work within the person before us.

Sometimes healing begins not with great words or extraordinary actions, but with the simple gift of being seen, understood, and loved.

May the Lord therefore grant us His eyes. For when we begin to see others as He sees them, we can begin to love them as He loves them, and thus become labourers in His harvest, bringing His healing and peace to a wounded world.

Happy Sunday

Ifeanyichukwu Joseph Ezemba