The Withness of Noticing

Our first step in learning to move toward people the way Jesus moves toward us is recovering the lost art of noticing. In Luke 19, Jesus is passing through Jericho when He sees Zacchaeus - a wealthy chief tax collector - perched in a sycamore tree, trying to catch a glimpse of Him over the crowd. But here's the thing: everyone saw Zacchaeus that day. He was in a tree after all. However, what they saw when they looked at him - the conclusions they drew and the labels they placed upon him - could not have been more different. The crowd saw a sinner — unfit for Jesus's company. Jesus saw a son of Abraham; a beloved child of God. What if noticing people isn't just about seeing people with our eyes; it's about learning to see people the way Jesus sees them - and us.