We all know the old saying that someone “can’t see the forest
for the trees,” but have you ever thought possibly that some of us can’t see the trees for the forest?
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| Photo by Adam Kring on Unsplash |
When dealing with people, this is the continual tension
between focusing either upon the masses or on the individual.
Jesus did both.
Jesus knew, and knows, how to focus on the large group. We
read in Mark’s gospel:
And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things (Mark 6.34 emphases mine).”
There’s nothing worse than a flock of sheep with no one to
lead them. Jesus knew he was their true shepherd and that he was the one who
would need to lead them. What did Jesus see? He saw a great multitude and
maneuvered his disciples into action to take care of the need. The disciples,
seeing the great crowd could only think of one plan – “Send them away.”
Jesus, however, “… commanded them to make them all sit down
in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in
fifties." (Mark 6.39-40) He turns this humongous crowd into something more
manageable so his disciples can minister to them. Then, miraculously, he takes a little boy’s
sack lunch, gives thanks, and breaks the bread for the disciples to pass out to
the 5,000 in attendance. They all went home full instead of hungry. More importantly,
they were taught the words of God.
Jesus saw the multitude… but he also saw the individual.
One day, a man asked Jesus to come and heal his daughter. As
they went, they were interrupted.
So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him. Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging you, and you say, 'Who touched me?'"
The disciples could not see the trees for the forest, but
Jesus could.
And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."[i]
The emphasis here is on the individual. Jesus looks through
the crowd and senses the presence of a single woman who needs healing. He did
this regularly. He was also willing to focus his attention on Nicodemas,[ii]
the woman at the well,[iii]
and Zacchaeus[iv]
just to name a few. He isn’t mesmerized by great crowds as some of us are, he sees
the one lost sheep out of the hundred and goes after it.
Jesus does the same for you today. He is able to look through
the great mass of humanity, through the vast cities, and through the people on
the streets traipsing along like little red ants and see you. He knows your
name, rank and social security number and says to you, “Go in peace; be healed.”
May the Lord give us grace to be like Jesus; looking through
the great forest of people and identifying the drooping oak or the fledgling
sapling – individual people who need a special touch from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ.
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