'I see you' - Weekly Reflection 7th June 2026

Every morning Monday through to Thursday a small group of people from St Oswald’s meet online for a short time of prayer. This started during Covid and continued as it gives us an opportunity to pray for the Church’s activities and other issues in the nation and across the world. To help guide us in our prayers I have set up a simple PowerPoint slide. One of the items are for those who are in need for prayer because of some illness, sickness and allied issues.

In our ‘people in need’ section we had a lady for whom we have been praying for some wee while. I thought we were in danger of not seeing her there and so one day I dropped her of the list. I was really pleased when one of the regular ‘prayers’ said, you have missed off …..

It is so easy to see something so often that we then begin not to see it or notice it and it fades into the background. When I worked as a bartender in hotels I would encourage all the staff when they came in to work to ‘imagine’ that they hadn’t been there before and to notice things, to see as for the first time.

Yesterday I was on the FCN (www.fcn.org.uk)  stand at the Kenilworth Show (and got very wet!).  Once we had set up the stand I went and stood away and looked at it, to see how it looked. I find myself doing the same in Church. I find myself easily distracted and sometimes irritated when simple things have not been attended to, cloths on the Communion table at a slant, dead or dying flowers, chairs and other things left lying around. (And I must admit to being slightly irritated by people leading a Service looking like they have just come in from doing some gardening or have only just got out of bed – but that might an age thing!)  

Anyway, before I begin to move into moan mode I have been reflecting on seeing but not seeing.  This was one of things we discussed at a Bible Study group I belong to.

Last Thursday we were exploring the Gospel set for today, 1^st Sunday after Trinity. Matthew 9:9-13 the calling of Matthew and Matthew 9:18-26 the synagogue ruler and his daughter and the woman with an issue of blood.  

A question to begin with, ‘how many times had Jesus passed by Matthew’s tax booth? Probably set by the side of the road on a busy intersection, so that Matthew could exact taxes from travellers?

However, on this occasion, when Matthew is called from his life as tax collector into following Jesus, both see each other, maybe as for the first time.

The story in Matthew’s Gospel is very economical in the words used to tell the story, and we are left to use our imagination and complete the picture.

I have a picture of Matthew, head down, busy with his calculations, and maybe a tad bored and irritated by the task in-hand that had made him despised in the community.  Always ready for abuse or trouble and always with a few ‘heavies’ in his pay, hanging around his booth, just in case.

Then his name being spoken, taking a moment to register that someone was calling him by name. And then, slowly looking up and seeing Jesus. Most likely someone he heard about and maybe even heard preaching and teaching. But any rabbi worthy of the name wouldn’t have anything but opprobrium to pour out to a tax collector. But then the ‘seeing.’  ‘Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at his tax booth.’

 Jesus saw a man with a name – and invited him into a whole new way of seeing and living.

The next story picks up Jairus daughter and the woman suffering from ongoing haemorrhaging. (Both stories are given fuller treatment by Mark, (5:21-43) and Luke (8:40-56)

Again, we have a picture of ‘seeing’ – we see Jairus, a synagogue ruler, but not acting like a dignified synagogue ruler, but we see him as a desperate father, who has cast aside all of that as he reaches out to Jesus for help.

And the women, in the fuller accounts of Mark and Luke, the women is brought out of the shadows and into the light. This wasn’t Jesus wanting to cause her any more embarrassment, but he is wanting people to notice her, to see her, not as an unclean woman whom they should shun and avoid, but now healed and able to be restored back into the community.  

As for Jairus, we do know his daughter was restored to the family, brought back into the community, but we are left to conjecture what ongoing impact this had Jairus and his position as a synagogue leader. (And a Synagogue Leader would have had a legal and leadership role in the community, not simple someone who led a ‘congregation.’)   

 In our group discussion we began to think of the people we see but don’t see.

What about the person on the check-out at the supermarket. Or the barista serving your coffee, or maybe even the person cleaning the public toilets. I am sure you could add to this list, and in so doing ask yourself, am I seeing this person as a person, someone with a name, someone with a history, someone who loves, laughs, has fears and concerns.  

I wonder if the illness that had befallen Jairus’ daughter had come upon her quickly, prompting Jairus to action. I wonder if Matthew went into work that day, setting up his booth and thinking mainly of the dinner gathering with others ‘like him’ later that day. I wonder if the lady with the issue of blood had got up and thought, another day just like all others, to be shunned and shamed as I have been for twelve years.

But then Jesus - but then Jesus – but then Jesus sees and these people see Jesus and everything changes.

And this is an ongoing story. It is too long a story to tell but in brief I was on a Spotlight Zoom Session last week, part of the Welcome Directory (The Welcome Directory) information sharing as they seek to equip faith communities to welcome released prisoners into their faith community. On this occasion we were exploring addictions, mainly drugs and alcohol. We had a lady on the call who had the most harrowing story of being gang raped and then getting deeper into a drug habit to blot out the pain and shame.  To feed her drug habit she would sleep with men and became involved in petty crime. It was the love and care of Christians who ‘saw’ her and reached out in a practical way that made the change. She was drawn back into the community, a Christian community. She saw Jesus and chose to follow him. Seeing her now you would never guess at this background. She is healthy, has a home and children and very much involved in helping others.  

Who are you going to see in the week ahead?

Are we ready to pray, ‘Lord, help me as I step out into this day, to be ready to be interrupted as Jesus was on the way to Jairus’ home, to offer a word of encouragement and hope, and offer of new life that reestablishes people back into the community.’

And remember it was one man, Matthew, it was one little girl, Jairus’ daughter, and it was one woman.

Who might be the ’one’ God will ask you to ‘see’ this week?