Found about twenty times in the New Testament and first used in Mt. 6:1, the Greek verb “theaomai” meant “contemplate,” “look at,” “see,” “behold,” and “visit.”  Mainly used in Matthew-Acts, but also found in Rom. 15:24; 1 Jn. 1:1; 4:12, 14, this verb “always signifies the act of seeing with the eyes” (Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 2:136), but it “is not a perfect synonym for the other vbs. of seeing” (ibid).  This term describes seeing things like people, processes, activities, Jesus, guests, a reed and a tomb, but it also denotes what is perceived by “unusual perception (e.g., Christ, God, Spirit, glory, resurrection, discipleship” (Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 1:136).