Forest for the Trees: Sermon Luke 13:10-17

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

The Church is in trouble. I do not mean just our church, but the entire Christian community. The United Methodist Church as well as many other mainline Protestant Churches has steadily declined in membership over the last 30 years. The United Methodist Church which once the most populous and active denominations in America, having 11 million strong have declined to just under 8 million. The problem is not just on the books, but in the churches themselves. A church might have 300 members, but only 80 or 90 attending on any given Sunday and of those 80 or 90 maybe 20% are active in ministries outside Sunday morning worship. If you were to ask Americans whether or not they believe in God around 90% would say yes and yet only 25% of Americans attend church regularly.

Why is this the case? Why do people stay at home on Sunday mornings rather than fill our pews? Some just don’t want to get up; some would rather watch TV or go to late brunch. Some others spend the day working on things that they did not get done earlier in the week. The Sabbath day has lost its meaning in America. However, there are other reasons why people do not attend church. Some have been hurt by someone in the church. Maybe it was a priest or pastor; perhaps it was a Sunday school teacher or just another member. Others do not like what they call “organized religion”. They do not feel that they need to come to Church to experience God. I have asked many people “what do think about church?” I have gotten answers like, “I was made to go to Church when I was a kid and so now that I am grown I don’t want to go.” “I am spiritual, but not religious.” Some see hypocrisy in the Church. They see pastors and preacher railing against all kinds of sin on Sunday morning and then committing those same sins later in the week.

How do we reach out to those who have left the Church or to those who do not trust the Church? One thing that we cannot do is to miss the forest for the trees. That is we cannot get so wrapped up in the everyday business of the Church that we forget to do the job of the Church. What is the job of the Church? To make disciples of Jesus Christ. All of us lose our focus from time to time. All of us have lost sight of our main goal as the Church. Now is the time to regain our focus and to renew ourselves as the pillar and cornerstone of our respective communities.

The folks in our story lost focus of the big picture. It was the Sabbath day, in the Jewish tradition held from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night. Where was Jesus? He was where he always spent Sabbath, at the Synagogue. He has going along teaching and preaching God’s word, when he noticed something or someone. A woman had entered the synagogue. It was not the fact she was a woman that struck Jesus, but the fact that she was hunched over almost at 90°.

She had been that way for 18 years, can you imagine? She was always late for service because it took her a long time to walk from home and she had no one there to help her. For 18 years she came and went, unnoticed by the other men in the synagogue. This day was different. Jesus came to her said “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” And he laid his hands on her and she was healed. The Bible says she had an evil spirit. Perhaps Luke was being literal or perhaps he meant a disease that crippled like and evil spirit, either way Jesus saw her and stopped what he was doing, right in the middle of the lesson and healed her. This was unique in two ways. One Jesus spoke to the woman, remember that women where considered second class citizens and no leader would dare talk to a woman. Second, Jesus healed on the Sabbath; both of these things were considered taboo.

The leader of the synagogue was indignant. He said “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.” Here is a guy that can’t see the forest for the trees. The law was specific, there were certain things one could do and one could not do on the Sabbath. One could only carry a small amount or it was considered work. One could not cook or plow. It was a day of rest and it was a day that the Jewish people of the time held very sacred. Now the rest of the time was a different story, but the Sabbath was held to strict standards. This leader was so busy trying to obey God’s rules that he failed to see, for 18 years he failed to see, a woman in need of God.

Do we fail to see those who need the Church because we are too busy worrying about business of the Church? Can we not see the forest for the trees? The perception of Christian Church in America has changed in the last 20 years. Most of the Church is perceived to be the Religious Right or the Moral Majority. These are the men and women who see on the preaching channels. There the ones who get involved in Washington politics. Those people have narrowed the focus of the Church into two moral issues of today, homosexuality and abortion. Those are the two that everyone focuses on. You want to get folks riled up, start talking about homosexuality and abortion. We forget about everything else that God would have us do. Last election year we voted on an amendment to our state constitution that confirms that marriage is between one man and one woman. I saw one church sign afterwards that read “Congratulations! We have saved marriage.” Now I am not going to argue one side or the other that is not my point this morning. However think of this. The divorce rate in this country is about 50%. What that means is that 7.5 out of a 1,000 get married every year and about 3.6 out of 1,000 get divorce. I am not up here to preach against divorce, but if we are going to claim to be for the sanctity of marriage should we be as outraged about this statistic as some of us are about same sex unions. If we are going to save the sanctity of marriage we should begin by fixing this problem.

Also, abortion is a problem in this country. There are anywhere from 800,000 to over 1 million abortions performed in this country every year. That is 800,000 too many. We fight and scratch to make the procedure illegal. However, the real solution is to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. That is getting at the heart of the problem. That is a solution that does not demonize people, but lifts people, it educates people, and it helps to stop the problem from its very source.

The Church has to look beyond these two moral issues and once again be on the front lines for social justice. The biggest moral issue in our nation, in our world is poverty. Billions of people live on just a few cents a day. We should work as hard to eliminate poverty as we do on those two issues. If we narrow our focus we fail to see those in need who are right in front of our faces. The leader of the synagogue was so worried about keeping the Sabbath that he failed to meet the immediate need of one of God’s children right in front of him. Jesus did not fail to see. He heals the woman and after 18 years she stands upright and breathes a pain-free breath.

What does she do then? She begins to praise God unlike never before. Jesus reached out to her need and the woman’s reaction was praise and worship. This is what the Church should be doing, reaching out to those who are hurting. Do not condemn the gay person reaching out for help, but lift them up as a child of God. Do not condemn the pregnant teenager, but demonstrate God’s love to a worried soul. Do not ignore the poor among us in our very communities, but reach out with love. We are doing to do this and I want us to continue to do this. Ask someone, why don’t you come to church? They might say, “I was hurt long ago and the Church did nothing to help.” You can say “Come there is a home for you now.” They might say “I left the church because I felt too guilty.” You can say “Come, there is forgiveness and grace available to all.” When we do this an amazing thing will happen. Those who receive God’s healing, God’s forgiveness, God’s love will begin to rejoice in ways that we have not seen in many years.

We need to renew our commitment to reach out to all those who are in need. This is Jesus great commission. Go out into the world and make disciples of all the nations. The greatest need that people have in their lives is God’s love and a relationship with him. An absence of a relationship with God leaves people feeling empty, bitter, and crippled maybe not in the same way that the woman in our story was, but spiritually disabled. We know that God still loves them, God knows that he still loves them, but how will they know it if we don’t tell them? Don’t let anything stand in your way. Whether it is a Sunday or a Wednesday afternoon, sometimes all it takes is a word or a touch to heal someone who is hurting. Won’t you be they one to reaches out?

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.