By Editor Bob Terry
A barn is an important part of every farm. It is a storehouse, a shelter, a work area. But a barn is not the prime focus of a farm. The focus is the crop — plant or animal. The success of any farm is tied to the crop, not the barn.
The focus of the Church is people, not buildings or structures. Jesus made that point in Matthew 9:38 when He called for laborers to go into the harvest field.
The setting for the statement is important. Jesus had been preaching in the synagogues of the towns and villages in Galilee according to Matthew 9:35.
Interestingly some critics used that statement as an attack on the veracity of the Bible because synagogues had only been found in big cities. But in mid-August came the announcement of the discovery of a first century synagogue near Mount Tabor — Tel Rekhesh. It is the first synagogue found in a rural area.
Moved with compassion
The Times of Israel wrote, “The find could lend weight to the New Testament narrative that Jesus visited villages in the area to preach.”
Jesus was moved with compassion by the plight of the people He met. The King James Version of the Bible describes the people with the words “fainted” and “scattered.” The New International Version uses the words “harassed” and “helpless.”
The Greek gives further understanding. The first word means “plundered;” the second, “exhausted by wounds.” The description is of a people oppressed, spiritually exhausted, destitute and neglected.
Jesus’ response was to meet the people where they were. He preached the good news of the Kingdom and He dealt with their physical needs by healing “every disease and sickness” (v. 35).
Many forms
Through all of the Gospels, our Lord’s compassion is expressed in many forms. He preaches. He teaches. He heals. He counsels. He raises the dead.
The words Jesus read from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth were lived out in His brief years that followed.
Compassion seeks action to alleviate need. If one can turn away uncaringly or unchanged by the encounter then it is only sympathy or pity. Jesus taught that lesson again beginning in Luke 9:12 when He told the disciples to feed the hungry 5,000 with what they had available.
In Matthew 9, Jesus challenges the disciples to compassion as they are sent into the fields for harvest. Today, He calls for a similar response from His followers.
Answering the call
Unfortunately today’s response to that call is sometimes different.
Many churches emphasize the barn. They stress the resources or beauty of their facilities. They highlight their programs. Occasionally, they promote what they do for members. In short, churches practice attractional evangelism. People are invited to come to the church but the Church often does not go into the harvest fields.
To be sure, the “barn” is important. Following Christ is not like checking a box that one believes in Jesus. Believing in Jesus means making Christ the organizing experience of one’s life, becoming a lifelong follower of Jesus.
That means the Church — with its buildings, its programs, its fellowship — is important. It is impossible to be a mature Christian disciple outside the nurture and care of a church. But emphasizing the “barn” will not make a church successful.
Others offer a truncated response. They stress one part of ministry but not the balanced, holistic approach demonstrated by Jesus.
As Baptists we are strong on preaching and teaching. For the last century we have not been as strong on demonstrating compassion by meeting physical needs. Other Christian groups have been at the forefront of addressing felt needs of people but have sometimes stopped short of presenting a clear gospel message that salvation only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
Here Jesus calls for compassion that incorporates both the humanity of people as well as their spiritual needs. After all, in Jewish thought the body and spirit are united in one whole. It was the Greeks who separated the physical from the spiritual.
Relevant evangelism
One observer described secular society today as a group that “finds truth to be subjective, is ruled by feeling and inclination, comes from dysfunctional families, has experienced much personal pain, is drifting on a sea of malaise” and loves themselves supremely.
Such people sound just as lost and confused as the people whom Jesus met in Matthew 9.
These kinds of people, the observer writes, do not typically respond to the gospel when it is presented as an experience of the mind — one theological point built on top of another theological point. He calls for evangelism that begins with meeting physical needs of people in relevant ways.
Only then, he argues, will secular individuals invite Christians into their social world. That opens the opportunity for dialogue and discussion of faith issues.
Similarly he urges Christians to use their normal social structures to build witnessing relationships. That can be as simple as a blessing over a shared meal that could lead to deeper discussions. The point is to take the gospel witness into all the areas a believer regularly touches — a witness expressed in words and deeds.
Going into the harvest
It sounds simple enough. Christians who have been filled by the love of God through Jesus Christ share the love of God in word and deed as they live each day. Christians become the compassion-filled workers going into the harvest.
We are not to focus on what happens in the barn. We are destined for the fields that urgently need to be harvested.
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