January 19, 2020 – Sanctity of Life Sunday Text: Isaiah 49:1-7
Dear Friends in Christ,
It
is hard to hear with fruit stuck in your ears.
“How does Pastor know that? Has
he had fruit stuck in his ears? How did
it get stuck in his ears? Why did he
have fruit near his ears?” All good
questions, but we have all had fruit stuck in our ears. It’s in there, and it’s stuck. And it’s hard to hear with fruit stuck in
your ears.
Humans
have had fruit in there for a long time.
The serpent said to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘you shall not eat of
any tree in the garden?” (Gen. 3:1)
Well, she ate that fruit that God forbid her to and it stopped up her
ears and she couldn’t hear the Lord’s Word anymore. In her disobedience she gave some to her
husband, and his ears got stuffed with fruit.
The serpent got in like an earworm out of an apple and he settled in to
take command. That is why to this very
day, the offspring of Adam and Eve, you and me still ask one another . . .
“DID
GOD REALLY SAY?”
We
see it in the book of Isaiah and our text for this morning. The Israelites had fruit stuck in their
ears. Vines and branches coming out of
their heads. Why else would the prophet
repeat himself for sixty-six chapters?
Fifteen other prophets brought the same message for hundreds of years
but the Israelites loved the fruit stuck in their ears.
The
conversation is not over. How many still
have fruit stuck in their ears? Did God
really say, “called me from the womb?” (v. 1)
Did God really say that He “knitted me together in my mother’s womb?”
(Ps. 139:13) Did God really say that we
are “created…in his own image?” (Gen. 1:27)
He probably meant “we are a clump of cells or a blob of tissue.” He probably meant “my body, my choice, my
medical decision.” He probably meant as
“soon as the baby has a memory and is viable.”
He probably meant, “as long as they planned for the child, as long as
they can afford the child.” Because we
sure do like the fruit of self-expression.
The fruit of comfort and control sure tastes sweet.
Did
God really say, “a light for the nations?”
“I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach
to the end of the earth.” Perhaps He
means “a light for most nations or some of the nations.” Perhaps He means “for the pretty ones and the
productive ones and the powerful ones.”
Perhaps He means “for the politically comfortable and the culturally
acceptable and the emotionally uncontroversial and the publicly approved.” Perhaps He means “a light for those who can
communicate or those who don’t cost us too much or those who can take care of
themselves.” Perhaps He means it
“doesn’t include those terminal or in a vegetative state.” This fruit of vanity and convenience has been
shoved in our ears for years and we accommodate it with our uniformity.
Even
with fruit in our ears, we can hear hearts breaking. Our eyes still see the grief and guilt. Abortion access hasn’t solved any
problems. Instead it has multiplied
suffering. Assisted suicide hasn’t made
pain go away. Embryo engineering has
incarcerated thousands in frozen prisons.
The violence has increased infertility, miscarriages, and breast
cancer. The trauma has raised rates of
depression, chemical dependency, domestic violence, suicide. It’s left dead over 1.5 billion human beings
worldwide. Untold others walk around us
haunted and hurting. Isn’t it time to
take the fruit out, and listen?
The
Lord God almighty has the perfect implement for doing just that – getting the
forbidden fruit out. You see it in Isaiah. He comes as an arrow of sorts – a sword to
take the fruit out. Jesus is God’s
implement to take the bad fruit away and turn up the volume of God’s love.
He
put on embryo and peasant, manger and stable, hamlet and laborer. He means God’s work of creating proclaims
every genetic member of our world special.
He means the least of these and the lowly.
He
humbled Himself for us and died on the cross.
Jesus means replaced, fulfilled, forgiven, beginning to end. Jesus means atoned for, suffered for,
punished for, biggest to littlest. He
means bled for, died for, paid for, best to worst. He means crucified, resurrected, redeemed,
embryo to elderly. He means Lord of
death and life, every circumstance of life under control. He means Savior of not only your soul but
also of your situation.
The
Gospel puts the good fruit where it belongs.
Fruit doesn’t belong in your ears or even bottled in your heart. Truth tastes sweetest when ingested and then
exhaled. Drink deeply and fill your
identity with how God loves and saves his sinful human creatures. Rinse your ears with Baptism’s assurances and
irrigate your very being with Holy Communion’s affirmations. Swallow and savor this comfort.
The
Lord of harvest includes you in the fruit-removal crew. Having heard the Word, you can speak clearly
to others. Jesus Christ has made you
Lutherans For Life. Give voice to this
truth that Jesus creates, redeems, and calls every human being to this
everlasting treasure. You have the
resources of Lutherans For Life and their nationwide network at your disposal
and by your side. What a privilege we
have and what a delight – to partake with God in the fruit that moves the
children of men from deaf to life!
Amen.
