Rev. Cary M. Richert

5^th Sunday after the Epiphany (C)

SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE SUNDAY

February 4, 2007

To Save Life, or to Destroy Life?

Luke 6:9

          In 1983 the Christian Action Council (now Care Net), with the help of Presbyterian minister, Francis Schaeffer, and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, asked President Ronald Reagan to create a special day to focus on the intrinsic value of human life.  That same year, President Reagan issued a proclamation establishing a National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. ⁽¹⁾  Today in our services we’re observing Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, normally observed the Sunday closest to the January 22, 1973 anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision handed down by the United States Supreme Court, fundamentally legalizing the destruction of unborn children for just about any reason!
          Human life is sacred.  Human life represents the highest creative act of God, for it's the direct result of God Himself breathing the breath of life into the nostrils of the being He formed from the dust of the ground.  No other living being in all of creation is home to God's own breath of life.  No other being's body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Only the human being's body.  Human life is sacred.  From conception to the grave.
          Yet, in the eyes and minds of many in our culture human life is not sacred.  Possessions are sacred.  Money is sacred.  Traditions are sacred.  Laws are sacred.  Self-interest is sacred.  Political agendas are sacred.  But human life?  It can be disposed of in the name of "pain and suffering" . . . "terminal illness" . . . "unwanted pregnancy" . . . "a person's right to choose" . . . "compassionate research."  To many there simply is no sanctity of human life.
          Perhaps the greatest illustration of how sacred life is comes to us by way of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  The apostle John describes it this way:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made -- The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. [John 1:1-3, 14a]
          Jesus, the Son of God, humbled Himself . . . came down from heaven . . . assumed human nature . . . entered into human life!  Being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, as we confess in the Apostles' Creed, Jesus was an embryo, a holy embryo!  He was a fetus, a divine fetus!  Biologically, in His mother Mary's womb, the Son of Man passed through all the same stages of development we passed through as our lives developed in our mother's wombs.  If life in the womb is so insignificant that it can be thrown away, Aaron Koch observes, then our Lord's life in Mary's womb was equally insignificant and our salvation lost. ⁽²⁾          Rev. Koch continues, Jesus took all of our humanity into Himself and embraced our lives from conception to the grave.  In this way He sanctified our humanity.  Because Jesus assumed our flesh and blood, the sacredness of every flesh-and-blood human life has been lifted to the highest level. ⁽³⁾   Yes, human life is sacred, as Jesus Himself demonstrated.
          Today's text takes us to an extremely poignant moment in our Lord's earthly ministry.  It was the Jewish holy day, the Sabbath.  As an observant Jew, Jesus was in the synagogue of one of the Galilean towns.  As usual, wherever He went Pharisees and teachers of the Law followed, the religious elite, the legal watchdogs of Israel, especially in religious matters.  They were the experts.  Always ready to accuse when, in their judgment, someone crossed the line.  Like predators, they had their eyes on Jesus . . . ready to condemn Him, to humiliate Him . . . to accuse Him of law-breaking!
          Isn’t it interesting that their own view of "law-keeping," as revealed in today's text, prohibited them from the "work" of compassion on the Sabbath . . . or, as Jesus puts it in His question to them, the "work" of saving life?  How easy it is to hide behind the law!
          Our own culture allows us to do the same thing today!  A Supreme Court decision in 1973 has allowed people to hide behind the law and destroy life rather than to save it . . . to violate the sanctity of human life in the womb by destroying the lives of over 47 million unborn children. ⁽⁴⁾   Some judicial rulings and expert opinions, notes Rev. Dale Meyer, throw up legal smoke to hide the moral issue of (destroying) children. ⁽⁵⁾
          Many in our nation would like to create another law to hide behind - a law as exists in the Netherlands, that would allow the destruction of life through euthanasia.  Just a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Oregon law that allows for assisted suicide under the cosmetic title, "Death with Dignity Act."  Hiding behind the law, however, won’t be any more successful in the eyes of God than Adam and Eve's attempt to hide their sin from God in the Garden of Eden.
          Jesus' encounter with the Pharisees and teachers of the law demonstrates not only that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, but also that He is the Lord of Life.  As Rev. James Lamb notes:  Everything Jesus did - from His conception to His ascension - He did to the glory of His heavenly Father and for the sake of human life.  Everything Jesus did gives inestimable value to human life.  Everything Jesus did is honored when the life He created and redeemed is honored regardless of condition of health or stage of development. ⁽⁶⁾
          Thanks be to the Triune God of creation, that He elected to save us rather than to destroy us!  He sent His only-begotten Son into the life of our flesh to redeem and save us sinners from the eternal destruction we deserve because of our sin.  He sent Jesus to the cross to shed His holy, innocent blood . . . not to destroy life, but to destroy death for us.  Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting? [1 Corinthians 15:54-55]   He sent Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, so that by faith, we might have life and that we may have life more abundantly, [John 10:10].
          Christ alone is the Lord of Life.  In Him alone is forgiveness of sins, life and salvation for any and all who come to Him in repentance and faith, regardless of what they’ve done - even if they’ve destroyed the life of an unborn child.  The healing our Lord performed on the man's hand in today's text points to the greater healing of our souls He brings about through His own suffering, death and resurrection.  Each life is precious to Jesus.  His healing of the man's hand teaches us that our Lord has come to save life and not to destroy it!
          On Sanctity of Human Life Sunday we remember that we've been given the most powerful and positive "For saving life" message in the universe. The God of all creation is "For saving life" . . . and He's given us His "For saving life" message in His Word of Life.  May we be able ambassadors of the Lord of Life, protecting and preserving life . . . and proclaiming His life-saving message of forgiveness and salvation by God's grace through faith in Christ alone.
          In the life-giving, life-saving name of Jesus, the Lord of Life.  AMEN.

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NOTES

(1)       M. Brown, "How the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday Began," on THE LINE: A Website of Focus on the Family, http://www.boundlessline.org

(2)       A. Koch, "Abortion and Incarnation," in Portals of Prayer, v. 70, no. 394 (January-March 2007), E.C. Forss, ed., Concordia Publishing House.

(3)       A. Koch, "Abortion and Incarnation."

(4)       Information from http://www.LutheransforLife.org

(5)       D. Meyer, "The Meyer Minute for January 22, 2007," © Dale A. Meyer 2006.

(6)       J. Lamb, "Someone Never Changes," (a November 9, 2006 e-mail from  http://www.LutheransforLife.org)