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.