PASTOR'S MESSAGE

 

Proclaim the Word of Life

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 

             A Fifth-grade teacher once conducted a writing experiment with her class.  She gave them the first half of some common proverbial sayings, and she asked the students to complete them.  For instance, the teacher said:  “It’s always darkest before…”  And the student responded:  “…daylight savings time.”  “Strike while the…”  “…bug is close.”  And my personal favorite.  “Children should be seen and not…”  “…spanked or grounded.”

            That little experiment reminds us of the importance of good communication.  When you want to get your message across, you have to use the right words.  And yet, like those young children, we often orchestrate the message so that it comes out to our best benefit.  In other words, the basic instinct of the sinful human nature is to selfishly put ourselves first.  And we see that particularly on this Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. 

            For example, ever since the 1973 Supreme Court Decision to legalize abortion, more than 45 million little babies have been murdered in this country alone.  And a recent survey indicates that these abortions are performed mainly for social reasons like:  “We’re not ready for a child.  We can’t afford it.  I don’t want to mess up my career.”  Less than ½ of 1% are for rape or incest.  Which means that these abortions are being selfishly done for the supposed convenience of the mother.  That works out to about 3,600 babies a day, or one every 24 seconds.  To top it all off, it is estimated that 400,000 people each year succumb to involuntary euthanasia worldwide.  These are the sick the insane, the elderly, the so-called unproductive of our society who are being put to death against their will, in an alleged ‘act of mercy.’  Not to mention all those who are voluntarily involved in assisted killings or euthanasia.  That blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life clearly demonstrates the selfishness of the human nature at its lowest depths.

            A case in point is our text for today from the Book of Jonah.  At the time of our text, the people of Nineveh, the Assyrians were the dominant world power.  And according to scripture they were very evil, and their wickedness was great.  Now, specifically what their evil deeds were, we do not know.  But the Hebrew word for evil indicates:  ‘that which is injurious or harmful to your neighbor.’  Certainly that is an appropriate description of our own day and age as well.   The evils we are fighting against in the battle for the sanctity of human life, are evils that seek to hurt and harm our neighbor, especially those who are defenseless’ like the unborn and the elderly.  Clearly that evil comes straight from the pit of hell and leads straight to the pit of hell.

            Well, such was the situation in Nineveh also.  And that’s why God called the prophet Jonah to speak out against their sin, in order to turn them to repentance, lest they perish.  You see, God knows better than anyone the importance of good communication.  And that’s why He sent Jonah as His personal messenger to proclaim to the people a word of life.  God orchestrated the message not for His best benefit but for theirs.  Of course, we know from scripture that Jonah wasn’t too thrilled about that idea.  After all, the Assyrians were the enemy.  He not only feared them, he despised them.  He, too, was filled with the selfishness of the human nature.  And for that reason, he selfishly ran the other way. 

            My friends, I believe our response is often quite similar to that, when God calls us to witness for the sanctity of human life.  Sometimes we view the pro-choicer’s as the enemy, whom we despise.  At other times, like Jonah we fearfully run away and bury our head in the sand and not see what’s going.  After all, it’s a monumental task and no one seems to be listening to us anyway.  But keep in mind that Jonah’s task was monumental also.  Our text tells us that the metropolitan Nineveh area was so large that it took 3 day to get across it.  History records that the city itself was 8 miles in diameter.  And Jonah had to go on foot throughout this huge metropolis, preaching God’s message of truth.  I’m sure he thought that the pagan Assyrians wouldn’t even listen to him, an Israelite.  Nevertheless, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the people did listen and turned from their evil ways.

            And so it is for you and me.  God calls us to proclaim His Word of Life, just as He did the prophet Jonah.  It’s not our job to make sure that the people listen.  That’s the Holy Spirit’s job.  Our job is simply to proclaim the message.  We don’t have an option.  Yet, too often we don’t do that.  Either out of a fear that people will think we’re too radical, or out of a lack of understanding of what God’s Word says about the issue, we keep silent about the sanctity of life.  Like the bystanders gathered around Jesus’ cross, we open not our mouths.  And as a result, our sinful silence crucifies the Lord Jesus anew.

            Thankfully, though, God did not keep silent.  When He wanted to communicate His most important message of all – the message of freedom from sin and eternal life in heaven – He sent His own Son in the flesh to be our personal messenger.   And at Jesus’ death on the cross, God spoke His most loving word ever – a word of forgiveness and salvation for all mankind.  It happened when Jesus said:  “IT IS FINISHED!”  That was the Word that declared our redemption is complete; that was the word that put evil in its place.  Evil did not triumph.  Instead, God’s love and mercy triumphed over evil, because Jesus conquered sin, death and hell for us! 

            Mark Twain once quipped, “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die to get there.”  How true that is!  How often do we find ourselves saying, “I hope that when I die, I die quickly.”  One of the fears of dying is that we might experience a long, painful death.  There is a rabbinic adage that says it is impossible to look long into the sun or into death.  For death is one of man’s greatest nemeses and enemies.  But Jesus conquered death by dying for us on the cross, and in so doing He has brought us life – eternal life in His heavenly kingdom.  And that’s why we should cherish life and try to protect it. 

            Dear friends, like Jonah we need to urge the world around us to repent of their evil deeds.  Those who don’t believe in the Sanctity of Life are not the enemy; they are victims too.  Like Jonah reaching out to the Ninevites, we need reach out to the lost world around us, and preach to them God’s Law and Gospel, so that they can be released from their sin.  Our text says that:  “WHEN GOD SAW WHAT THE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH DID AND HOW THEY TURNED FROM THEIR EVIL WAYS, HE HAD COMPASSION AND DID NOT BRING UPON THEM THE DESTRUCTION HE HAD THREATENED.”  Yes, God is a God of compassion upon all those who have sinned, even on those who have committed sins against life, even on those who have had abortions or been involved in euthanasia.  For He compassionately forgives and forgets all our sins, for Jesus’ sake.    In fact, in Hebrew the word compassion  literally means: ‘to comfort or console,’ like speaking tender words of hope and peace to someone who is grieving.  Well, that’s what God’s compassion offers us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the comfort that comes from knowing all our sins have been swept away in the cleansing tide of Jesus’ blood; the peace that comes from know that the burden of our guilt has been lifted off our shoulders and removed for good; and the sure and certain hope that comes from knowing that we will spend eternity with Him in our heavenly Home.  That is the Word of Life that Jesus not only came to proclaim to us; it’s the Word of Life He accomplished for us by His death on the cross!

            In closing I’d like to share with you a true story, that was printed in a brochure published by Lutherans for Life.  This is what it says:  “‘I forgive you all you sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’  Those were words that, several months ago, I did not believe were meant for me.  I was convinced God could not forgive me my sin of abortion.  Now, through those very words, I have found peace – with God and with myself.  I turned to the God that I have always known.  I asked for strength to finally let my secret out.  Obviously, I was not keeping the secret from God, but I felt the need to share it with someone who could share God’s forgiving nature with me.  Sharing my secret with another human being, who shared God’s redeeming love for me was like opening a door.  This door let the skeleton out of the closet for me.  In this case, my skeleton was that of a ten-week old fetus, a child of God whom I did not allow to live.  His skeleton had been in that closet for ten years.  I was denying his being there so that I could deny my sin.  I could not accept God’s forgiveness because I could not accept myself or my sin.  Allowing myself to feel all of the emotions that I had been hiding all those years – the pain and grief – allowed me to come out and bow down at Jesus’ feet and say:  ‘I’m sorry.’  Only then did I feel Jesus’ hands reach out, pick me up, and hear Him say to me:  ‘You are forgiven!’  The enormous relief that I felt at the moment of that realization is beyond words, indeed, beyond all human reasoning.  But I am free!  Free from Satan’s bonds and chains that have been dragging me down for ten years.  Jesus is my Savior!  I am truly reconciled with God through Jesus Christ.  I lost a child.  My heart aches for that child, but I cannot bring him back.  Perhaps one day I shall meet that child – the one I never allowed myself to know.  I cannot change the past, but through the Holy Spirit God has allowed me to face the future with my head held high, for He loves me!”

My friends, that is the Word of Life God wants us to proclaim to our world – that Jesus Christ died for all, and His blood is powerful enough to conquer and cover any and all sins, that His compassion has turned aside our destruction.  That is the real message of this Life Sunday – that He gave His life, so that we might have eternal life.  May God endow us with the courage and conviction necessary, so that like Jonah, we can proclaim His message to others, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

                  

           

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