Isaiah 49:1-7“From the Womb”
Today we really have two threads to weave together. On the one hand, it is the season of Epiphany. The readings for the Epiphany season draw us to consider the identity of Jesus as he is revealed to the nations. He is the Son of God, as declared at his Baptism. He is the Bridegroom manifested at the wedding of Cana. He is the Lamb of God declared by John the Baptist. He is the one born to be King – worshiped by the wise men. And of course there is much more we could say about him, who he is, and what he does.
The other thread today is our annual Life Sunday emphasis. As a traditional congregation, we are not too keen on overshadowing the church calendar with various special interest Sundays – in fact, we could easily lose the historic church year if we emphasized every pet ministry and cause – all of which may be good things to support in and of themselves. But each in its place.
We make one clear exception to that with the emphasis on life. I’d have to go back and look but I suspect from very early on, Messiah has observed a “Life Sunday” emphasis in January. Many churches do. It roughly coincides with the historic and tragic court case Roe v. Wade, the sad anniversary marked on January 22nd, 1973 – now 47 years ago. That turning point in our nation’s history wasn’t the beginning of abortion, but it put an institutional stamp of approval on the killing of the unborn, an injustice which Christians and many other people of conscience have been protesting and fighting ever since. We shy away from politics in the pulpit, and for good reason, but here is something far bigger than politics – a moral issue of life and death for the most helpless of little ones. And so let it be said with boldness that this church, that all faithful Christian churches must agree with Holy Scripture that life is precious, that we are created in God’s image, and that all human life has value and should be protected, especially the weakest and most defenseless.
But since this subject is also a sensitive one for many, may we never speak our condemnations of this sin without also a bold proclamation of Gospel – that Jesus Christ died even for the sin of abortion. If the blood of Christ is good for anything, it is to cover sin. And so if this sin has touched your life in any way, if you bear that guilt and dread this Sunday every year, please, please hear it well from this pulpit – Your sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ. God remembers them no more. You are absolved, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now, the task of tying these two threads together, and for that we turn to Isaiah. This is one of those chapters from Isaiah that sets forth the “Servant of the Lord”. And while in some ways this speech refers to the people of Israel as God’s servant, and perhaps in other ways to the prophet himself who is writing and speaking – the Servant of the Lord is always, most properly speaking, Jesus Christ himself. Later on Isaiah gives some of the clearest messianic prophecy when he speaks of the Suffering Servant – stricken, smitten and afflicted, the man of sorrows.
Just look at how this Servant of the Lord passage foretells of Jesus: The Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One. The one before whom princes bow. The one to whom the coastlands listen, and a light to the nations. A sharp sword and polished arrow. The one in whom God is glorified. And here’s our connection to Life Sunday – the one who was formed in the womb by God, called from the womb, named from the womb, and already in the womb made to be God’s servant.
The Christmas readings from the Holy Gospels confirm all of this. Jesus is no ordinary child – he is born of a virgin. Conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is named, by God, already from the womb. He is appointed as the one to “save his people from their sins”, already, in the womb. John recognizes Jesus while he himself is also in the womb – the baby Baptist leaped for joy. And so the angels sang at his birth, the shepherds wondered, the wise men worshiped, and Herod raged.
If Christmas celebrates Jesus’ birth, then through Isaiah we can even take a step before that to mark and learn that Jesus was conceived in a human womb as the first step in his work of redemption. And this, perhaps more than anything, teaches us when human life begins.
It's true, Scripture doesn’t ever say so clearly, “thou shalt not permit abortion” any more than Scripture says, “thou shalt not fly planes into buildings”. And even if it did, that wouldn’t stop people who also transgress the commands of Scripture that ARE crystal clear.
However, the fact that Jesus was incarnate, made flesh, and not just as an adult or even a child, but even as an unborn child, even from conception – this teaches us. It shows us who he came to redeem. For his entire incarnation is an act of substitution – a fulfilling of righteousness on our behalf. He runs his human course from start to finish in order to redeem our lives from start to finish – and so his life began where our life begins, even in the womb.
If, as Isaiah says, God appointed Christ from the womb for the task set before him, then surely God knew us also, even from the beginning. Jeremiah also confesses that God knew him from before his birth. David mentions that he, himself, was conceived in sin. So it’s not just Jesus whose earthly life begins in the womb. Life begins, for all of us, at conception, and the fifth commandment therefore applies to all of us, from conception. Life is a gift from God – to be given and taken only by him.
Now of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. We live in a chaotic soup of sin and death that offers no hiding place from corruption. We are quick to point fingers at the slop on the walls and the mud on other sinners, but our hands are just as filthy. We have not respected and upheld, protected and cherished the gift of life.
We need redemption just like Israel of old. We need to be gathered back to God. We need the salvation of the Savior. We need life, not death. And that is just what Jesus brings.
Any Christian Life Sunday or Life emphasis is nothing without the Life of the World, Jesus. He who gave his life as a ransom for many. He who is the resurrection and the life. He came that we may have life, and have it abundantly. Inasmuch as we preach Jesus Christ every Sunday, every Sunday is Life Sunday because every Sunday is Jesus Sunday.
And while this life we live, and this world in which we live it, is corrupted by sin, Jesus has come to make all things new. While this body of flesh is dying, infected with the terminal corruption of sin, yes even from the womb… yet awaits for us in Christ a life that death cannot touch. Death has no hold on Jesus, and so neither will the grave keep us forever. Whoever lives and believes in him, even though he dies, yet shall he live. And he who lives and believes in Christ will never (truly) die.
But the hope of a future life doesn’t mean that this temporal life doesn’t matter. In fact, it matters all the more. For this life, also, we have been redeemed. Now, already, we are heirs of eternity. And we, like God, will that all would be saved and come to knowledge of the truth. That disciples would be made of all nations. That the ranks of the church would grow and expand by the power of the Spirit through the proclamation of the Gospel.
Life, this precious gift from God, matters. It matters even as corrupted as it is. It is in this earthly life that we are baptized, redeemed, and the good work is begun in us that is brought to completion at the last day.
And so we protect and defend life, we honor and cherish life, – even from the womb – even as we proclaim the new life in Christ – even to the tomb. We let the little children come to Jesus, we share the Gospel with young and old. We remain, ourselves, rooted in Christ, and in his word, even until we finally close our eyes. For we know where life is found. We know who made us, and who has redeemed us. The Servant of the Lord, the Word made flesh, the one who died and lives and will die no more, whose word is life. Even Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
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