Date : Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, January 17, 2010

Text : John 2:1-11

Title : Life is a wedding!

The third Sunday of January, we always mark the sanctity of all human life, from natural conception all the way to natural death. Our tradition, for something like the last six years, is for the Kids 4 Christ to sing the beautiful song, which they just sang, "God Knew Your Name," because it reminds us that life is God’s creation, under God’s care and blessing, all they way from the womb to the grave.

Now, today’s Gospel is the familiar miracle at Cana, the turning of the water into wine. Is there a way for us to see that this is a splendid text for our observance of the sanctity of human life? You bet your baptismal certificate, there is.

When we consider our Lord’s first miracle, we usually ask what was His mother, Mary, doing at this wedding, directing Jesus to provide wine, and we ponder that the wine that the Lord made was of such a splendid vintage. Neither of these concern me, today.

Where I will find our Sanctity of Human Life connection is in the one sentence that I quoted, to begin the sermon: "This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory."

Notice that John, the Gospel writer, didn’t call this a miracle; he called it a sign. And, you know what signs do: they point you to something.

To what was our Lord pointing, in turning water into wine, and doing so as His first miracle? First, all of Jesus’ signs point to His power, which He has because He is God in the flesh. We’ve talked about that, many times, so I’m going to leave it at that.

There is at least one more thing at which our Lord points in this first of His many signs. I had never caught it, before, but I had never looked at this miracle in the context of the sanctity of human life.

I assert to you that our Lord’s making the first of His signs the wedding wine is to teach us about brides and grooms and families. I assert to you that Jesus wants us to see that, at a wedding, and the reception, there is great joy, and unity, and communion with each other, and this is a sign for how life is always supposed to be among all human beings.

Right now, in Haiti, there is chaos, and death, and great mourning. People, all over the globe, are reaching out. Some our troops, including Joey Woodke and Kristi May Moyer, have been sent to work. Millions of Americans, I suppose—perhaps, you—are giving generous sums of money. Indeed, you can give, through the church, to Lutheran World Relief. Either put your donations into the offering plate, marked as such, or go on the Internet. Simply google Lutheran World Relief, and you will find them.

It is wonderful that we are reaching out. That’s what we do, when tragedy strikes. But, what about when there is no tragedy? Haiti is just about the poorest country on earth. They didn’t need human love and compassion, two weeks ago? Indeed, their infant mortality rate is very high, and their life-expectancy is very low. But, no, for neither you nor I were the Haitians of any importance. They don’t live near us. We didn’t see them over there, in the corner of the AmVets hall, while we were busy dancing and drinking at the wedding.

I just read a book about the Holocaust, and also watched a documentary. The documentary is called "Paper Clips." If you subscribe to Netflix, I highly recommend it.

You know that six million Jews were killed, and you might know that another five million others—like, Gypsies, and homosexuals, and the mentally infirm—were also murdered.

To attempt to save their lives, the Jews hid. They hid in attics. They hid under floor boards. They hid behind walls. They hid in the woods. They dug holes and hid in those.

It occurred to me that they had to put themselves into boxes to keep themselves from those who had put them into boxes. The boxes, into which the Nazis had put them were: despised because of their nationality, their "disease," that they were harmful to their idea of productive society.

Seventy years later, we are still horrified about the Holocaust, yet we do the same thing, right here, in the USA. We have put a section of society into boxes. We put certain human beings into boxes so that, like the Nazis, we can do with them as we please, so that our society can be productive; so that our lives not be disrupted.

How legal abortion is not the same as the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally ill—you simply have to be blind, or dead of heart. A baby, in the womb, can’t easily be seen at the wedding reception of life. It’s too easy to think of a mother’s choice, first. It’s too hard to conceive that I, as a parent, could care for a Down Syndrome child, or one who would provide any other significant challenge from the day of his birth.

Besides, if we keep this baby, she will get in the way of all of the wedding receptions we want to go to, and party, and get drunk, and the thought is way too sobering.

We have also put the elderly and infirm into boxes. Literally, we too easily put them into the box that we call the nursing home. We ship them off and, so often, forget about them. Even more, we are creating this box called, "We can’t afford their care, anymore, and, since their lives are no longer useful . . ." And, it is my opinion that our national health care will go down that road, quicker than we can imagine: we can’t afford them.

If we are a nation that, in the last thirty-seven years, can murder almost fifty million unborn children, why would we have any trouble getting over the hump to end the lives of those who are a financial drain on us—personally, and as a country? Worry not, we are good at making boxes, and putting people into them so that we can put them on the shelf and shut the door, so that the rest of us can enjoy the wedding of life.

Even if none of these issues have ever, or will ever touch you, you also put people into boxes so that you can enjoy the wedding of life. These are those of whom I spoke, last week; those from whom you are separated:

These are those whom you don’t want at your wedding reception.

If we were only talking about regular marriage and the receptions that follow, you are free to invite whom you please. But, we are talking about the wedding of life, which has been filled with the good wine of Jesus Christ. And, the reception hall in which you live, dear Christians, is in honor of Jesus Christ, who gave His life as the purchase price for you, so that you could be members of His Bride, the Church.

Put this to the test of your life, today—tomorrow—all week—the rest of your life. Consider that you, as a Christian, live your life smack dab in Jesus’ wedding hall. Indeed, it’s your wedding hall, too, as He has made you a member of His Church, and His Church is His Bride. Everyone, whom Jesus invites to the wedding is important, is a loved one, is holy.

Everyone, whom Jesus puts into your life is important, is a loved one, is holy. Everyone is one for whom Jesus also died, for whom Jesus lives and reigns from heaven with the gifts for which He died, which you enjoy in the wedding of His Church.

You are holy; your life is sanctified. You live under the forgiveness of your sins, proclaimed in His Word. You are continually washed in His baptism, where you were coupled with Him, your faithful Groom. You are invited to eat at His wedding banquet, where He unites His body and blood with the bread and wine, to feed you, His Bride, with His eternal life.

All human life is sacred, for all humans are created in the image of the Creator. And, even more, you, holy Christians, have been recreated in the image of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

You live your lives in the wedding of the Groom, Jesus. So does everyone else, joined to Christ. So can everyone, for Christ died for all.

May God the Holy Spirit open your heart and eyes, that you see everyone as part of the family at the wedding celebration—that you might dance with all, laugh with all, and drink the splendid wine of Jesus’ miracle, with all. Amen.