Family Life

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is Family Life, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 2:21-40). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

A bit of Jeopardy to get us started. He was born on February 3, 1907. He was adopted and raised by an Amish mother. He played college basketball and later mastered the art of train hopping. He taught English in high school and college. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War Two and served as a naval historian. He published his first book at age 40, and it won a Pulitzer Prize, which was then turned into a movie. In 1980, he threw out the first pitch in the World Series between the Phillies and the Astros. He married three times, was buried in Austin, Texas, and donated his estate to Swathmore College and his papers to the University of Northern Colorado. Who was this man? James Michener.

I chose to open with James Michener because he wrote long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in geographic locales and incorporated detailed history. Like Michener, Luke wrote about Jesus’ family, which also was set in a particular geographic locale, and covered many generations.

Now, if you have done any genealogy research on your family, I am sure you have discovered some people who brought shame and embarrassment, and others pride and joy. Was there a man who abandoned his wife and children, relocated to another state, remarried and fathered other children? An aunt who gave birth to an out of wedlock child, which no one ever mentioned? Mothers and daughters who have not spoken in decades? Prodigal sons like those depicted in Jesus’ parable? (Lk 15:11-32) If not, keep looking. Hopefully, you have ancestors who are known for leaving the world a better place or are respected for their faith.

In Luke, chapter three, we read the genealogy of Jesus. We find characters in His family as we do in our own. Abraham was a liar; Jacob was a cheater and thief; Judah was slave-trader and philanderer; David was an adulterer and murderer. We also find priests, prophets and kings. Primarily, Jesus’ family is dotted with prophets and priests. The lists compiled by Matthew and Luke do not mention our Lord’s cousin and uncle, John the Baptizer and Zechariah, each a prophet and a priest in his own right.

Luke’s extended infancy account offers us the basic facts of Jesus’ conception and birth, his presentation and youthful teaching in the temple. Jesus appears as a human being with a family enmeshed in Jewish culture.[1] They are poor, simple folk living in small villages with a deliberate connection to biblical Israel. Luke depicts this family of prophets and Israel as a people living according to the spirit and not simply according to the flesh. As he states names, places and dates, keep in mind that everything must be interpreted prophetically through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Each character in the infancy narrative is directed by God’s Spirit. Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear a son. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you.” Gabriel also says to Zechariah that John the Baptist “will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb,” and that he will go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah … to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”

John “grew and became strong in the spirit.” We recognize that John went out into the desert as a prophet and preached the good news. John was so filled with the Spirit that he proclaimed the mighty God could raise up children to Abraham from these very stones.

Even though Simeon and Anna are not part of Jesus’ family, they fill out the prophetic tone of Luke’s opening chapters. Simeon possessed a prophetic spirit. He was righteous and devout as he awaited the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Anna too is a prophet “who spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Israel.”

As you read these early chapters of Luke keep in mind that everything that happens throughout his story traces its origins to the presence and power of God at work among humans. God visits the people for their salvation. These people – the early church – are defined by their response to God’s intervention in their midst. So, the prophet Jesus grew up in the context of prophecy. His extended family that was led by the Holy Spirit shaped Him.

What about your family? If you have researched your ancestors and their origins and movements, have you seen the hand of God directing them, visiting them, speaking to their minds and hearts, guiding them in their vocations? Is there a lesson for me in my grandfather purchasing an 80-acre farm, and that I delight in giving away produce to the pastor and people of Holy Cross Chapel in Hazelwood? Did the Holy Spirit direct the last day of my father’s life so that I vividly remember that he confessed his sins and received absolution, attended church in the morning, and spent the day with my mother, ate dinner with his only surviving brother, returned home, went into his room where he prayed and then died from a sudden heart attack? Was it the will of God that I spend the last year of my mother’s life taking care of her, and praying over her when she drew her last breath? Do I see my family as one simply of the flesh or of the spirit?

How will the Holy Spirit visit your children and grandchildren? How does the Holy Spirit visit us? How does the Holy Spirit see us not only as individuals, but more importantly, as a congregation? As a District? As a worldwide Church Body?

Apart from Church, how does the Holy Spirit see us as a culture, a society, a country? It is true that we pitch in and help our neighbors in need whether they are around the block or across the country. We assist those who have lost their homes because of hurricanes, floods, fires or government ineptitude. We have a heart for the poor. When I worked at Jubilee Kitchen or Berkeley Food and Housing Project, I asked donors to help people standing in line for lunch or sleeping in a women’s shelter with their children. People generously responded.

Several weeks ago, the Synod chose January 19 as Pro-Life Sunday, but I chose to add the flyer to today’s bulletin, and to preach on life today. Now, in case you were not aware, a main reason I chose to join the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod is because of its traditional Biblical stance on marriage and life. Our teaching is correct.

Personally, Cindy and I financially support CHOICES.[2] Last month, we marched in the Annual March for Life in Washington. We also support Lutherans for Life. But there is something greater than money or marching that we can do. Mercy.

As an OB-GYN in training, Dr. John Bruchalski considered abortion to be health care. But that changed when, one night, he was caught between trying to save the life of one unborn baby — and ending the life of another.[3] In his own words, Bruchalski said, “In labor and delivery that night, in one room, the mom wanted the baby so I took a good history and did everything I could to keep the baby inside alive. But in the next room, because the mom didn’t want it, I didn’t take a good history because it wasn’t wanted.”

That baby, he said, survived the attempted abortion. He continued “I broke the water, gave her medicine to deliver her baby. I delivered the baby; it looked a little big. I either could have suffocated it because it was born alive, or I could throw it on the scale.” The baby weighed about a pound, and so he called the neonatal doctor.

The neonatal doctor came into the room and said, ‘Why are you treating my patients like tumors? Come to me tomorrow, have some coffee, because you’re better than this,’”

That moment jumpstarted his conversion. Bruchalski said, “It was the facts of the OB/GYN wanting to have abortion as part of good health care, but then someone stopped me in my tracks and confronted me. That’s that moment when I had to respond.”

Today, Bruchalski bears the “scar of abortion.” But he stressed that “It’s not a wound anymore because of Jesus’ mercy. Jesus’ mercy is the most wonderful medicine.” He stressed that there is hope for those who have been involved in abortion.

He also mentioned something we witnessed on the March for Life. People who are pro-life are pro-love. I love people – we love people – whether they are in the womb, neo-natal units, nursing homes or anywhere in between. If you have met an abortion activist, you have witnessed someone consumed with pain, anger and ugliness. We need to pray for people consumed with pain, anger and ugliness so that the Holy Spirit visits them and releases them of the burden of sin.

To start, download and speak the prayers found in 40 Prayers for Life —from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.[4] You can also provide the name of someone involved in the abortion industry, and we, as a congregation, can pray for that person.

Folks, mercy is always more powerful than anger. We read in Micah 7, that God “does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.” (18) The Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” (145:8-9)  And again, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” (Ps 103:8-10)

Throughout my life as a priest and as a pastor, people have attacked me because I have stood for what is best for the Church. Whether it was opening a house in Oakmont for refugee families or saying “no” to someone who wanted sermon time to push an agenda, people who react with anger and ugliness. We all do at some point. We are all sinners, and I am the chief sinners among you.

At times I get impatient, angry and resentful. I say words I should not and act inappropriately. That is why I need to hear from a pastor-confessor the words of forgiveness after my confession. That is why I must start and finish my day in God’s Word. When I wake up in the morning, I recall the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and then I pray for all of my extended family members and church members. I then turn to Scripture, and often the Word that God places before my eyes and on my heart reminds me to pray for restraint and ask for mercy. On Thursday, I read, “Hasten to this physician while you can, or you may not be able to find him when you need him.”[5] God is merciful and we should be like God.

Friends, it takes a bunch of crazy kooks praying that God’s mercy converts the heart of someone like Dr, Anthony Levatino, another former abortionist who now only promotes life.[6] Dr. Levatino often reminds people that it is important to pray for people who have undergone or supported an abortion or performed them for a lucrative living. The abortion industry is not healthcare, it is a lucrative way to make money. But, when we are merciful to one another, great mercy from God’s people will be the light of the world. Pray, forgive and show mercy not only to people running abortion clinics, but to one another, and when you do, may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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[1] Luke Timothy Johnson, Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church: The Challenge of Luke-Acts to Contemporary Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company(2011), p. 54.

[2] See https://www.pregnancychoice.org/

[3] Katie Yoder, ”Former abortionist recalls moment of pro-life conversion: ‘God’s mercy is here’.” Catholic News Agency, October 23, 2022.

[4] The Lord’s Mercy Endures Forever. https://resources.lcms.org/general/40-prayers-for-life/

[5] A sermon by John the Serene, bishop.

[6] Susan Ciancio, “Dr. Anthony Levatino: Abortionist Turned Pro-Life.” American Life League, March 24, 2024. www. all.org.