Be Fruitful and Multiply – Or Not!
First Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
As with Noah, God makes an everlasting covenant with Abraham and Sarah. God promises this old couple that they will be the ancestors of nations, though they have no child together. God will miraculously bring forth new life from Sarah’s womb. The name changes emphasize the firmness of God’s promise.
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Be Fruitful and Multiply – or Not!
Grace to you and peace from God our Creator, from our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and from our Sustainer, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
How in the world would she get pregnant? From the book of Genesis and our first lesson this morning we hear a wonderful and surprising story. Abram was almost 100 years old. Sarah was well into her 90’s. “Yet the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’” How did Abram respond to God’s outrageous promise that he will bear a child and that he will have numerous descendants? Abram fell on his face laughing!
What about Sarah? There’s this tit for tat between Sarah and an angel whom she overheard talking to Abram while peaking behind the curtain of the tent. Sarah overheard the angel repeat God’s promise – this outrageous notion that she – well into her nineties – was going to bear a child. This is what she overheard the angel tell Abram: “I will surely return to you in due season and your wife, Sarah, shall bear a son.” “I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
What was Sarah’s response when she overheard this ridiculous idea? Same as Abram. She laughed! Well, the angel heard the laughter, and asked the question, “Why are you laughing? Isn’t anything possible with God?” Well, when Sarah heard that irrefutable declaration she must have been embarrassed for she quickly denied laughing. “I didn’t laugh.” “Yes you did.” “No, I didn’t.” “Yes you did.” “No, I didn’t.” How in the world would she get pregnant? It sounded all too much like a joke in poor taste.
It’s no laughing matter right now for hundreds of thousands of people across the country whose only means of bearing children may be through IVF – in vitro fertilization – the process by which egg and sperm form an embryo outside the women’s body in a laboratory. It’s an unsettling and frightening time in particular for people in Alabama where the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children and that destruction of those embryos, even by accident, is subject to the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
The immediate impact of the ruling included at least three hospitals and clinics stopping all their IVF programs – for fear of prosecution. Many women interviewed expressed grave concerns about their ability to make their own reproductive decisions – for fear of prosecution. Some are considering traveling to other states for IVF services – for fear of prosecution while some companies who specialize in transporting such embryos made it clear that they would not take the risk – for fear of prosecution.
Do you hear a recurring theme here – whether it be from mothers or health care workers or laboratory clinicians or transport experts or administrators? Do you hear a recurring theme amongst them all? Fear! The common denominator from this ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court is fear along with anxiety, dread and worry and it is spreading around the country to so many people in so many different disciplines but especially fear among people who just want to be parents.
That fear is coming from one place that is deeply troubling – the use or more accurately – the misuse of religion and the misuse of the Bible. Fear is spreading because an authority figure – a secular authority figure (not a pastor, not a bishop, not a pope) – one with enormous power in our legal system – that is a judge who wrote the ruling called on the name of God in his ruling and this judge used the Holy Scripture to defend his secular ruling.
Before I go on, let me make it clear what I am not going to do this morning. I’m not going to debate the ruling itself – the ruling that says embryos are children and that destruction of those embryos, even if by accident, is subject to the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. I’m not going to argue for it or against it. I’m not going to offer up a moral argument one way or another. This is a deeply, deeply personal matter that people wrestle with based on their own personal experience or based on their moral or spiritual foundation or based on their faith-based grounding, but we do as a church – a Lutheran Church, the ELCA, offer guidance and support for your own decision-making process.
One of the wonderful things about our church – the Lutheran Church – the ELCA – is that we love to debate these kinds of real life issues that profoundly impact the everyday lives of real people. We love to debate these issues and we are good at it. We involved all kinds of experts from a plethora of disciplines resulting in wonderful resources available for all. I encourage you to search on-line for them if you want a taste of solid, theological, ethical and moral debates about tough issues like this one. Our church tends not to issue edits or judgments. We invite dialogue and debate leading to guidance, support and compassionate care for all those involved in making these kinds of tough decisions.
“Chief Justice Parker wrote, “Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself. “ He goes on to write, “We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness.” Then referring to the state constitution’s definition of life, he wrote, “ It is as if the People of Alabama took what was spoken of the prophet Jeremiah and applied it to every unborn person in this state: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, Before you were born I sanctified you.’ Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV 1982)”.
Let’s take close, brief look at his words. For example, we – the church – teach that it is wrong to take human life. Thou shalt not kill. We – the church – teach that each human being is made in the image of God. How many times have you heard me say that very thing? We – the church – teach that Scripture reminds us that God knows us and love us from the very beginning of our creation. Yes! That sounds just about right except for the fact that this ruling imposes a specific religious perspective on everyone –everyone including religious minorities like Hindus and Buddhists and the non-religious like atheists and agnostics and Christians who have a different belief systems. The CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rachel Laser said the ruling “undermines true religious freedom.”
However, for certain Christians in particular this ruling sends a not-so-subtle and frightening message. If you don’t follow certain directions – if you don’t live a certain way – if you don’t follow my ruling – you will incur the wrath of God. An angry God will come after you. A vengeful God will get you if you don’t follow my ruling, and therein lies the evil about his ruling. By calling on an angry God the judge seems to be trying to scare people to get what he wants them to do. It seems that the legal system is being used to evoke a frightening belief system to control people and in particular to control women and even more specifically to control women’s bodies.
In that first book of the Bible – Genesis – it all began with a promise God made to Sarah and Abraham: “As for me, this is my covenant, my promise to you: You shall be the ancestors of a multitude of nations…I will make you exceedingly fruitful.”
These are not the words of an angry God, but rather a God filled with joy and hope and promise. These are not the words of a vengeful God who will go after you and punish you depending on the choices you make. These are not the words of an offended God, but rather these words are from a God who – in the words of today’s gospel – “must for our sake undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, ad be killed and after three days rise again.” In so doing God keeps God’s everlasting covenant to you and me – the promise that through the death and resurrection of Jesus himself we have the gift of a new beginning every day. We have the gift of forgiveness every day. We have the give of life eternal forever more.
Today so many just want, desire, hope for one simple thing – to be fruitful and multiply! It’s that simple but it seems that a judge in our legal system blurs the line between a legal opinion and his own religious beliefs in such a way that seeks to control. If it weren’t so painful – as it is to so many, if it weren’t so frightening – as it is to so many, if it weren’t so controlling – as it is to so many, we, like Abram might fall on our facing laughing or we like Sarah, might chuckle behind that curtain with the angel. “You laughed.” “No, I didn’t.” “Yes you did.” “No, I didn’t.” “Yes, you did.” Amen.
Sources:
- USA Today February 20, 2024
- The Christian News February 22, 2024