Where are the Cries for the Children Slain?
Matthew 2:16-18
This message was preached by Pastor Chris on Sanctity of Life Sunday, January 17, 2010.
Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday, a day set aside each year to uphold the value of human life, particularly the lives of the unborn. As I worked on this message my mind constantly returned to the tragedy taking place in Haiti. As we speak of the sanctity of life let us pray for the countless lives lost, at risk, and displaced in Haiti.
I have been positively glued to the news coming out of this. The devastation is overwhelming and the stories are numbing. I read of a two year old boy trapped in the rubble of his house. For 68 hours his parents listened to his cries weaken, unable to reach him because of the debris. By the mercies of God, a rescue crew was finally able to dig through the rubble and reunite the boy with his parents.
In another story an eleven year old girl was trapped, her leg pinned. It took two days to free her but hours after she was rescued she died from her injuries.
Story after story after story. Our hearts must be stirred. We have not had to live through this tragedy but we cannot ignore it. We are simply not Christian if we do not feel the compassion of our Lord for these people. Pray fervently, faithfully, regularly for them. Contribute to relief organizations. A list of charities can be found on the church website. Pray for us as even now we have begun talking about the possibility of a trip to Haiti in a few months to help with cleanup and rebuilding. On Sanctity of Life Sunday we declare that all human life is sacred, from the newly conceived child in the womb to the old man in his hospital bed to the young person dying of thirst in the ruins of Haiti.
In Romans 8:22 Paul writes that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. Part of this groaning is the natural result of living in a fallen world, a world in which earthquakes and tornados and hurricanes are regular realities. But part of the groaning comes from human sin.
In our journey through Ephesians we have reached Ephesians 5:15-17. This will be our passage when we gather next week but I do want to look at it today as we consider issues of life. Paul writes, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Human beings have been placed on this earth to glorify God. We lift him up and magnify the work of his hand. The highest expression of God’s creative work is humanity itself. We were the last part of creation to be finished and it is to us that God has given the rest. What’s more, we are bearers of his image, carrying within ourselves the imago Dei, the image of God which makes every human life sacred.
Satan knows this about us. Satan knows we are God’s treasured possession, the apex of creation. It is no surprise, then, that when Satan entered the garden he did not approach donkeys or apes or dolphins, he approached humans. Human beings were the goal of creation so human beings were – and continue to be – Satan’s focus. He wants to destroy what God has made sacred.
Unfortunately, Satan has found in humanity many willing accomplices, men and women who buy into his lie of autonomous power, believing they can be their own gods, masters of their own destiny. They follow Satan in his assault against humanity.
So we live in a world not just of earthquakes and tornados but of wars and torture and murder and thievery, men and women seeking to increase their position by tearing others down. Such people are not the exception. It is the natural state of every single human being. You and I reflect this tendency, battling daily the same selfishness that drives people to commit horrific acts.
As Paul said, we live in evil days. Nowhere, I think, is this evil seen any clearer than in the practice of abortion. Through abortion we see our tremendous ability at self-deception, our life-consuming selfishness, and the blood-thirsty greed of men who will trade life for profit.
I fear that in our day we are losing the debate over abortion. People have wearied of the fight and do not champion life. Young people increasingly believe abortion to be a lower priority issue. Too often those who do talk about abortion simply use it as a political wedge, making it a dividing line between parties rather than a cause of crucial concern. But we cannot sweep this issue under the carpet, diminish its importance, or use it as political ammunition. Returning again to Paul’s words, the days are evil. We must make the most of the time. Too many have cast off the issue of abortion. We must not.
There is a scene of terror found in Matthew 2:16-18. Herod, ruler of the people, was worried about a potential threat to his reign. To eliminate that threat he ordered that all boys in the region around Bethlehem under the age of three be killed. Matthew 2:18 gives the response of the people: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted because they are no more.
My question for us this morning is, where are the cries for the children slain? Matthew says Rachel refused to be comforted. What have we allowed to comfort us so that abortion is no longer a cause for weeping? The atrocity of slavery was ended because people would not rest, would not be comforted but continued rallying for the freedom of all. The same took place to end institutionalized racial discrimination. It was only brought to an end by people who knew the value of life, people who would not cease their efforts until we stopped just saying all men are equal and started treating everyone as equal.
One of the challenges in fighting abortion is that it is so easy to hide the problem. No slaves in the field, no segregated schools, just a sterile clinic and a box labelled “medical waste” containing the bodies of the dead.
Where are the cries for the children slain? Where are the champions of justice? Where is our horror over the brutality of abortion? Perhaps when enough people are horrified, abortion will end.
Let me share with you a mental image I have when I think of abortion. It is disturbing but necessary. We must expose the sin that is being kept in darkness. Here is the reality of abortion.
Imagine the unborn child. All he has ever known is the womb of his mother. As the days and weeks pass his body develops, cells forming and growing together to become organs and tissue, blood and heart and mind and arms and legs and fingers and toes and eyes and nose and mouth. His ability to think is limited, but he knows the comforts of warmth and food while in the womb. No one has ever held him, no one has ever kissed him, no one has ever looked in his eyes and whispered, “I love you.” But still he experiences the love of God as he grows in the womb, the place God has given him.
But one day his experience changes. There is an intrusion into his world. Something cold and hard and sharp penetrates and grasps him, puncturing his head and ripping apart his body. This child will never be held, never be cuddled, never know laughter, never know a mother’s comfort when he is scared. All he will know is that his once peaceful existence ends in agony and pain and terror and he is utterly incapable of knowing why. This is abortion.
To back away from the horror a bit, we hold on to this belief: that children who die go to be with the Lord. Although I believe that even unborn children share in humanity’s sin, having received the original sin from Adam, I also believe that passages such as Deuteronomy 1:39 at least indicate that children, those who have no knowledge of good and evil, though guilty of sin, are not made to account for their sin. Let this fact not lessen the horror of abortion but let it cause us to further rejoice in the mercy of God that though man has done a tremendous evil, the child, now dead, receives his first embrace from the arms of God.
So far we have focused on abortion but there are other ways that the unborn are cast aside. Research into cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and even in vitro fertilization all involve methods and procedures that eventually result in the destruction of human life. Each of them, particularly in vitro, involve their own ethical dilemmas that make them complicated issues, but that does not change the reality of what they cause.
When does a human become a human? If not at the moment of conception, then when? Many who support the right to an abortion nonetheless oppose so-called late-term abortions, abortions occurring after the 27th week of pregnancy. Why this point? Why not earlier? Is it because the image in the sonogram is now more recognizably human, making it more difficult to conceal that what we are doing is ending human life? But some do advocate late-term abortion. Some have gone so far as to argue that it should be legal to kill infants even within a few months after birth.
Who is the person wise enough to decide when a life becomes a human life? Many would answer, “The mother! I defend the woman’s right to choose!” Here we see the human determination to hold on to personal autonomy. I am the arbiter of right and wrong! The mother decides when what she carries is a life worthy of birth! Such a tremendous lie and yet so many have fallen for it.
Psalm 139:13-16 is the classic text to end the debate on when life begins. It remains and will always be the best place we can turn. Who gets to determine when life becomes life? God. What has he said? For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
That which is being knit together in the womb, the fruit of the union of man and woman, is a human life. When sperm joins egg it is a human life. The embryo that develops is a human life. It does not matter how noble the scientific claim, cloning and embryonic stem cell research result in the destruction of human life. And though I understand the desperate desire couples feel for children, in vitro fertilization almost always results in extra embryos that are frozen, remaining in freezers for years, many eventually ending up destroyed or designated for science. These are human lives cast aside.
Where are the cries for the children slain? Where are our voices, lifted up on their behalf? Be faithful to pray for the unborn. Be faithful in your own treatment of life, born and unborn alike. Show value for all human life. Write your politicians and plead with them to defend life. But know that politicians cannot change the hearts of the people so in your dealings with others, demonstrate that life is precious. Treat people with love and kindness. Treasure children. Celebrate pregnancies, even those brought about through sinful means. If you know someone considering an abortion, try to intercede. Help them to see that this is a human life and there are good alternatives to abortion. Provide support for struggling single mothers. In all things walk wisely, making the best use of your time for these are evil days. In all things demonstrate the value of life. In all things glorify God who knit you together and wrote down all the days that are for you.
But we realize that abortion is all too common in our society. We do not know who around us might have bowed to this sin. I have seen pictures of Christians outside abortion clinics screaming at the women going in and out. I pray this would not be our response. Let us show compassion and forgiveness and extend the gospel of God. And if there are any here who have undergone an abortion, or perhaps some parent or boyfriend who has pressured a daughter or girlfriend into an abortion, your guilt is real. The sin is real. A life has come to an end because of your choice. But just as real as your guilt is the forgiveness offered to you in Jesus Christ.
You say, “But how can I be forgiven when I have ended the life of my child?” God himself ended the life of his child to win your forgiveness. God the Father sent his Son to die on the cross for our forgiveness. The eternal Son of God has paid a debt we could never pay. It is not your actions that bring forgiveness. Forgiveness comes through God’s mercy and grace and the blood of his Son. His blood is infinitely precious. It is sufficient to cover your sin. Your child is no longer part of this world but he has been taken home to God. He or she has already forgiven you and with all the love the children of God are to feel for the lost, your child loves you and would have you turn to Christ. Confess your sin to God. Repent. Call out for his mercy and grace and cling to Christ and you will receive his forgiveness.