Rev. Edward F. Markquart of Seattle, Washington has been the Minister at Grace Lutheran Church since l973. This congregation is one of the largest worshipping congregations on the West coast. The congregation is known for its many and varied ministries that run 24 hours a day and include a homeless shelter, commitment to world hunger, Third World mission trips, Day Care and Pre-school, evangelism, four varied worship services, creative dramas, vitalized youth ministries, a huge Russian/Slavic congregation, AA meetings, civic functions and more. A homeless man says: “Graceland (for Elvis) is the Nordstroms of the homeless shelters; they are the best in the business; the people treat you right and treat you to fine breakfasts.”
One of the reasons Markquart cites for this congregational activity, spirit of inclusiveness and family spirit at his church is Pauline concept of “adoption”.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. Galatians 4:4-7
Markquart writes: For me and my family, “adoption” is a good word. Why did we adopt a child? Because deep down in us, we had this overwhelming need to love. We wanted to love a child. Since we had been so deeply loved by our mothers and fathers, we wanted to love a child as we had been loved. What it means to be an adopted child of God? In the Bible Jesus is the only Son of God in the flesh. The Greek word is “mono-genesis.” Mono = one. Genesis = begotten or beginning. The rest of us are all the adopted children of God. Only Jesus is of the same nature as God. Only Jesus is the flesh of God. The rest of us are the adopted children of God.
You may not realize it but the word, “adoption,” does not even occur once in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, there was no need for adoption. In the early parts of the Old Testament, they practiced polygamy. If a man could not get a male heir by means of his first wife, the man would go to his second wife or third wife until he got his male heir. So we move to the New Testament and we hear about Jesus. Not once do we hear from Jesus about adoption because Jesus was a Jew and adoption was not part of Jewish society. The Apostle Paul mentioned adoption five times in his letters. Why? Because adoption was part of the Roman world. The Apostle Paul was a Roman citizen. The only reason Romans adopted anyone was to obtain a male heir for one’s legacy and inheritance.
In our Christian faith, We know that we belong to God and God’s family. I have Christian brothers and sisters who love me, support me, take care of me. I belong and that is part of the immense, immeasurable blessings of being adopted into the family of God.
I’ve mentioned before that when the Brunswick Street United congregation invited the L’Arche community from down the street to join us for worship a resident member, Nathan, shared with us that his community do not identify God so much with the word “love” as they do with the word “belonging”. He shared that many of those who come to live with L’Arche for a life-time have heard the word love used over and over and over. Some of you from a previous generation may have yearned for the words “I love you” or “you are loved” but for many people born in my era and later the word “love” was/is almost over used and under lived. If “I love you” is not followed up with interest in you, time with you or attachment to you what does love mean more than a fleeting feeling or a warm sentiment?
In this sense the Apostle Paul suggests that God adopts us all as God’s children, all heirs to an abundant life and all belonging and connected to each other, sisters and brothers. Jesus himself famously explains to his understanding of family, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? And pointing to his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” The focus of Jesus’ understanding of this Kingdom he was building was a sisterhood and brotherhood of God, an adoption into a new family, a new realm, a new citizenship, cutting across religious, political, economic and ethnic lines.
When I think of the true acts of evil committed in the last century all of them have been based on dehumanizing the other as less than, “different”, at heart “not us”. I know people mean well when they say to me “I want to help one of our own” or reject helping people abroad because “we have poor people right here” but that kind of us/them approach does not have much in common with Jesus. It reminds me of that great quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
As we start another year with the spirit of Jesus’ birth as Saviour only one week behind us we would do well to consider how our adoption into this new family changes the way we look at others, the way we look at ourselves. As we consider how we arrange our various ministries at Bethany, offer our programs, commit our staff time, let’s consider our adoption and what it means for our sense of belonging and love.
So that we might receive adoption as children…So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Amen.