18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

–Matthew 1:18-25

With regard to Human Beings-Not for Sale, we make that statement with the knowledge of the reality that in our world there are places where human beings are for sale. We’d like to think there is no longer slavery in our world, but there is.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), over 21 million men, women and children around the world are in slavery. Modern slavery has become the second most profitable criminal activity in the world.

Someone is held to be in slavery if that person is forced to work through mental or physical threat; is owned or controlled by an ’employer’; is dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’; or is physically constrained or has restrictions placed on freedom of movement. Forms of modern slavery include bonded labour, child slavery, early and forced marriage, forced labour, descent-based slavery, and human trafficking.

Slavery exists today despite the fact that is illegal in all of the countries where it is practiced.

In the Small Catechism (1535), Martin Luther explains the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer and expands on the definition of “daily bread” to include everything required for the “necessities and nourishment for our bodies.”
In a similar way, our understanding of Human Beings-Not for Sale might be expanded to include anything that detracts from the necessities and nourishment of our body.

When we think about modern slavery, these might include poverty, war and racism; being a refugee or being internally displaced; female genital mutilation; domestic violence, rape or honour killing; unchecked disease; the intergenerational trauma which is the legacy of residential schools; inadequate housing; the lack of safe drinking water; the commodification of our bodies; the societal emphasis on unattainable ideals of beauty; violence perpetuated in video games; and more. I am sure you can add more things to this list.

There are many times in my life that I have taken great comfort in the knowledge of the humanity of Jesus: that God truly understands the joys and the sorrows of human existence.