Sermon for 2/14/24: Ash Wednesday

CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.

CLICK HERE for the service video.

The Joy of Lent
Psalm 51:1-13

Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

We have come to Ash Wednesday, the doorway into the season of Lent. We set aside our song of praise for the next forty days and begin a time of prayerful and penitential reflection as we walk with our Lord Jesus Christ to His cross and Passion. Lent seems like a roller coaster for the Christian Church. We’ve just come down from the literal mountaintop of the Transfiguration, and today we are given pointed reminder of our sinfulness. Palm Sunday will come along, and we will see our Lord acclaimed as the Son of David and the King who comes in the Name of the Lord. And then, days later, we will see Him arrested by the soldiers of the Chief Priest, put on trial by both King Herod and Pontius Pilate, and finally crucified. Throughout this wild ride, I urge you to pray and reflect on the goodness and tender mercies of the Lord.

Psalm 51 is an appropriate place to start our Lenten journey. This Psalm is a prayer of King David, a man who knew full well the goodness and mercy of the Lord. We don’t know exactly what David was experiencing as he wrote most of his Psalms, but the ascription for this Psalm clearly states that he wrote it “when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” It was a spiritual low point for David. God had blessed him so richly, and yet that wasn’t enough for him. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then he contrived to have Bathsheba’s husband killed so he could take her legally as his wife.

God sent His prophet, Nathan, to preach the Law to the king. The Lord declared through Nathan, “I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.” He goes on to say, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” And the Lord’s words would be proven true. David would know little peace in his reign, including having to put down a rebellion led by his own son, Absolom. And as the Lord declared, the infant child born to David and Bathsheba died. In his grief for his dead son and in sorrow for his own sin, David cried the words of this Psalm to the Lord.

When we sin against our fellow man, sometimes we get away with it, at least in that we do not get caught by our neighbors. But our God sees and knows all that we do, and, as we learn in the Commandments, all sin is sin against God. When He calls us to task, all we can do, as David did, is confess our sins, cry out to the Lord, throw ourselves on His mercy, and then rely on that mercy. Listen again to David’s words:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Repentance and confession: This is the wisdom that David seeks in verse 6, the wisdom to repent, to beg for mercy and forgiveness, and to know that God grants that forgiveness. “Have mercy on me, O God.” In writing about this Psalm, Father Luther said, “It is as though he were saying, ‘I know that I am evil and that I am a sinner, and that You are righteous. I know that You are the God of our fathers, who has promised that You will redeem sinners.’” He has made that promise to us. And more than that, God has made good on that promise. No sin is too wicked for God to forgive. And for the sake of Jesus Christ, every sin is forgiven.

This Lenten season is not just about some historic event. The promise that God made to David and to David’s fathers was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the One who took our sins upon the cross with Him. We remember His death, and we remember and rejoice in the life He won for us upon the cross. David’s prayer was heard and answered in the person of Jesus Christ. And as the Lord showed mercy to David, in the same way He shows mercy to you. You are washed in your Baptism; you are clothed in the gleaming robes of our Lord’s righteousness, made whiter than snow in those bloody waters. There He has created a new heart for you; He has renewed that right spirit within you. He took your spirit that was sinful upon Himself, and He gave His sinless spirit to you. He did not cast you away from His presence; in fact, He promised to be with you always. According to His steadfast love, God has had mercy upon you. The Holy Supper that you are given and receive heals the bones of which David speaks, the bones that are broken in sin. The bones are healed; your sins are forgiven. You are assured of that when your Pastor, standing in the stead of Christ and speaking by His command, says to you, “I forgive you all sins.” With these words, our Lord has restored to you the joy of salvation. And there is no greater joy for sinners than to hear the truth that our loving Lord forgives you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.