Ash Wednesday 2/22/12

Ash Wednesday 2/22/12 Text: Psalm 6 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for tonight is the Psalm for Ash Wednesday, Psalm 6. Each week we will hear a portion of the reading of the Passion story of our Lord, and we will reflect upon our Lord’s death and what that means to sinners like you and me. That reflection is a familiar part of Lent. It would seem at first that it would be easy to make a journey like that as far as the journey itself goes; sort of like going down memory lane as we go through the story of Jesus’ trip to the cross. But Lent in the Church really has two focuses. First, it is a time to reflect on Christ’s Passion and death. Second, it is a time of learning and spiritual renewal through the Word of God. In the early church it was during Lent that those preparing for Baptism received their final instructions in the faith before being baptized. So what we will be doing this Lent is hearing about Christ’s Passion and death, and about what that has to do with who we are as Christians who need the great gift of “Confession and Absolution” that God gave to his Church. Psalm 6, which we prayed a few minutes ago, is a psalm of David belonging to a group we call the penitential psalms. The word penitence or penitential is related to another Christian word: repentance. Repentance is the literal turning in the opposite direction from your sins and turning to Christ for forgiveness. Repentance, then, is ultimately a gift from God, because we by nature don’t want to turn toward in that he demands perfection from us only God can turn the sinner’s heart toward Him. It reminds me of Luther’s words about Baptism in the Small Catechism. “What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” I would dare say that most Christians, especially those whose congregations don’t exercise or understand the wonderful gift, of “Confession and Absolution” that God gave his Church just don’t understand that the life of a Christian is a life of contrition and repentance. It is practiced daily, not once and then forgot about. Law and Gospel. Sin and forgiveness, is the cycle of the Christian life. That is why we each Sunday we continue to repent and receive absolution. That is why we go to the Lord’s Supper week after week. Repentance and forgiveness is living the Christian life, not simply knowing the right answers. This is what God is going to teach us in the penitential psalms. In Psalm 6 David begins by lamenting that it seems like God has abandoned him. That is the Law at work. God is angry with David, and so David prays that God will have mercy on him because he is weak and knows he is in trouble. Where does this start for you? What does this tell you about God? Well, it first of all tells you that God hates sin, and that when you sin, you are in deep trouble with God. Does that sound harsh? You bet! God’s Law is very harsh. As the psalmist writes in Psalm 5, “You hate all evildoers” (5:5). The Law doesn’t wink at sin. You and I, we want to wink at sin. Yes, our sin is bad, but let’s just ignore it we think; God will understand. This is like saying, “My cancer isn’t that bad; it’s just a small tumor.” You can’t ignore sin. Sooner or later it will dig in and do its work of destruction. But let’s go on to verse two of Psalm 6. David prays that the Lord will be gracious to him and heal him. Like blind Bartimaeus, or the Canaanite woman, David is not going to let God off the hook just like God won’t let David off the hook. You see, David knows God’s true character. He hates for a time but loves for eternity. David’s picture in Psalm 6 of the effect of sin is profound and even painful. It’s a picture that makes you squirm. It makes me squirm. I don’t like to talk about my sinfulness or think about it. I would much rather think of myself as a basically nice person. I’m a Christian, and that means all this sin talk is for someone else. But remember, David was also a Christian; not in the sense we think of being a Christian, but a Christian never the less, for David grew up in a household that looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, God Incarnate. Sin isn’t just something that unbelievers have to deal with and address. I think sometimes in the Church we can get the mistaken idea that sin and forgiveness is for the bad people, but that the Christians just praise God because He’s so great. Well, that’s a false comparison because, no matter how good we might think we are, we are all sinners. Although it does not sound like it, this Psalm of David is a Psalm of hope in the forgiveness and restoration of God. It teaches us today that no matter how messed up your life has become. No matter how far down the path of sin you have trod. No matter what nightmares trouble you and pain you have caused to yourself and to others. God is merciful and forgiving. He hates the sinner for breaking the Law, but because of Jesus Christ, God loves the sinner even more. He loved you so much that His Son, Jesus, went to the cross and died for you. God hates the sinner, and He took all of that wrath against you out on Jesus our Savior. God’s unfailing love will put you back together when nothing else can. Only God can scatter your enemies: sin, death, and the devil. Only the mercy of God in Jesus Christ can turn your life around and remake you in the waters of Baptism. Only God has given His Son in a Holy Meal to feed you and forgive you. Knowing that we deserve God’s wrath we are going to take this journey to the cross of Jesus Christ together. We are not just going to be reminded every week about how sinful we are, we are going to learn about God’s mercy for lost sinners like you and me. We are going to hear about God’s gift of forgiveness that He gives in confession and absolution. For some of you, this will be a journey that you’ve taken before many times. For others this may be a new journey, or at least a new path on this same journey. Confessing your sins, not, as we sinners, but as “I am indeed a poor miserable sinner deserving of God’s wrath.” is a hard thing, for it forces those who say it to look deep within themselves. It is so hard, in fact, that many will not even consider it. But I am here today to hold up God’s gift of forgiveness to you, and everything He has to give you in His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.