Ash Wednesday:
“Rejoicing in Repentance”[1]
March 2, 2022
Text: Psalm 51; LSB 556:1
It
is Ash Wednesday, a day of lamentation and weeping, repentance for our sins,
and the reminder of our death. And so,
today, the hymn of the Church bids us… “rejoice with exultation springing” (LSB
556:1)?
Yes. Because repentance is not a matter of doom
and gloom. Sin is a matter of doom and
gloom apart from repentance.
Repentance brings great joy.
There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over
ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). In our text, Psalm 51, King David’s prayer of
repentance, he begs the LORD, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation”
(Ps. 51:12; ESV). And when the Lord
delivers him from bloodguiltiness, King David says, “my tongue will sing
aloud of your righteousness” (v. 14), or we might even translate it, “Your Justification.” The plea to God for justification, salvation,
and joy, is, itself, repentance, in the faith and confidence that God will
hear, deliver, and save.
So
Luther’s exuberant hymn, the subject of our Lenten midweek meditations, is
right at home, even in this penitential season, and even on this solemn night. (Incidentally, not to worry… we won’t always
sing all 10 verses, but we’ll reflect on one or two verses each week, tonight
beginning with verse 1. But we had to
sing the whole thing at the beginning, to get a running start, so that we get
the text and tune in our ears and in our mouths, in our heads and in our hearts!)
Rejoicing
comes from God’s Word having its way with us.
When the Law of God does its proper work, the result is joy. There is, of course, a not-at-all joyful
outcome of God’s holy Law. That is when
we hear His Law, but refuse to repent, clinging to our own righteousness, or
despairing of all hope in Christ. In
that case, apart from Christ, the Law slays us and we die in our sins. That is eternal death and hell. But when we hear the Law, and it cuts us to
the heart… When the Law convicts us and we must acknowledge the truth of it,
that we are sinners, that we have sinned, that we deserve only death and hell
for our rebellion against God and our contempt for one another, when we come to
despair of ourselves and realize we don’t have a leg of our own to stand on
before God… well, that is still a death.
The Law does still slay us, and it does still hurt. But then there is Christ with His death and
resurrection for us. And since the Law
has crucified all hope we may have in ourselves and in our own righteousness,
we are brought to the realization that our only hope is Christ. There He is for us, with His Gospel of
redemption and salvation, absolution and consolation. He speaks, and we are raised up to new life,
and to joy. Repentance, in the full
sense of the word, is not only conviction of sins. It is not only contrition, that is, sorrow
over sin. It is the turning in faith to
Christ alone for forgiveness and salvation.
It is death, but it is also resurrection. And resurrection means life. Therefore, dear Christians, one and all… rejoice! With exultation springing.
You’ll
recall the occasion for which David composed Psalm 51. He had committed adultery with
Bathsheba. Captivated by the sight of
her bathing, idle because he hadn’t gone out with his armies as he should have,
and drunk on power, because, well… he’s the King!... David took the woman into
his bed. Lust gives birth to sin. And one sin leads to another. Bathsheba is found to be pregnant. You remember the ruse, the attempt to fool Bathsheba’s
husband Uriah the Hittite. Get him
drunk. Send him down to sleep with his
wife so he thinks the baby is his own.
But there’s just one problem.
Uriah is too honorable. How can
he go sleep in his own bed, in the embrace of his wife, when his brothers in
arms, never mind the Ark of God, are camped on the frontlines? So the murder. David sends a letter by Uriah’s own hand to
General Joab, to place Uriah where the fighting is fiercest and withdraw so
that he dies. You can read all about
this in 2 Samuel 11.
Now,
by any human standard of justice, God should have let wicked King David perish
in his sins. But that isn’t what He
does. God sends His Prophet, King
David’s pastor, with the Word of the LORD, that that Word may have its way with
the King. There is the parable of the
little ewe lamb, and David’s righteous anger against a hypothetical
offender. Again, you can read about it
in 2 Samuel 12. But even as David
pronounces sentence over the rich man who purportedly stole the poor man’s lamb,
Nathan proclaims the holy Law of God: “Thou art the man” (2 Sam. 12:7;
KJV). And David, the Law having done its
gruesome work, immediately confesses his transgressions: “I have sinned
against the LORD” (v. 13; ESV). Upon
which confession, Nathan immediately pronounces absolution in the stead and by
the command of the LORD God: “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall
not die” (v. 13). The Law brings
forth contrition and confession. The
Gospel bestows faith in the LORD’s absolution.
The Law kills the sinner. The
Gospel bestows life. Life in God. Life eternal.
And so, joy. “Let me hear joy
and gladness,” David prays; “let the bones that you have broken rejoice”
(Ps. 51:8). And so it is in the
forgiveness of sins.
When
you sin, God graciously brings His Word to bear upon you. You hear it.
You read it. You know it in your
mind and heart as the Spirit brings God’s Word to remembrance. And so the Law of God cuts you to the
heart. It convicts you of your sin. Now, you can resist that conviction, either
denying your guilt and justifying yourself and your actions... “Well, this is why I did this or that thing,
and after all, I’m basically a good person.”
Or you may despair of God's mercy in Christ, denying that Christ's
sin-atoning death is for you, or could possibly cover your sins… “What I have
done is too bad for God to love me, and the blood of Jesus is insufficient to
cover my sin.” If you do either of these
things, you will die in your sins.
The
answer is not resist what God’s Law says of you. Rather, assent to it. By the Law, the Holy Spirit brings you to a
knowledge of your sins, and of your sinful condition. And He brings about in you a godly
sorrow. That is contrition. That is the beginning of repentance. Then the Spirit opens your lips to confess
your sins. There is freedom and great
joy in simply speaking the truth of the matter aloud, bluntly and truthfully. “O God, I am a sinner, and I have
sinned.” Or perhaps even, “Pastor,
please hear my confession and pronounce forgiveness in order to fulfill God’s
will” (LSB 292). All the while, there is
Christ Jesus with His death and resurrection for you. There He is to speak His Gospel of redemption
and salvation, absolution and consolation.
Now, this is why you come to Church.
Because, while the Law is virtually unforgettable, surrounding you, as
it does, on all sides, pointing its finger of accusation, the Gospel is
unbelievable to Old Adam. And so long as
Adam still hangs around your neck, you easily forget the Gospel truth that your
sins are forgiven in Christ, and you all too easily revert to believing Satan’s
lies that your sins are unforgiveable.
So here at Church you hear it in Scripture and preaching. You hear it and sing it in the hymns and the
liturgy. The Pastor declares it in no
uncertain terms in the Holy Absolution.
He will even do it individually for you, with his hand on your head, so
you cannot deny it is for you: “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” You taste it and eat it and drink it in the
Holy Supper of Jesus’ Body and Blood.
What the LORD does for King David, He does for you.
And
it is His joy, as well. For
the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of God (Heb. 12:2).
For the joy of saving you from death and condemnation, forgiving
all your sins, and making you God’s own, Jesus sacrificed Himself. And now He is risen, and God has exalted Him
to the heavenly throne.
So
tonight we repent in dust and ashes. But
the ashes are painted in the sign of His cross.
We are marked as those redeemed by Christ the Crucified. And so, joy.
Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice with exultation springing. With united heart and voice, sing! Proclaim the wonders God has done. Proclaim His cross on which He stretched out
His right arm to win the victory. Proclaim
His suffering, blood, and death.
Proclaim His resurrection life.
And know that it is all for you.
The LORD opens your lips, that with great joy, your mouth may declare
His praise (Ps. 51:15). In the Name of
the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
[1] This year’s theme, much of the
material, and the outline for this sermon are taken from John T. Pless, “Dear
Christians, One and All, Rejoice!” https://www.1517.org/articles/dear-christians-one-and-all-rejoice-lent-series-introduction
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