Sermon - Ash Wednesday - Psalm 130

This Lenten season, like every year, we are setting forth a theme for our midweek evening services.  We’ve called this series, “Luther’s Catechism Hymns”.  The idea is this.  We are all or should be familiar with Luther’s Small Catechism and its Six Chief Parts.  That little summary of the Bible forms the foundation of most of our formal instruction, for Confirmation in the Lutheran Church.  Many preachers over the years have even used the 6 Chief Parts as a structure for a Lenten series:  The 10 Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Holy Baptism, Confession and Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper.  We’re not re-inventing the wheel.

But we are perhaps adding another layer, or looking at the Small Catechism through a different lens.  Dr. Luther not only gave us the clarity and simplicity of the Small Catechism to teach us and our children the faith, but he also wrote many hymns for much the same purpose.  And it’s been pointed out, and maybe shouldn’t surprise us, that some of these hymns match up quite well with the Six Chief Parts.  That may have even been intentional in some cases.

And so, our approach will be, to examine these treasures of the church, these precious doctrines of Scripture -  through the lens of the Small Catechism, and that, through the lens of Luther’s catechism hymns.  And in so doing, to draw deeper and richer meaning from the Word of God that calls us to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Since it is Ash Wednesday, however, we’re going to change up the order a bit.  As we begin our penitential season, and even wear the ashes of repentance on our brows, our thoughts would run the way of that Chief Part of the Catechism – “Confession and Absolution”.  If you turn to page 326 in your hymnal, you can read for yourself how the Catechism teaches us to confess and be forgiven:

“What is confession?”

Confession has two parts.  First that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.

It’s so simple, really.  Luther would say, “When I urge you to go to confession, I am simply urging you to be a Christian”.  The heart of our faith is this very thing – repentance and faith, confession and forgiveness, all for the sake of Christ.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of penitence to prepare us for Holy Week and Easter, the highest celebration of the Church.  So for the Christian, preparation begins with sorrow for sin, contrition, a recognition of the depths of our problem.  Celebration comes only after sorrow – the joy of Easter only after the suffering of Calvary.

We hear these words every Ash Wednesday, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.  It’s a stark reminder of death.  For as our father Adam was formed from the dust, so will we all return to the earth when the grave reclaims our bodies.  But that only happens because of sin, which brings the wages of death.  The grave is a deep pit, indeed, while it may be just 6 feet down – it is inescapable apart from Christ.

It’s not just in the New Testament that God’s people recognized the depth of the problem, either.  Already David knew what death meant – he saw it all around him.  He even had a hand in the death of many, some justly, some not so.  And he knew that sin and death went together – it’s all over his writing.

Take Psalm 130, on which Luther based his hymn, “From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee”.  There David writes:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
²     O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
⁶ my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

Luther summarizes and paraphrases this Psalm in this hymn – written in a style easy for his people to sing.  He wrote, “From Depths of Woe” in 1523 while he was also engaged in re-working the Latin Mass into German.  He set a number of liturgical pieces to hymnody – and this one works well as a confession of sins.

Consider with the Psalmist, how bad off we’d be if God marked our sins – if he strictly and thoroughly held every little sin against us – as the law requires.  Consider how each of us brings a burden of sin so heavy, a record of sin so extensive, that we can’t even know how deep and sore it goes.  Only God can.  But the thought of his justice holding us to account is not pleasant, in fact, it’s terrifying.  No one could stand. 

But the psalmist quickly turns to God’s forgiveness.  “But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared!”  Who would want to believe in a God who was extreme to mark our sins?  But a God who brings forgiveness?  That’s a God who inspires fear, love AND trust.  That’s the God that we know through Jesus.  Luther puts it this way in the hymn:

“Though great our sins, yet greater still Is God's abundant favor”

As this hymn expresses well humanity’s deepest sorrow, it has often been sung in times of mourning.  For example, it was sung in the castle church of Wittenberg, on May 9^th, 1525, at the funeral of Duke Frederick the Wise, Luther’s patron and protector.  Later, it would be sung at Luther’s own funeral in 1546.

But the hymn is not all about sorrow, any more than Confession itself for the Christian is only about sorrow.  Confession and absolution are two sides of the coin, just like the teachings of the law and the proclamation of the gospel.  Where sin is confessed, it is forgiven in Christ.  Where ashes mark you with the reminder of death, they are placed in a cross which reminds us that death lies defeated.  When you give voice to your sinfulness, God’s servants speak words of forgiveness, restoration and peace.  Confession and Absolution are watchwords for the Christian – a pattern for our lives.

The Psalmist speaks of his soul waiting for the Lord more than watchman for the morning.  Luther talks about our heart tarrying through the night, and awakening at dawn.  The picture is this.  We’re waiting for our shift to be over, our vigil of faith upon earth.  We wait, patiently, expectantly, for the salvation of God to appear.  Our hope is in the Lord.  Our eyes are on the horizon, looking for his steadfast love and plentiful redemption.  And our eyes and our hope and our patient waiting will not be disappointed, for the Lord comes to redeem us from our iniquities.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This Lenten season, let us once again repent.  Turn your hearts from sin, and toward faith in Christ.  Say of yourself what God has said of you – that you are conceived and born in sin, that you sin daily and sin much, but hear what God also says through Christ – that your sins are removed, washed away clean even as these ashes soon will be. 

And remember this - that even death itself is a temporary arrangement.  For though you are dust and to dust you shall return, that’s not the end of the story.  For your sins are great, greater still is God’s abundant favor.  Though you die, yet shall you live in Jesus Christ our Lord.  A blessed Ash Wednesday, in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.