[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon ASH WEDNESDAY 06 February 2008 "The Joy of Lent" Joel 2:12-19 LSB Series A Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

There is a popular misunderstanding of what Lent is that perhaps keeps many of us from celebrating the season properly. True, a certain somberness lies at the heart of the season, but that somberness needs to be balanced by the joy of the season. It isn't the same kind of joy that we'll celebrate in the Easter season, but there is a joy nonetheless.

To listen to much of the talk about Lent can give the wrong ideas. "It's this, it's that. You should do this and you should avoid that," giving rise to the idea that one should "give up" something for Lent so that one can experience what Jesus did, or "to feel his pain." Perhaps that's what sends us down the wrong track because our sinful nature always wants to think that we are making up for our sins, even in some small manner, and so we can get the idea that Lent is a time when we do something for God. It's not that God needs us to do anything for him, but in our perverted thinking we can get the idea that we're manipulating God by what we do or give up.

Yet, it seems that the harder we try to "keep" Lent, the farther away from it we get. Even we Lutherans can get pretty far away from Lent's blessings if we focus totally on ourselves. Mostly, I'm concerned about the perverted notion that Lent is about us. It isn't; it's about Jesus. It is the reason the Church retraces the events of our Lord's suffering and death, but even this gets twisted inside out.

What do I mean? It isn't a guilt fest. Lent isn't feeling guilty for six weeks straight. It isn't, "Jesus died for my sins so I should feel lots of guilt for sending him to the cross," but that simply increases the guilt. It says, "Jesus suffered horribly all these things and I should feel guilty that I made him suffer." That's wrong. That makes Jesus a poor sap who suffers for my failures to pull my fat out of the fire. It makes Jesus into our victim.

Indeed, our Lord Jesus is a victim, but he is not our victim, he is God's victim! God the Father sent Jesus to be the sin offering for our sins. Lent tells us again that Jesus atoned for all our sin and guilt. Hear that last part in particular, he has atoned for all our guilt! So Lent isn't about increasing the guilt, like some Jewish grandmother who is trying to manipulate her grandchild, but it is about the joy of knowing that Christ has taken all our guilt away! You see, guilt, too, is a sin that derives from the sin of Adam and Eve. It is shame that one has sinned. But guilt provides no remedy.

Repentance is a major part of Lent, to be sure, because we've not kept sin out of our lives. No doubt you can find much for which you need to repent, the active sins you commit and the passive sins that you let happen, but such repentance must always be done in light of what Lent proclaims, the death of Christ.

It's a fine line, isn't it? You should repent for your sins, some of which the Lenten season will uncover and expose, but repentance does not exist for its own sake. As Luther and the Confessions repeatedly point out, Confession exists for the sake of the Absolution. Sorrow over sin does no good unless an Absolution gets pronounced. Absolution is about the consolation of the conscience. Thus, Lent's focus always lies in Christ and the good news that he has atoned for all your sin and guilt. Lent focuses on a renewed use of Word and Sacrament, of coming to Confession and Absolution, of coming to receive Christ's body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins, including our guilt.

The prophet Joel tells us that the Christian life is about sincere repentance that expects a blessing from God [Joel 2.12-19]. The Apostle Paul wrote that sinners should be reconciled to God for Christ's sake, that is, the breach between God and man God himself has repaired by what Christ has done in his suffering and death. Because Christ has been our substitute, we have a different status before the Father, that of reconciled, forgiven sinner. Guilt doesn't enter into the relationship. And in our Holy Gospel for this day Jesus tells us to turn toward God in positive ways. He presupposes repentance and forgiveness based upon his life and death. Our Collect for the Day speaks of "new and contrite hearts," of renewal that rests on the joy of Christ's meritorious work for us.

Lent, then, is all about finding joy in Christ's forgiveness. It encourages you to examine your heart and life honestly and openly, to confess what is wrong, to repent of that wrong, and then find the joy of the Absolution which is in Christ and to lay aside your guilt because Christ has atoned for that sin, too. Yes, guilt is a sin and it, too, condemns, so Christians dare not wallow in it.

Lent is also about letting that forgiveness flow through you into the lives of others that they, too, may enjoy Christ's blessings. What is more, Lent becomes a time for reconciliation with others because of Christ. Lent becomes a season in which we cultivate Christian virtues, the kinds of virtues of which Paul speaks in Galatians:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV)

Perhaps the Gradual of the Season sums it up best:

[O come, let us fix our eyes on] | Jesus,*
the founder and perfecter | of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despis- | ing the shame,*
and is seated at the right hand of the | throne of God.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

May God the Holy Spirit give you "The Joy of Lent" this season!