FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
The season of Lent is placed in the liturgical calendar to
invite Christians to reflect with solemnity on the gravity of Christ’s saving
work upon the cross. We rejoice in
Christ’s birth at Christmas, we rejoice at his resurrection at Easter, we even
rejoice at his atonement for our sins on Good Friday. But the Christian life is not without sorrow. Even in our faith in Christ, we battle against
the desires of the flesh. Paul bemoans
this fact in Romans 7:18-19 when he writes, “For I know that nothing good
dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For
I have the desire to do right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil
I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
Thus the purpose of Lent is to call us to confess of our sin
and plead for renewal in our walk with God.
One poignant example of this comes from today’s reading, Psalm 51. This song was written by David, just after
his infamous affair with Bathsheba. For
those who aren’t familiar with the tale, in short:
1) David
rapes Bathsheba (who’s married).
2)
Bathsheba becomes pregnant.
3)
David has Bathsheba’s husband killed so he can
marry her.
4) Nathan
(the priest) calls David out on all of this.
In case it wasn’t clear, these are grievous sins. David has messed up big time. Yet rather than being driven away from God in
fear and shame, he is drawn closer to God to plead for restoration. The following heartfelt words from David demonstrate
his anguish at his sin; find encouragement in his confidence in God’s justice
and mercy.
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me… (But) purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me,
and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me
hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all
my iniquities. Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:5-10).
There are few things more invigorating in one’s spiritual
life than heartfelt repentance, because awareness of the depth of our sin
points directly to the purity of God.
Have you ever felt so guilty or ashamed that you felt physically ill? Martin Luther comments that left to ourselves,
“sin with its terror and despair is so mighty that it crushes even the bones” (Reading the Psalms with Luther,
124). Even so David is confident to plead
with God, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” God’s grace is greater than your sin. Christian, on the cross Christ defeated the
power of sin and death in your life, and this is our only cause for true
rejoicing. In that moment, he took on
himself the punishment for your sin so that you might be washed whiter than
snow in the sight of God. May this picture
of unending, uncompromising love lead you to genuine repentance before your
Father. Do not hide in shame or fear of
his judgment; instead, run to him in the filth and stink of your sin, and find
that you have been washed even more deeply in his grace.
Susan Wallace is a junior studying psychology and theology.
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