“Sing, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! And burst forth in praise, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted.” (Isaiah 49:8-13)
In the name of Jesus. Amen. The Christian faith is not somber, it’s full of rejoicing. In Advent,we rejoice because the Lord Jesus is coming. At Christmas, He comes! In Epiphany,our songs are full of thankfulness and praise as Jesus manifests Himself as God. Are we to get somber only in Lent?
There is so much joy in the week of Laetare that the mountains and the heavens join in! The Lord has comforted His people, forgiving them all their sins. The Lord has had mercy on His afflicted. There is so much joy in Laetare our paraments turn rose!
In Lent we take a hard look at our life, at our sins. We see how we have not loved God with our whole heart, how we love the world more, people more, and things more. We see how we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have treated people like they are things for us to use. They are worth something only if they can do something for us. We aren’t just afflicted, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. That’s pretty somber, isn’t it?
There is no joy in looking at our sins. There is no rejoicing in the evil we do toward God and toward one another. Repent! Turn from your sins! Stop doing them!
Jesus says there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than a hundred righteous ones that have no need of repentance (St.Luke 15:7). The joy of Lent is not that we repent of this sin or that sin, but that the Lord Jesus has forgiveness for our sins! That He took all our sins, all our afflictions upon Himself, and died for us. The Righteous One dies for the unrighteous!
The same Jesus who died for us rose on Easter morning. The life He has He gives to us in His Baptism -- springs of water, life-giving water rich in grace! He washes us, feeds us with His Body and Blood, and remembers our sins no more.
There’s our rejoicing in Lent! Our sins are forgiven because of the death of Jesus in our place delivered to us in His Word and Sacraments. Laetare! Rejoice! Let the heavens sing and the earth break out in song! The Lord has comforted His people and has had mercy on His afflicted. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Jesus, priceless Treasure, Fount of purest pleasure, Truest Friend to me. Ah, how long in anguish Shall my spirit languish, Yearning, Lord, for Thee? Thou art mine, O Lamb divine! I will suffer naught to hide Thee, Naught I ask beside Thee.” (TLH 347, v.1)
Higher Things Reflections are written by Rev. George F. Borghardt III, Assistant Pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX.