Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 34:1-4,8-11,14-33; Colossians 2:8-23
Are you sorry for your sins? Yes, I am sorry that I have sinned against God. What have you deserved from God because of your sins? His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation. See Romans 6:21,23 (Small Catechism, Christian Questions)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Christian Questions don't just stop at asking if we're sinners. They also teach us to consider what we deserve because of our sin. Usually in our world, people aren't so much sorry for what they've done as they are sorry they get caught or that they have to deal with consequences. God's Word, on the other hand, teaches us that just for our very thoughts, words, and deeds we should be sorry, if for no other reason than that we have done them and gone against the Lord's will.
Consider that the consequences of our sin before God are far greater than any punishment you could think of! There is the anger of the Almighty, not to mention dying and having eternal damnation. These questions force us to face the reality of our sin, but remember where they're taking us: to the Lord's Supper.
Who is it really who gets those awful things? YOU deserve them but it is Jesus who suffers those things. And for this reason: so you will never have to. Salvation means being rescued from what your sins deserve. Repentance means being turned away from your sins to faith and trust on the Savior who has traded places with you.
The whole reason we ask and answer those questions about our sin is not so that we have to mope around with a gloomy "I'm such an awful person" attitude. It's to learn just how great a thing Jesus has done for us by taking ALL of our sin and wiping it all out. True, we deserved those things because of our sin according to the Law. But according to your Baptism and the Body and Blood of Jesus He gives for you to eat and drink, you now have forgiveness and everlasting life.
These questions then help us always to remember why it is we go to the Lord's Supper. We go there for the forgiveness that stands against our sins and what we have deserved. We go and receive Christ's Body and Blood as His own unbreakable promise that He has taken what we deserved and has given to us everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness instead. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Lord, on You I cast my burden-- Sink it in the deepest sea! Let me know Your gracious pardon, Cleanse me from iniquity. Let Your Spirit leave me never; Make me only Yours forever. (LSB 608:4)