Saint Luke
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Watertown
Sermon
delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Ash
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Psalm 69:4
& 6-9
Those who hate me without
reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those
who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal…May those
who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may
those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel. For you
I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a stranger to my
brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons; for zeal for your house consumes
me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
People
of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of
the very Lamb of God:
Fifty
years ago last Wednesday—fifty years ago last week the king died—King
Edward—King of the British Empire died. He died because he had inhaled
fumes—poisonous fumes. Those poisonous fumes included carbon monoxide—a very
nasty poison that is colorless and odorless and deadly. He had inhaled hydrogen
cyanide—the chemical used to put to death convicted murderers in the gas
chambers of the United States. He had breathed that too. He had inhaled arsenic
and nickel and the pesticide DDT and some 50 or 60+ other chemicals that have
been proven to be cancer-causing chemicals. King Edward—the King of the British
Empire had inhaled all these fumes—not as the result of some chemical or
biological act of terrorism. He had inhaled them—sucked them deep into his
lungs over a period of many years. Oh, the amounts of carbon monoxide and
hydrogen cyanide and nickel and DDT had been such small amounts—at the time—he
didn’t keel over and turn blue and stop breathing. No—they were very small
amounts that he breathed in and tried to blow out over a long period of time.
And over that period of time many of those poisons were absorbed into his
blood. They were so poisonous they actually made the cells in his lungs and
around his heart to become malformed—and malignant. And finally—those poisons
around his heart and through and through his blood killed him! The king died!
Not all the money in the royal treasury—not a king’s ransom could save him. But
the fact is—the blood of a humble king—a carpenter king almost 2000 years
ago—did ransom his soul! That is why you are here this afternoon/night. You are
here in God’s House when you could be almost anywhere else—doing almost
anything else. You are here in God’s House—because Jesus died and rose again to
save you. Tonight—Ash Wednesday—as we begin that long and painful walk beside
Jesus of Nazareth—all the way to the cross and to his empty Easter tomb—we will
be guided by the very Word of God. This year we will be guided by the psalmists
with the whole season theme: His Mercy Endures Forever—the Savior in the
Psalms.
Today—this
Ash Wednesday as we concentrate on part of Psalm 69 we will see:
Love
Hurts!
The part of God’s Word we
are concentrating on today is a Psalm of David. It begins with a painful
picture. “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in
the miry depths where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help, my throat is parched, my
eyes fail, looking for my God.” Psalm 69:1-3 What a Holy Spirit
breathed—graphic picture of drowning. Ten years ago this month a young man
named Daniel drove his snowmobile out onto a frozen Lake Superior. The ice was
not thick enough. He broke through—into the icy cold water. He cried out for
help. His earthly father—firemen, policemen, rescue workers stood on the shore.
Oh, they put ladders out onto the ice to try and distribute the weight of the
rescuers but even then they broke through. “Save me, O God, for the waters
have come up to my neck. I have come into the deep waters…I am worn out calling
for help.” It took rescue workers 45 minutes to get to Daniel. By then it
was too late. Oh, they have a rescue vehicle now—a kind of hovercraft and
lifeboat that can go out onto the Lake. They say if they had had one of these
hovercrafts—these ice angels they could have saved Daniel. If they had had
$80,000 they would have bought this life boat and saved him. Jesus saved
Daniel’s immortal soul. Jesus drowned in our guilt—our shame—our unholy blame.
Jesus drowned in the overwhelming flood of the evil we have done and the good
we have left undone. Jesus drowned in our sins that we might be saved forever.
The price he paid was not $80,000 pieces of green wrinkled papers. Jesus paid
with his holy innocent blood to save us forever!
“I am worn out from
calling for help, my throat is parched, my eyes fail, looking for my God. Those
who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my
enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me.” I
was waiting to get my hair cut the other day—I read a magazine in the waiting
room. It had an article about a man consumed—absolutely consumed by hatred—a
bitter as bile coming up your throat and filling your mouth with
sourness—hatred! This little old man named Lester is consumed with a hatred
that is over 60 years old. You see this little old man named Lester was a
prisoner of war during World War II. Lester was a prisoner who was forced to
take part in the Bataan Death March. It was a torturous 12-day 86-mile forced
march. As many as 1,000 American soldiers died or were murdered along the way.
At the end of that march was a coal mine where those who survived the march were
forced to work 12 out days for 2 ˝ years mining coal for the enemy. Lester lost
more than 30 pounds. His nose was broken because he didn’t answer fast
enough—didn’t answer a question—couldn’t answer because he didn’t understand
the question. Lester is consumed with hatred. He carries with him—all the
time—wherever he goes—he carries this bamboo stick—this cane—this switch—just
like the one the Japanese soldiers used to beat him. He carries this stick in
his fist. His face is twisted with the anger and the bitterness as he says he
wants an apology from those who abused him. Those who abused him—many of
them—most of them—are already dead! Lester hangs on to that hatred and if
nothing changes in his heart—he will die with that hatred. How pitiful! How tragic!
How sad! How like a cancer that bitterness must eat away at him.
Those who hated Jesus
hated him without reason! Jesus never ever did anything to hurt any one! Jesus
only helped and healed people. Blind Bartimeus—cried out to Jesus for help.
Jesus opened his eyes so he could see his Savior from sin. The crippled
man—whose friends dismantled part of a roof so they could lower him down by
Jesus in a room packed full of people—walked out of that room—with arms and
legs made strong by the word and command of the very Son of God! Jairus’
daughter was asleep in death. Jesus woke her up. The widow woman from Nain was
watching her only son’s body being carried out to the cemetery. A parade of
death collided with the Lord of Life. Jesus woke that young man up and gave him
back to his mother! Did that young man—brought back—from death to life—believe
in Jesus as his Savior when he died the next time? Or was he raised to physical
life—only to die eternally? What a horrible tragedy that would have been! Jesus
shared law and gospel with people who were spiritual bag ladies and street
people. Jesus shared law and gospel with a Samaritan woman who came to the town
water well in the heat of the day—at high noon arguably so she wouldn’t bump
into any of her neighbors. Remember when Jesus asked her to go and bring back
her husband. Remember how she said she didn’t have a husband. Jesus said that
was right. She had had five husbands—and now she was living in sin with
a man she wasn’t married to. Jesus touched the hearts of people that no one
else wanted to touch at all! Jesus touched the hearts of tax collectors and
sinners—social outcasts—people who had dirty hands and crusty elbows—greasy
hair and creases and winkles on their faces—covered with oil and soil. Jesus
washed them squeaky clean on the inside. He washed away all their sins. “Those
who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head…” Those who count
such things say the average human head has somewhere in the neighborhood of
250,000 hairs. That’s a lot! In this world of some 6 billion people there are
lots and lots of people who hate Jesus. Many hate Jesus because they don’t know
him. They don’t understand him. They don’t understand because nobody ever told
them. Someone needs to tell them. If it is your neighbor—your friend—your
family member—your in-law—you need to tell them. You need to tell them because
if you don’t—nobody will!
David wrote what Jesus
did. “I am forced to restore what I did not steal.” There was—a couple
of blocks down 3rd Street—a lump of newspaper in the street. It got
wet in the rain. Slowly but surely wads of newspaper got squished and scraped
loose—then stuck to the street a couple of feet away. People drove past that
paper—over it—around it—way around it. Did anybody stop and pick up this dirty
soggy cruddy mess? Are you kidding? I didn’t dump that paper there. It’s not my
fault—not my mess! Why should I? Forced to restore what you didn’t steal? Who
would do that? Why should I? Why would I? It is by grace alone—amazing
grace—that Jesus paid the debt my sins owed. By grace alone that Jesus said I
will pay what would be impossible for you to restore. At the price of my holy
innocent life—I will die to pay for all your sins!
“May those who hope in
you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who
seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.” Jesus’
forgiving love will not fail! Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. This year more than
ever—you can send these nifty little e-mail valentine’s. A couple of mouse
clicks and your valentine gets this card that goes from one romantic picture to
another while mushy music plays in the background. There is mushy poetry—“How
do I love thee? Let me count the ways! I love the to the depth and breadth and
height my soul can reach when feeling out of sight for the end of being and
ideal grace!” That’s nice. What is painfully sad is the fact that one out
of every 9 of these e-Valentines people are sending to themselves! How sad to
think that there are so many people out there so lonely—they are reduced to
sending love notes to themselves. What is next? When they get sick—to send
get-well cards to themselves? What’s wrong with this picture? Jesus said, “Everyone
will know that you are my disciples if you love one another!” We need to
show one another—not with maple syrup sweet cards—but with what we say and how
we act—that we truly love one another with the purest—sweetest love—for Jesus’
sake. Amen!