“Psalm 51: Repentance”
Original sermon given on March 5, 2025, Ash Wednesday, written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church. The first in the Lenten Series: From Repentance to Rejoicing.
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“Psalm 51: Repentance”
Psalm 51
In the name of the Living God and the Christ who has appeared to us. Amen.
I can’t say that I’ve been particularly “looking forward” to our Lenten sermon series — the “Penitential Psalms” isn’t the most cheerful theme you’ve ever heard. Its subtitle: From Repentance to Rejoicing might help us out a bit, as it describes a journey through these Psalms together. But I do pray that it’s edifying for us all, even if it’s not always comfortable.
To begin, it’s important to note that these seven Psalms are not biblically grouped together in this way; nor are they exclusively or even primarily about “Penitence” or “Repentance”; nor are they meritorious just by the mere reciting of them —as was the thought for some in the medieval church — as if saying them often enough or sincerely enough or loud enough will earn you penitential points with God. (Sorry, we’re not getting off that easy this Lent.)
Their grouping, however, is of great antiquity, dating back to at least the 530s AD, as my bulletin notes illustrate. And the rich themes in them have been read and sung and prayed by many, both corporately and individually, in times of difficulty and distress; in times of seeking and searching; in times of honest assessment of oneself, or honest complaint to God; in times of starting all over again, and most importantly in times of returning back to God.
I’ve chosen somewhat forced alliterative themes for our journey: repentance, reality of sin, redemption, rescue, rebuilding, and rejoicing.
Our Psalm for today, Psalm 51, has become the go-to Psalm for the penitent: if you’ve done the worst, been caught out in the worst, but don’t want your worst to define you forever, you’ll sing and say and pray 51. It explores the depths of guilt, but also the farthest reaches of grace.[1] And it does so with a specific background: King David’s own failure as recorded in 2 Samuel.
You no doubt remember the Bible account — it’s a hard one to forget, as it’s got everything: lust, abuse of power, adultery, palace intrigue, manipulation, murder, cover up. You’ll recall that King David, to whom God had given everything, lusts after Bathsheba, the wife of his friend and general, Uriah. He summons her into his palace, sleeps with her, and then tries to conceal it. (It’s never just the crime, it’s the cover up, right?) She gets pregnant and David’s attempt to cover his tracks eventually leads to the murder of Uriah. David orders his loyal friend to the front lines in a battle and has him deserted there.
When Nathan the Prophet finally points his finger at David with the words, “You are the One,” David has nowhere to hide. David’s immediate response is the simple phrase, “I have sinned against the Lord”. Repentance. And from this simple confession, we have this beautiful Penitential Psalm 51.
The Spirit of God is behind this Psalm, not just the story of David, and so it teaches us divine truth about repentance. There’s a lot here in this Psalm, but the first and perhaps most important truth is that all sin ultimately is an afront against God; and so all sin, ultimately, can only be forgiven by God.
There is something very powerful and personal in David’s “I” have sinned. Psalm 51 is saturated with first-person singular: my transgressions, my iniquity, my sin, I was sinful since birth. We might somewhat expect this given his iniquities, but then he says, “I have sinned against the Lord.”; “Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”
Isn’t this curious that the entire Psalm never once mentions Bathsheba — a woman victimized by an incredible abuse of power; nor Uriah — a man whose only crimes were allegiance to his King and honor to his men? Didn’t David sin against them? Of course he did, but the Spirit is pointing us to something more profound about the nature of sin: all sin, ultimately, at its most essential level, is an offense against God. Yes, we hurt ourselves and yes, we hurt and misuse and disrespect others when we sin, but the ultimate affront is against our Creator.
“…[T]he flouting of God is always the full length and breadth of [our sin].”[2] Our bodies are not our own, we have been bought with a price; and each human being we interact with is made in the image of God.[3] So, any wrongs against ourselves or our neighbor, in the final assessment, are wrongs done against the Lord — as David rightly notes. In this way, the problem of sin and the call to repentance is far greater and more serious than we think.
And because sin is ultimately and most importantly an afront against God, only God can ultimately and finally deal with it. This David also knows. The first word David cries out, the first word in the Hebrew of this Psalm is “mercy”. David calls out not touting his great deeds done for God’s people, or the sacred songs he’s written, or his triumphs in battle. Like, “I slew Goliath, so you owe me one, Lord.” Or “I built you a minor Empire here in the middle east, so cut me some slack.” There’s no appeasement here. No bargaining. No holy haggling to be done. David goes right past his own works, bypasses even God’s law, and grabs hold of the heart of God: “According to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.”
This is the most important thing to know about repentance: it is a total, unconditional return to the Almighty God, and simultaneously a holding solely upon God’s unconditional grace and mercy.
This unconditional grace and mercy are given to us in Jesus, God’s mercy become man. The Messiah of mercy; the Christ of covenant compassion. At the cross and only the cross, both the justice of God and the love of God are crossed together in a perfect, paradoxical mystery of mercy. The blood of Jesus, perfect lamb of God, David’s descendant yet David’s Lord, cleanses us from all sin. He was the full and final sacrifice. He washes us whiter than snow. His sacrificial work done on the cross deals with the full reality of sin, while also delivering the full power of Grace. By his wounds we are healed, the prophet writes.
Finally, David knows also that because all sin ultimately is against God, and ultimately grace can only come from God, his new life also can only come from God.
This then is the content of his prayer: purge me, create in me, renew me, restore me, uphold me.
May this be our prayer, this Lententide, too.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] Kidner, Psalms, 189
[2] Ibid., 190
[3] Ibid.