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A Hymn that Preaches: A Lenten Sermon Through Song
I did not grow up in a Lutheran church. Lent was only known to me through my Roman Catholic friends who did not eat meat on Fridays. The season of Lent was reintroduced to me through my journey into Lutheranism, and I have come to deeply appreciate this time of year. For me, the Lenten season is a time for pointed reflection on “my need for a savior,” beginning with Ash Wednesday, and upon “the very Savior that I need,” spotlighted on Good Friday and culminating on Resurrection Sunday. If I could choose one lenten hymn that captures this essense of the season, it would be “Christ, the Life of All the Living, 420 in our Lutheran Service Book.”
What does this hymn have to say about my desparate need for a savior? It takes me right to the heart of the matter: I need life since death is my foe, an enemy I cannot overcome. I need deliverance because I am in bondage to sin. I have wounds that need healing, my soul needs rest. God’s curse due to sin is upon me, and I need to be set free from the pain and continual anguish of my body and soul. Without a savior, I am headed for doom!
What does this hymn have to say about the very Savior that I need? Christ is the life that I desparately need, for me and all the living! He has put death to death! He gave himself willingly into the darkest depths of woe for me; he sufferered and died that I might inherit eternal life! He took my punishment – being beaten in the most cruel manner; he endured pain and shameful scorn though he was completely sinless that he might deliver me from my bonds of sin, forever! He was mortally wounded upon the cross that my wounds would be made whole! He endured the curse of God that I may have God’s eternal blessing. He was pierced with a crown of thorns that God might crown me with heavenly glory! He patiently and with great affliction suffered crucifixion to cover my sin with his atoning blood. Christ chose to be tormented that my doom my be prevented!
When the profound truth of my desparate need for a savior is laid out before me, and the overwhelming gracious work of Christ is proclaimed to me in this hymn, the response of faith is indeed, “Thousand, thousand, thanks shall be, dearest Jesus unto Thee.” Amen!
Thou hast suffered great affliction
And hast borne it patiently,
Even death by crucifixion,
Fully to atone for me;
Thou didst choose to be tormented
That my doom should be prevented.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto Thee.
LSB, 420:6
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
-Pastor Darrin Sheek
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