The Third Sunday of Easter (Ps) April 14th

Psalm 38:1-22

¹  O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, 

nor discipline me in your wrath! 

²  For your arrows have sunk into me, 

and your hand has come down on me. 

³  There is no soundness in my flesh 

because of your indignation; 

there is no health in my bones 

because of my sin. 

⁴  For my iniquities have gone over my head; 

like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. 

⁵  My wounds stink and fester 

because of my foolishness, 

⁶  I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; 

all the day I go about mourning. 

⁷  For my sides are filled with burning, 

and there is no soundness in my flesh. 

⁸  I am feeble and crushed; 

I groan because of the tumult of my heart. 

⁹  O Lord, all my longing is before you; 

my sighing is not hidden from you. 

¹⁰  My heart throbs; my strength fails me, 

and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. 

¹¹  My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, 

and my nearest kin stand far off. 

¹²  Those who seek my life lay their snares; 

those who seek my hurt speak of ruin 

and meditate treachery all day long. 

¹³  But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, 

like a mute man who does not open his mouth. 

¹⁴  I have become like a man who does not hear, 

and in whose mouth are no rebukes. 

¹⁵  But for you, O Lord, do I wait; 

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. 

¹⁶  For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me, 

who boast against me when my foot slips!” 

¹⁷  For I am ready to fall, 

and my pain is ever before me. 

¹⁸  I confess my iniquity; 

I am sorry for my sin. 

¹⁹  But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, 

and many are those who hate me wrongfully. 

²⁰  Those who render me evil for good 

accuse me because I follow after good. 

²¹  Do not forsake me, O Lord! 

O my God, be not far from me! 

²²  Make haste to help me, 

O Lord, my salvation! 

Our God is not the God of prideful and arrogant people, but the God of the defiled. Here even in the Psalm we recall, "For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me." We talk about our friends, "My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off." We are truly the down cast or out casts.

God helps or saves the outcasts. God looks after the broken hearted. God restores the fallen. God heals the sick and weak. He is the God of the defiled. Whether we have been defiled by our place in life. Whether we are defiled because of our actions. Even if we are defiled by our relationships. God desires to welcome us into his family.

This is not to say his family is not perfect. His family is holy. His family is pure. His family is without blemish or scare. But it is not that way because it comes to him that way. He takes the filthy and unclean, and cleanses them. We are the mute and blind, and God comes to offer his son to wash our feet. He cleanses his bride with his own blood. Christ clothes us with his own righteousness.

Jesus Christ even became an outcast with us. He became flesh and dwelt with us, and took upon himself the sins of the world. He died upon the cross for these sins. He offers us salvation from being outcasts. He welcomes all of us outcasts to be his people. He even seeks you, in order to wash you clean.