(Based on a sermon delivered at
Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, Staunton, VA,
Ash Wednesday, February 13, 2013)
Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, Staunton, VA,
Ash Wednesday, February 13, 2013)
Why
observe Ash Wednesday? Why observe the
season of Lent? Notice I did not say
celebrate Ash Wednesday or Lent. Celebration carries the idea of a feast and rejoicing. While there is always an element of joy in
every Christian observance, the Lenten season has a different, more circumspect
ethos.
Most
liturgical churches, including a number of Protestant churches, observe Lent. However, many do not; especially
those we call Free Churches which have less formal worship and do not generally
observe a liturgical calendar. So it is
a legitimate question, ‘Why observe Ash Wednesday?’
The
word lent comes from an Old English word meaning ‘long,’ or ‘lengthen.’ It indicates a long time, or the lengthening
of the days from winter into spring, as we anticipate the celebration of the
feast of Easter, Christ’s resurrection.
During this forty day season we consider Jesus’ forty days of fasting
and temptation in the wilderness. Many
traditions encourage an extended season of prayer, fasting, and voluntary
sacrifice.
Like
many religious traditions it easily lends itself to caricature. Like the Muslim feast of Ramadan which
sometimes becomes an after-hours feast rather than a fast, the season of Lent
can be abused by its practitioners. I
was raised in a tradition that practiced Lent.
The big question was, ‘What are you giving up for Lent?’ Sometimes it was something serious like
chocolate, or maybe for some of the more cynical among us, something that
wasn’t so dear, like asparagus. But for
many, this was sacrifice for sacrifice’ sake.
As if the simple act of sacrifice had atoning power. This is a caricature of the New Testament
perspective.
The
practice of Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday
is such a caricature. That’s when many
practice excess for excess’ sake. So we
feast to excess on Fat Tuesday and then plan to atone for it on Ash Wednesday
and get all spiritual during Lent. So it
becomes a cynic’s exercise. For some,
the sacrifice signals atonement for past wrongs. This is precisely what the observance of Ash
Wednesday and Lent cannot be. Such a
view sees self-inflicted suffering as atonement, and the religious observance
of self-sacrifice as a means of earned favor.
This cannot be true.
The
Psalmist tells us, Truly no man can
ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their
life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never
see the pit (Psalm 49:7-9 ESV).
Paul tells us, Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified
by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7 KJV).
For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9
ESV).
So
we see that both atonement for sins and the possession of eternal life is
obtained by grace through faith, not through outward signs of self-sacrifice,
or religious observances. Yet outward
signs and the observation of spiritual discipline can have great effect in our
lives.
Why
observe Ash Wednesday? Paul expressed
concern for the Galatians that in their religious observances they were
turning back again to the weak and
worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once
more. You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have
labored over you in vain (Galatians 4:9-11 ESV). This is the crux of the matter.
The
idea of humbling oneself before God in repentance and outward observance has
deep-rooted biblical precedent. Job
said, I have heard of you with the
hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you, and I repent in dust and ashes. Joel urged the people of God to seek Him in
the face of impending judgment crying out to him in sackcloth and ashes.
Jesus promised a blessing of comfort to those who mourn, and that those
who weep now would later laugh.
James
makes the most extreme call for outward expressions of humility and
repentance, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and
weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you (James 4:8-10 ESV).
But
this call and outward show of humility is not mourning for mourning’s sake. Isaiah deplored such a fast. Is such
the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down
his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you
call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? “Is not this the fast that
I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to
let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
(Isaiah
58:5-6 ESV).
As
we observe Lent and see the days lengthen from winter into spring, as the
creation bursts forth into new life, we do not ascribe the power of new life to
the natural elements. This is not a seasonal
pagan practice of earth worship, but a sanctified recognition that nature
itself bears witness that death begets new life to the glory of God, and that
this truth is most perfectly revealed to us in the death and resurrection of
Christ Jesus.
As
a young boy I had a friend named Johnny Miller. He belonged to a sect that
believed it could predict the date of Christ’s return. He came to my door once and called me to come
and play some football. As we walked out
together he solemnly informed me that it was important to get our playtime in now.
“Why,” I asked. “Well the world is coming
to an end in March, and I want to have all the fun I can before then.” Similar to the revelers at Mardi Gras his spiritual preparation
consisted of having a good time, at least as he perceived it. March came and went. We’re all still here.
Yet
Johnny Miller was right. The end is
near. I’m not referring to the end of
the world. That end will come as a
thief. I mean our own personal end is at
hand -- my end, your end. The grave is
near to us. All flesh is as grass, Peter tells us, and its glory as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades. James asks, What is your life? It is but a
mist that appears for a little time and then disappears.
A.W.
Tozer put it this way,
Man
has no say about the time or place of his birth; God determines that without
consulting the man himself. One day the
little man finds himself in consciousness and accepts the fact that he is. There his volitional life begins.
Before
that he had nothing to say about anything.
After
that he struts and boasts, encouraged by the sound of his own voice he may
declare his independence of God.
Have
your fun, little man; you are only chattering in the interim between first and
last. You had no voice at the first and
you will have none at the last!
God
reserves the right to take up at the last where he began at the first, and you
are in the hands of God whether you will or not
(A.W. Tozer).
This
is why when we apply the ashes most traditions say, “Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust
you shall return,” or, “Repent and obey the gospel.”
The
church calendar provides a season to remind us of our mortality and dependence
on God. It is a season of voluntary humility.
To humble oneself is a Christian virtue . Some may say, “Why a special season? We should always embrace humility.” I would respond, why a special day to
commemorate the incarnation or the resurrection? These are year-round truths. Just as we remember these essential Christian
truths on Christmas and Easter, we do well to consider our humble state and to
practice the Christian virtues of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in the
Lenten season. For Protestants these are oft-neglected
disciplines.
The
ashes speak of our dependence on God. Life comes from God. We belong to Him. This is especially so for Christians. You are
bought with a price, you are not your own.
We are not to be devoted to self-serving indulgence.
To
exercise humility is a conscious decision to embrace the cross of Christ and
voluntarily put to death sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, obscene talk, lying, stealing. In short we are to accept the fact that the
earthly man is under a penalty of death.
So we accept the ashes and observe a season in acknowledgement of this
fact. But not only that, we remember
that by grace, we can put on newness of life.
We look to the gift of the cross. Christ entered into our mortality and bore our
sinfulness. And we live in the hope that
Easter holds before us even now, through His resurrection we possess the gift
of eternal life.
So
why observe? Your answer makes all the
difference. Is receiving the ashes an empty
religious exercise or a soul-changing discipline? If it feeds pride, self-sufficiency, belief
in personal merit, the sufficiency of outward action to replace inward
transformation, or if it obscures the need for grace and a response of faith,
then it is harmful. If taken in its true
meaning, a time of repentance, dependence, humility and faith looking to
Christ’s atoning death and resurrection it will give life. Every Christian feast must always ultimately
hold forth the hope of the resurrection from the dead.
Why
observe? Your answer makes all the
difference.