The texts for today have always struck me as odd texts for the service of Ash Wednesday. After all, isn’t today the day that Christian’s disfigure their faces with ash so that others see that they’re fasting for lent? Perhaps that may be the case for some. But that isn’t why we observe this church holiday. While there is within us a temptation to turn this external adornment of Ash as the mark of Christian identity, the Scriptures before us today condemn the concept of a church that can be seen by the eyes. That is, by the only things eyes can see, good works and acts of piety such as coming to church on ash Wednesday and receiving the imposition of ashes. The church is nothing other than the assembly of believers, that is, those who trust Christ alone for their salvation. There is no mention here of works, piety, or institutions. Church Attendance does not show faith. For one may come to church and then lay Christianity aside until next Sunday morning. Personal acts of piety don’t show faith. For one may come home from church and then live out the rest of the week in Bible study, prayer, and meditation on the holy things of God, yet they may do so thinking that it is their way of escaping hell, and earning heaven. External works don’t show faith. For one may serve 5 days a week at the homeless shelter and give 50% of their income to supporting orphans and widows, yet they may be a Muslim, a Hindu, or an Atheist. While we look for and yearn for something to visibly show us the faith of others in order to pronounce them condemned or redeemed, God is in the midst of us planting and hiding faith in our inward parts, sustaining it, growing it, and preserving us in it. God is not doing this secretly, but openly and publicly to all through Word and Sacrament. But within us lurks the constant temptation to turn away from Word and Sacrament as the place that we find faith. Something inside of us desires to look within ourselves to find something, anything, that we can contribute to our salvation.
Can you imagine a world where we judge each other’s status of salvation based upon our good works and external acts of piety? Of course you can, that’s what most of life looks like in a fallen world. Saying, of course I’m a Christian, after all, I’m nothing like sally who struggles with drug addiction, or Steve who never even reads his bible. It’s this attitude which is so prevalent among believers and unbelievers in every realm of life, that can change and distort even the doctrine of the church from being the good news that it is, into being another Law. The greatest sin is not the most external or public sin, but the self-righteousness that judges the self or that judges others, either positively or negatively. There is no ladder to climb up, there are no strings you can pull for leverage, there are no cards up your sleeve and no merits in your hand. This is the point that Ash Wednesday seeks to bring us to. Ash Wednesday, when used rightly, reminds us that salvation, if it comes to us at all, must come from outside of us. It covers us in ashes in order to drive us to the baptismal font, that we may have them washed away. Ash Wednesday is not to be celebrated as an outward sign of our faith. V. 16-17 “Do not disfigure your face when you fast like the hypocrites, but wash your face that your fasting maynot be seen by others.” Outside of its context in the liturgy, the external wearing of ashes is merely external and without spiritual significance. Something that may or may not represent the reality of our hearts. It tells me nothing about whether these people have put their trust in Christ, at best it tells me that they went to the divine service that day, but what good is that to them if they did not turn from their sin and lay hold to Christ’s promises in faith? The danger of Ash Wednesday, is that unlike other liturgical rituals, it marks us externally, and it is highly visible. After a baptism, chances are you can’t tell which of the congregants received the baptism. Nor can you tell who has and who has not received the Lord’s Supper when you’re walking around down the street on Sunday morning. But when Ash Wednesday is abused, it runs the risk of equating faith in Christ which is a work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of sinners, with facial adornment. But Christ takes this even further than to simply caution us in this way. Notice if you will, Christ did not say, do not only let your fasting be seen by others, but do not let it be seen by others. In fact, take practical steps so that it isn’t. And what does Joel say to this? Rend your hearts, not your garments. Let your repentance be internal not external. He does not say no longer let it be only external. He says do not rend your garments. Rather than showing your repentance by dirtying your appearance and destroying your belongings, mark your repentance by bringing more beauty into the world and by mending and healing that which is broken. In future years, when the imposition of physical Ashes returns, and services are in person again, rather than beginning lent by walking through public streets with the ashes on your forehead so that others may see that you’re fasting, when you get the chance, not necessarily immediately, but when the opportunity arises, wash it off of your face after you go out of the service with water as a reminder that in your Baptism, your sins were washed away and you have been risen to new life in Christ. The dust that we all share in our flesh is visible, but water and the Spirit, are invisible, hidden in our hearts, but alive within us, renewing us daily.
In Matt 6, the Lord is bringing us to our knees so that we finally accept that we cannot see the church. These works and these acts of piety are nothing apart from faith, so let’s not make anything of them either way. It is of no spiritual significance if you have ashes or not. But only that you hold fast to the reminder given in the imposition of ashes, that you have sinned, that the punishment for sin is death, and that you need a saviour who has become dust for you, so that in Him and through Him you might have eternal life. This alone is of significance. The imposition of ashes upon our foreheads in this service is to remind us that we are dust. The issue is not that we impose ashes on our foreheads, but it is that in all things that we do whether it be the imposition of ashes, fasting, reading the Scriptures, prayer, or good works, the Old Adam in us is always constantly trying to claw his way back out of us, and attempts to do so through the fruits of our faith. He attempts to tempt us with these fruits, lying to us, saying that we created these fruits at least in part by our own strength of will. These fruits, which God produces in us, are pleasing to Him. Not because they in themselves are good, they are always stained with sin, even our best works are in themselves sins. But rather, because the one who does them in faith, by doing them solely for the sake of their neighbour, rather than in order to escape the threat of Hell, or to earn heaven, exercises faith in and through these works. It is faith, that pleases God. Faith that the threat of sin has been taken by our Lord Jesus Christ, and faith that the reward of eternal life has been granted to us freely in and through that same Christ. This is what makes a work, which is otherwise sin before God, no matter how virtuous it is in our own eyes, a good work. But the Old Adam within us, demands that he be given just reward for his works. And indeed Christ does speak of rewards. But the reward here, is for works done in secret, prayers done in secret, by one who trusts that the reward of justification is already given freely by grace and received through faith. But for the one who seeks to be be seen by others as pious and holy for the sake of justifying themselves before men, his reward is merely justification in the sight of other unjustified sinners.
Ash Wednesday, as every church holiday, helps us to combat the Old Adam with the imposition of Ashes, and the preaching of our utter dependence on the grace and mercy of God. This, rather than the visible identification of Christians is the actual purpose of Ash Wednesday, to remember that you are dust. From dust you were formed and to dust, yes, to dust, you shall return. You are in fact not God, you are in fact not righteous and you must therefore repent. Inwardly, not outwardly. Rend your hearts, not your garments. Do not trust in the wearing of ashes, the attendance of church services, good works, or acts of piety to earn your place among the church. Know this and this alone, that you are a Christian, that you are redeemed, that you are a child of God not because of what you do, but because of what Christ your Lord and your God has done for you, and to you. Let your proclamation of faith be that you do not work righteousness by your hands, that your prayers and devotions do not merit anything from God, and that you rely wholly, solely, and only on Christ and His mercy for your salvation. This is the meaning of ash Wednesday, it is a day of repentance. Repentance rightly understood is two parts, contrition and faith. That is to say, it is to firstly recognize that you are a sinner and need a saviour, and secondly, it is to realize that you have one who has crawled through dust, ashes, blood, and fire solely to bring you home with Him. By all means do good works, by all means fast and pray. But give to others because of their needs, not because of yours. And pray, because you can and are invited to as a gift from your heavenly Father, not in order to be considered by others part of this man-made church of earth built upon works and external piety. For only then, by faith and not by works, by faith and not by piety, will you be saved. So, indeed, do these things. Do fast for lent, do come every year to receive the imposition of ashes. But do so in faith that your reward is already freely given, do so in faith that the punishment for your sins has already been taken by another. Do so as a liturgical act, during this Divine Service, where through the imposition of ashes, and the preaching of our utter inability and reliance on the free, abundant, and ever-flowing grace of God, we are reminded of the greatness of God’s love for us.
Whether there are ashes on your forehead or not this year or every year to come, “even now” says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart. Even now, “we implore you on behalf of Christ,” says Paul, be reconciled to God through faith. This is the day of salvation. We have a treasure that is hidden in heaven, and a faith hidden in our hearts. But our God, He was revealed on the cross for us and for our salvation. I implore you on behalf of Christ, look to the cross and be reconciled to God, return to Him with your whole heart, and rest, having received the promise of your eternal and imperishable reward, as co-heirs with Christ, adopted as children of the living God.
I will close now with an illustration. Say there are 4 men, the first left the church after confirmation, but eventually sin took dominion over him, his marriage fell apart, he lost his job, and he began to struggle seriously with alcohol addiction he looked once again to the Lord, knowing that he was a sinner with no worth, he had no good works or piety to trust in, so he trusted in Christ Jesus for his salvation. The second attends the divine service every week but when he returns to the privacy of his own home he places his Christianity aside until next Sunday morning. On the outside to those who don’t know him on a personal level it looks like he’s a Christian, but in reality he’s only keeping up the minimal amount of effort necessary to be considered a Christian by others. The third man, attends church ever week as well but when he returns home he studies the Scripture, prayers, fights sin, and does good toward others, but he does so in order to escape hell and earn heaven. To the eye, this looks like a man after God’s own heart, but he’s only interested in climbing up to heaven by his own strength. The fourth man, in every way looks on the outside exactly like the third man, but in his heart, he is as the first. In God’s eyes, which look to that which is hidden, he is as the first, two broken sinners forgiven, renewed, adopted, and redeemed. These two, are the church. Yet to our eyes, they couldn’t be any further apart, because we judged based only on what our eyes can see, we cannot see into the hearts of man. Are you living in external sin? Yes, even now. Are you struggling with spiritual pride? Yes, even now. Are you already repenting of your sin and looking to Christ? Yes, you too, even now. Turn to the Lord and rest in His grace, amen.
