Joel 2:12-19/2 Peter 1:2-11/St Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
“We commit this body to the ground, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection . . ." This is the grave-side declaration at the burial of God’s beloved children. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Now dust represents death. Man is taken from the dust and must return to the dust. The sinner must return to the ground from which he came. Dust is the inevitable consequence of all men. Every child conceived in the image of Adam must return to the dust; to death. Dust is the end that all men share in common.
This is not so with ashes. Ashes do not merely represent death, but sacrifice. Ashes are the result of the burnt offering, the constant reside left on the altar; the constant reminder of man’s need for mercy and atonement. Ashes represent that particular death which is an act of sacrifice. The death of all men is signified by dust, but only the Christian’s death is signified with ashes. As it is written, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Ps 116:15).
Thus the words, “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return,” are spoken to your old man, your fleshly Adam, the sinner. Yet the ashen Cross is traced upon your forehead, marking you as living sacrifices belonging to the Crucified One. Just as the rancher brands his cattle to mark them as His own possession; so Jesus signs you with His Cross, showing that you belong to Him. And just as cattle are driven, sold, and slaughtered at the discretion of their owner, so you are called to submit to the will of your Creator and Redeemer; to suffer as a Christian, not being ashamed, but glorifying God in the Name of Christ that He has placed upon you (1 Pt 4:16).
The holy and blessed season of Lent begins with the imposition of ashes. It is not a practice of righteousness before men that you may be seen by them. It is a reminder that you are marked with the Cross of Christ and so belong to Him; and the fact that He inscribes you with ashes means that our Lord wishes to use you for sacrifice.
Not as sacrifices of atonement, as though you could merit or maintain your own salvation. That could never be - for the all sufficient, atoning sacrifice has been made by Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, in His flesh and blood upon the Altar of the Cross. You, dear Christians, are called to be living sacrifices of thanksgiving; taking up your cross and following after Him. The ashes inscribed upon you represent both Jesus’ death and your own death with Him and in Him. All who are born of Adam must return to dust; but all who are born of Christ must turn to ashes; to sacrifice. For in union with Him, your sacrifices are a pleasing aroma that rise into the heavenly sanctuary.
And it is in His Sermon on the Mount that Christ Jesus your Lord describes the substance and nature of your sacrifices of praise. They are, in part, charity, prayer, and fasting. They merit you nothing before God, nor are done to remain in His favor. They are simply the sacrifices of praise made by those who are already reconciled to the Father through the one, all-sufficient, atoning sacrifice of Christ. Your Father who is in heaven shows His righteousness in mercy for you. The higher righteousness to which Jesus calls His disciples, is shown in your acts of mercy and fervent love toward one another.
Thus are you taught to pray for the hallowing of the Name of your Father in heaven, the coming of His kingdom, and the doing of His will, not only for yourself, but for all people. So too, do you petition your dear Father in heaven as a dear child, asking for daily bread not only for yourself, but for all men, even unbelievers.
And it is our Lord Christ, who is Himself the true Bread from heaven, who uses you to be daily bread unto one another. For you are given to pray the Our Father only in and through Christ. Marked with His watery cross, plunged into His death and resurrection, you have been consecrated as holy priests, called to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus (1 Pt 2:5).
As the prophet Joel says, Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation? Beloved, you have been consecrated in Christ Jesus, your Great High Priest; you are made partakers of His divine nature, given a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, the very righteousness of the One mediating Sacrifice, even Jesus Christ.
And this is the fast He chooses: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke . . .to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh (Is 58:6-7). These are the virtues of which St Peter writes, the exercise of your faith through mercy and love, bearing the holy cross and enduring suffering. If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. “The whole life of a Christian is a festival, a continuous sacrifice, and this sacrifice consists on the one side in prayer and thanksgiving, on the other in imparting of his substance to the needy” (Ulhorn, p150).
This is the severe mercy of the Christian faith and life. Severe because it empties you of all your idols, but mercy because it fills you with Jesus Christ. Severe because it brings repentance and sorrow over sin, but mercy because it grants the forgiveness of sins and the joy of angels. Severe because it finally takes your life, but great mercy because it gives the only true life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Dear children, you who now enter the Lenten fast do not do so to display your righteousness before men, but in order to drown your old Adam, to put to death that old man through discipline and prayer, worship and fasting, to hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ.
Having been cleansed from your sin and washed from all iniquity through the blood of Jesus, you enter now into His own battle against sin, death, and hell. For the Son of God joins Himself to human flesh and blood for this very purpose. In His crucified body the victory has been accomplished. In His broken flesh and obedient will, the battle is once and for all determined.
Yet Jesus does not wage this war for His own benefit. This Lenten season, Christ seeks to accomplish His victory within your heart, within your flesh and soul. And His greatest weapon against the powers of hell is His Cross. The Cross is His altar, the means by which His perfect flesh turns to ashes - the place of His sacrifice. Now in the Holy Supper of His Body and Blood, He invites you to share in His Cross, to participate in His life of humility, suffering, prayer and self-denial. These are your greatest weapons against the devil.
For here He gives you to drink of His cup, the cup of thanksgiving, which gives strength and life to the new man. For the ashen man, the new man under the Cross, has already died with Christ through Holy Baptism. In communion with the resurrected Christ you can never remain in the corruption of dust, but like your Lord and Master, are turned to ashes, becoming a perfect sacrifice sanctified by the Spirit and acceptable to the Father. To Christ be all the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Parts of the above were reworked from an Ash Wednesday sermon by Rev. Dr. James Bushur.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
“We commit this body to the ground, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection . . ." This is the grave-side declaration at the burial of God’s beloved children. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Now dust represents death. Man is taken from the dust and must return to the dust. The sinner must return to the ground from which he came. Dust is the inevitable consequence of all men. Every child conceived in the image of Adam must return to the dust; to death. Dust is the end that all men share in common.
This is not so with ashes. Ashes do not merely represent death, but sacrifice. Ashes are the result of the burnt offering, the constant reside left on the altar; the constant reminder of man’s need for mercy and atonement. Ashes represent that particular death which is an act of sacrifice. The death of all men is signified by dust, but only the Christian’s death is signified with ashes. As it is written, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Ps 116:15).
Thus the words, “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return,” are spoken to your old man, your fleshly Adam, the sinner. Yet the ashen Cross is traced upon your forehead, marking you as living sacrifices belonging to the Crucified One. Just as the rancher brands his cattle to mark them as His own possession; so Jesus signs you with His Cross, showing that you belong to Him. And just as cattle are driven, sold, and slaughtered at the discretion of their owner, so you are called to submit to the will of your Creator and Redeemer; to suffer as a Christian, not being ashamed, but glorifying God in the Name of Christ that He has placed upon you (1 Pt 4:16).
The holy and blessed season of Lent begins with the imposition of ashes. It is not a practice of righteousness before men that you may be seen by them. It is a reminder that you are marked with the Cross of Christ and so belong to Him; and the fact that He inscribes you with ashes means that our Lord wishes to use you for sacrifice.
Not as sacrifices of atonement, as though you could merit or maintain your own salvation. That could never be - for the all sufficient, atoning sacrifice has been made by Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, in His flesh and blood upon the Altar of the Cross. You, dear Christians, are called to be living sacrifices of thanksgiving; taking up your cross and following after Him. The ashes inscribed upon you represent both Jesus’ death and your own death with Him and in Him. All who are born of Adam must return to dust; but all who are born of Christ must turn to ashes; to sacrifice. For in union with Him, your sacrifices are a pleasing aroma that rise into the heavenly sanctuary.
And it is in His Sermon on the Mount that Christ Jesus your Lord describes the substance and nature of your sacrifices of praise. They are, in part, charity, prayer, and fasting. They merit you nothing before God, nor are done to remain in His favor. They are simply the sacrifices of praise made by those who are already reconciled to the Father through the one, all-sufficient, atoning sacrifice of Christ. Your Father who is in heaven shows His righteousness in mercy for you. The higher righteousness to which Jesus calls His disciples, is shown in your acts of mercy and fervent love toward one another.
Thus are you taught to pray for the hallowing of the Name of your Father in heaven, the coming of His kingdom, and the doing of His will, not only for yourself, but for all people. So too, do you petition your dear Father in heaven as a dear child, asking for daily bread not only for yourself, but for all men, even unbelievers.
And it is our Lord Christ, who is Himself the true Bread from heaven, who uses you to be daily bread unto one another. For you are given to pray the Our Father only in and through Christ. Marked with His watery cross, plunged into His death and resurrection, you have been consecrated as holy priests, called to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus (1 Pt 2:5).
As the prophet Joel says, Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation? Beloved, you have been consecrated in Christ Jesus, your Great High Priest; you are made partakers of His divine nature, given a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, the very righteousness of the One mediating Sacrifice, even Jesus Christ.
And this is the fast He chooses: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke . . .to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh (Is 58:6-7). These are the virtues of which St Peter writes, the exercise of your faith through mercy and love, bearing the holy cross and enduring suffering. If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. “The whole life of a Christian is a festival, a continuous sacrifice, and this sacrifice consists on the one side in prayer and thanksgiving, on the other in imparting of his substance to the needy” (Ulhorn, p150).
This is the severe mercy of the Christian faith and life. Severe because it empties you of all your idols, but mercy because it fills you with Jesus Christ. Severe because it brings repentance and sorrow over sin, but mercy because it grants the forgiveness of sins and the joy of angels. Severe because it finally takes your life, but great mercy because it gives the only true life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Dear children, you who now enter the Lenten fast do not do so to display your righteousness before men, but in order to drown your old Adam, to put to death that old man through discipline and prayer, worship and fasting, to hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ.
Having been cleansed from your sin and washed from all iniquity through the blood of Jesus, you enter now into His own battle against sin, death, and hell. For the Son of God joins Himself to human flesh and blood for this very purpose. In His crucified body the victory has been accomplished. In His broken flesh and obedient will, the battle is once and for all determined.
Yet Jesus does not wage this war for His own benefit. This Lenten season, Christ seeks to accomplish His victory within your heart, within your flesh and soul. And His greatest weapon against the powers of hell is His Cross. The Cross is His altar, the means by which His perfect flesh turns to ashes - the place of His sacrifice. Now in the Holy Supper of His Body and Blood, He invites you to share in His Cross, to participate in His life of humility, suffering, prayer and self-denial. These are your greatest weapons against the devil.
For here He gives you to drink of His cup, the cup of thanksgiving, which gives strength and life to the new man. For the ashen man, the new man under the Cross, has already died with Christ through Holy Baptism. In communion with the resurrected Christ you can never remain in the corruption of dust, but like your Lord and Master, are turned to ashes, becoming a perfect sacrifice sanctified by the Spirit and acceptable to the Father. To Christ be all the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Parts of the above were reworked from an Ash Wednesday sermon by Rev. Dr. James Bushur.
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