Joel 2:12-19; 2 Peter 1:2-11; St Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Tamar, the virgin daughter of David, put ashes on her head after being deceived and violated by her brother (2 Sam 13). We put them on because we have been deceived and violated by our father the devil. He led us down terrible paths, promising things he could never give. Then after violating us, he filled us with shame at what we had done, at our defiling. We dare not show our faces to look our mothers in the eye. We mark ourselves with ashes to show our mourning, our shame, our death.
Mordecai and all the Jews put ashes on in response to the cruelty of the Persians (Est 4). We also have a cruel master. We have enslaved ourselves to sin, giving in to passion and to good desires corrupted. They control us like animals without shame or knowledge.
Sin ruins the good things of God. It causes us to be dissatisfied with what He has given. We compare reality to our favorite shows, to movies, and to popular Christian novels. We compare reality to political rhetoric, even to theological rhetoric. Reality fails every time. Our lives pale in comparison to all our day dreams and fantasies. Our friendships aren’t as lively as those on TV. Our spouses aren’t as exciting on characters in movies. Our careers are boring and sickly compared to the hype of human resources and recruiting. Not even our pastors are as profound, dedicated, or faithful as those on Issues, Etc.
We are emotionally flat, looking for joy, excitement, and entertainment. We gripe about fairness. We refuse to believe that God may have called us to a dull existence on purpose. Dull is safe. And there are joyous good things all around you. But we reject them as not good enough, not exciting enough, too predictable and boring.
Repent. There is nothing wrong with boring. Life isn’t fair. And you’re not that important.
Job sat among the ashes for his own sins (Job 2). So did the king of Nineveh (Jonah 3:6). Jeremiah says that we must cower in ashes (Lam 3:16). It is not just the devil’s fault. We are victims, yes. But it is also our fault, our own fault, our own most grievous fault.
Yet God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the need from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, says the Psalmist (113:7). He gives those who mourn a garland instead of ashes, proclaims Isaiah (61:3). He forgives the sins of the penitent. He clothes Adam and Eve with the skin of the sacrifice, with the bloody garment. He rescues His people Israel and destroys wicked Haman. He restores faithful Job and bestows on him double blessing. He establishes David’s throne forever.
The opposite of covetousness is contentment. In a sense sin is misplaced desire or worship. Where your treasure is there your heart is also. And there is your god. Our Lord Jesus Christ would turn you away from your fleshly desires, curve you out from yourself and orient you aright: in faith toward God and in fervent love toward one another. The traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving reveal your false gods. They are not meritorious. But they are good works, expected by our Lord of His disciples. And good works have a way, for the Christian, of uncovering even the true depth of our sinfulness.
When you give to the needy you are catechized to fear, love and trust in the one, true God above all things. You are turned away from mammon; from money. The reluctance with which you give betrays your idolatry. The Lord loves a cheerful giver.
When you fast you are disciplining your body, which does not live by bread alone. Too often your body rules you. Your mouth runs out of control, saying terrible things. You grasp for what does not belong to you. You consume more food than you need, sometimes eating when you’re not even hungry, as though another cookie will suppress the pain of a life not going as you once dreamed. And sex - what you have done with your body and what you have longed to do - is deeply corrupt, a perversion of God’s plan for holy marriage and procreation. You body is out of control. Do you not know that you were bought at a price? Glorify God in your body.
And when you pray you pray against yourself, against making a name for yourself, against your ideologies, against your will. You petition your dear Father in heaven for daily bread, not only for yourself, but even for all evil people and your enemies. In godly prayer you are curved away from the lusts and desires of your heart and bent by the Lord to His good and gracious will for your life.
We put on ashes on our foreheads today, dear Christians, as a reminder that the problem is with our hearts. And that problem infects and affects your body. This is why Jesus says, When you fast . . . He knows what you need. He knows your body needs to be controlled, that your mind needs to be disciplined, and that your conscience needs to be rightly calibrated to His Word. He is after your heart. He wants to make it His. First He must show you your truly desperate need for Him.
That is why those ashes are smeared. There is no beauty in them. They signify to the world and to ourselves nothing but dirt and death. But through the eyes of faith they are in the form of the Cross, that most lovely and dear of all symbols. That emblem of our hope.
We set our faces toward Jerusalem today. We turn our backs on sin. We look through the gallows on Golgotha and see the glory of the Cross enlightening the empty tomb. He has been lifted up from the earth to draw us to Him, to drain the Law’s accusing power, to empty hell’s claim, to crush the devil’s head, to bestow peace to the meek.
Everything begins and continues upon the ice for all Sacrifice of Christ. He is the One who knew no sin, yet became the Sin Offering for you and for the world. In flesh and blood like yours He has offered Himself entirely to His God and Father on your behalf.
He is the great Almsgiver, emptying His veins of His life-blood, to purchase and ransom you.
He who offered up the prayer, Father forgive them, continues to intercede on your behalf before the throne of His Father in heaven.
He kept the fast, needing only the sustenance of the Word of the Lord.
And His Father in heaven has seen His Sacrifice and in the blessed exchange, He rewards you. He bestows upon you the Treasure of Heaven, the very forgiveness of all of your sins attained for you by the blood of the Lamb who was slain, yet behold He lives.
He has released you from your cruel master, set you free from sin, death, and the power of the devil. He welcomes you to Himself and covers your shame with the baptismal garment of His righteousness. He raises you from the dust and seats you with Himself in the heavenly places. By His divine power He has granted to you all things that pertained to life and godliness.
You are a holy people, dear ones, anointed with the ashen cross. You belong to the Lord. His mark and His name are upon you. That is what it means to be sanctified, to be holy. You are forgiven, fully and completely. Are you freed form living under the Law to now live in it. To practice your righteousness, though not before men in order to be seen by them. But as living sacrifices, marked with the ashen Cross of His own sacrifice.
And behold, the Lord has sent you the fruit of His Sacrifice, the grain offering and the wine offering of His own Body and Blood, by which you are satisfied. Here is entrance into the eternal kingdom in the very flesh and blood of the Son. Lift up your hearts unto the Lord, for here is your Treasure, which shall preserve you steadfast in both body and soul, heart and mind, unto life everlasting.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Tamar, the virgin daughter of David, put ashes on her head after being deceived and violated by her brother (2 Sam 13). We put them on because we have been deceived and violated by our father the devil. He led us down terrible paths, promising things he could never give. Then after violating us, he filled us with shame at what we had done, at our defiling. We dare not show our faces to look our mothers in the eye. We mark ourselves with ashes to show our mourning, our shame, our death.
Mordecai and all the Jews put ashes on in response to the cruelty of the Persians (Est 4). We also have a cruel master. We have enslaved ourselves to sin, giving in to passion and to good desires corrupted. They control us like animals without shame or knowledge.
Sin ruins the good things of God. It causes us to be dissatisfied with what He has given. We compare reality to our favorite shows, to movies, and to popular Christian novels. We compare reality to political rhetoric, even to theological rhetoric. Reality fails every time. Our lives pale in comparison to all our day dreams and fantasies. Our friendships aren’t as lively as those on TV. Our spouses aren’t as exciting on characters in movies. Our careers are boring and sickly compared to the hype of human resources and recruiting. Not even our pastors are as profound, dedicated, or faithful as those on Issues, Etc.
We are emotionally flat, looking for joy, excitement, and entertainment. We gripe about fairness. We refuse to believe that God may have called us to a dull existence on purpose. Dull is safe. And there are joyous good things all around you. But we reject them as not good enough, not exciting enough, too predictable and boring.
Repent. There is nothing wrong with boring. Life isn’t fair. And you’re not that important.
Job sat among the ashes for his own sins (Job 2). So did the king of Nineveh (Jonah 3:6). Jeremiah says that we must cower in ashes (Lam 3:16). It is not just the devil’s fault. We are victims, yes. But it is also our fault, our own fault, our own most grievous fault.
Yet God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the need from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, says the Psalmist (113:7). He gives those who mourn a garland instead of ashes, proclaims Isaiah (61:3). He forgives the sins of the penitent. He clothes Adam and Eve with the skin of the sacrifice, with the bloody garment. He rescues His people Israel and destroys wicked Haman. He restores faithful Job and bestows on him double blessing. He establishes David’s throne forever.
The opposite of covetousness is contentment. In a sense sin is misplaced desire or worship. Where your treasure is there your heart is also. And there is your god. Our Lord Jesus Christ would turn you away from your fleshly desires, curve you out from yourself and orient you aright: in faith toward God and in fervent love toward one another. The traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving reveal your false gods. They are not meritorious. But they are good works, expected by our Lord of His disciples. And good works have a way, for the Christian, of uncovering even the true depth of our sinfulness.
When you give to the needy you are catechized to fear, love and trust in the one, true God above all things. You are turned away from mammon; from money. The reluctance with which you give betrays your idolatry. The Lord loves a cheerful giver.
When you fast you are disciplining your body, which does not live by bread alone. Too often your body rules you. Your mouth runs out of control, saying terrible things. You grasp for what does not belong to you. You consume more food than you need, sometimes eating when you’re not even hungry, as though another cookie will suppress the pain of a life not going as you once dreamed. And sex - what you have done with your body and what you have longed to do - is deeply corrupt, a perversion of God’s plan for holy marriage and procreation. You body is out of control. Do you not know that you were bought at a price? Glorify God in your body.
And when you pray you pray against yourself, against making a name for yourself, against your ideologies, against your will. You petition your dear Father in heaven for daily bread, not only for yourself, but even for all evil people and your enemies. In godly prayer you are curved away from the lusts and desires of your heart and bent by the Lord to His good and gracious will for your life.
We put on ashes on our foreheads today, dear Christians, as a reminder that the problem is with our hearts. And that problem infects and affects your body. This is why Jesus says, When you fast . . . He knows what you need. He knows your body needs to be controlled, that your mind needs to be disciplined, and that your conscience needs to be rightly calibrated to His Word. He is after your heart. He wants to make it His. First He must show you your truly desperate need for Him.
That is why those ashes are smeared. There is no beauty in them. They signify to the world and to ourselves nothing but dirt and death. But through the eyes of faith they are in the form of the Cross, that most lovely and dear of all symbols. That emblem of our hope.
We set our faces toward Jerusalem today. We turn our backs on sin. We look through the gallows on Golgotha and see the glory of the Cross enlightening the empty tomb. He has been lifted up from the earth to draw us to Him, to drain the Law’s accusing power, to empty hell’s claim, to crush the devil’s head, to bestow peace to the meek.
Everything begins and continues upon the ice for all Sacrifice of Christ. He is the One who knew no sin, yet became the Sin Offering for you and for the world. In flesh and blood like yours He has offered Himself entirely to His God and Father on your behalf.
He is the great Almsgiver, emptying His veins of His life-blood, to purchase and ransom you.
He who offered up the prayer, Father forgive them, continues to intercede on your behalf before the throne of His Father in heaven.
He kept the fast, needing only the sustenance of the Word of the Lord.
And His Father in heaven has seen His Sacrifice and in the blessed exchange, He rewards you. He bestows upon you the Treasure of Heaven, the very forgiveness of all of your sins attained for you by the blood of the Lamb who was slain, yet behold He lives.
He has released you from your cruel master, set you free from sin, death, and the power of the devil. He welcomes you to Himself and covers your shame with the baptismal garment of His righteousness. He raises you from the dust and seats you with Himself in the heavenly places. By His divine power He has granted to you all things that pertained to life and godliness.
You are a holy people, dear ones, anointed with the ashen cross. You belong to the Lord. His mark and His name are upon you. That is what it means to be sanctified, to be holy. You are forgiven, fully and completely. Are you freed form living under the Law to now live in it. To practice your righteousness, though not before men in order to be seen by them. But as living sacrifices, marked with the ashen Cross of His own sacrifice.
And behold, the Lord has sent you the fruit of His Sacrifice, the grain offering and the wine offering of His own Body and Blood, by which you are satisfied. Here is entrance into the eternal kingdom in the very flesh and blood of the Son. Lift up your hearts unto the Lord, for here is your Treasure, which shall preserve you steadfast in both body and soul, heart and mind, unto life everlasting.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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