WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ASH WEDNESDAY?
Roman Catholic churches of the Latin Rite use this service to prepare church members to better appreciate the death and resurrection of Christ through self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, and self-denial. Ashes from the burned palms of the preceding year's Palm Sunday are blessed. With these ashes, the priest marks a cross on the foreheads of worshipers, saying, "Remember, man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19). Besides showing sorrow for their sins, those who honor Ash Wednesday add an additional meaning; the need to prepare for a holy death.
IS ASH WEDNESDAY MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE?
Ash Wednesday is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, however, from Biblical times, sprinkling oneself with ashes has been a mark of sorrow for sin. Several times the Bible mentions people repenting in dust and ashes; for example: Mordecai (Esther 4:1), Job (Job 42:6), the inhabitants of Nineveh (Jonah 3:5-6), and Daniel (Daniel 9:3-4). Repentance in dust and ashes often was accompanied with fasting during Bible times.
The type of fast Jesus himself endorsed was the following, found in Matthew 6:16-18, "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Additionally, Isaiah 58:5-7 says, "Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?”
Jesus is calling His followers to avoid making a show when fasting, but rather to help those in needs. He is calling Christians to think externally in avenues of service, instead of only thinking internally toward themselves. The point of that matter is this; Jesus is interested in the condition of the heart and not merely external appearances or show. As you think about your life, repentance, and fasting where is your heart? Are you others focused or self-focused? Do you desire to have true repentance and fasting as mentioned in Psalms 51 (especially verses 10-13, 17), or are your actions merely based on outward tradition?
Should Christians Celebrate Ash Wednesday?
As mentioned before, the Bible directly talks about repentance and fasting, but doesn’t mention Ash Wednesday specifically. Therefore, Christians are under no obligation to celebrate the holiday. The important fact to remember is that Christians should be ready and willing to repent, fast, and focus on God throughout the year and not just during the Lenten season.
Additionally, Ash Wednesday is not a day of holy obligation, although Roman Catholics attend Mass on this day in order to mark the beginning of the Lenten season. The churches of the Anglican Communion, as well as some other Protestant churches observe Ash Wednesday. Eastern Rite churches, however, do not observe Ash Wednesday; their Lent begins on the preceding Monday.
Lent is something that belongs to the church and not to the world. For sure, some people talk of giving something up for Lent, of going to the gym more, or of going on a diet. Lent is a good time to do this, but that isn't what Lent is intended for, even if it is used for that nowadays.
And certainly the world observes the day before Lent. ‘Pig Out on Pancake day’, or in New Orleans, it’s ‘Bring Mardi Gras to a Drunken Conclusion’ day. But one wonders how many people there were this morning who understood why they stuffed their stomachs or soaked their livers yesterday! Not everyone who binged yesterday will have fasted today for sure. And without the denial to follow, does the binge at the beginning make any sense? Does anybody even think about it?
But for us, Lent is the church’s way of telling time. How much longer to Calvary? How many days to Easter? Now we have left Christmas truly behind we arrive at the church’s way of remembering the adult Jesus (and how everything ended), rather than the baby Jesus (and how everything began). And we spend forty days and nights doing it, just as the Christmas season lasted 40 days too.
Once upon a time, Lent was a preparatory period ... a time of instruction ... getting candidates ready for Easter baptism. Today, it’s much more than that. Or it can be. For some, Lent is a disciplined effort at self-improvement. More than ‘forty days to tone those thighs,’ Lent can involve a conscious decision to better the self in ways deemed necessary or spiritually beneficial. These might be:
Services rendered - Habits reformed - Chapters read - Letters written -
Worship joined - Kindness offered - Reconciliation extended.
While for others, Lent is the church’s permission to go inward, to investigate the inner life - the interior castle as St Teresa of Avila put it.
I bet we keep all kind of nasties locked up in there, guarded by our best soldiers.
Or Lent is an opportunity to be, rather than do.
To deepen, rather than widen
Or even to replicate the forty days our Lord spent in the wilderness ... staring down temptation ... stepping up to obligation ... Saying, ‘this I mustn’t do’, or countering with ‘this I ought to do’.
Lent is a time for ethics, untrendy as that may be.
Lent is for Listening for God, waiting upon God, meditating, praying, reading the Bible. It can be a time for merely making peace with silence. As for giving something up, or taking something on - you be the judge. And as for doing better, versus digging deeper, well, you be the judge of that, too. Ask yourself a question: ‘Which needs more work, my behaviour or my interior?’ Only you know, but God will help you.
What I can tell you is that a genuine Easter rarely comes to someone who has taken no steps to prepare for it. Put another way, the more you put in to Lent, the more you will get out of Easter.
And there’s another thing: Every journey begins with a first step. Which is what Ash Wednesday is: a first step, that’s all. Just a first step.
Ashes are a pretty potent symbol. On one hand, they remind us of our mortality ... and perhaps you have noticed that none of us are getting any younger! And with Les’ funeral the day after tomorrow, we don’t need much more reminding. Yet at the same time, those ashes remind us of our fallibility. And we might also notice that we are not getting any better, either. Yet God seems to know that. And ... mercifully ... it doesn't seem to make a difference. May he give you grace, to keep a holy Lent.
One way of deepening our perspective on Lent, is think of it as a God-given period for putting things right. Much is made of Lent as a time for repentance, confession, healing, and preparation. But there is more to penitence than saying sorry, there are also amends to be made. If we are preparing for Easter, we are getting ready for something. There are steps to be taken, changes to be made perhaps. A Lenten discipline may well have consequences. That is the delight, and the terror, of an authentic Lent. The question is not, therefore – ‘what are you going to do about Lent?’ - but – ‘what is Lent going to do to you?!
I hope that during this period that our Lord gives, or rather lends us, that you get somewhere with asking this questions, and with answering them, and I hope that Lent is not miserable, but fruitful. So I wish you well, and pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will show you something of himself during the coming weeks.
Amen.
