Grace, peace, and
mercy are yours from the Triune God. Amen.
Ash
Wednesday serves as a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for
reconciliation with God. It also marks the beginning of the penitential Lenten
season.
Looking
back into history, it was the practice in Rome for penitents and grievous
sinners to begin their period of public penance on the first day of Lent in
preparation for their restoration to the sacrament of the Eucharist. They were
sprinkled with ashes, dressed in sackcloth, and obliged to remain apart until
they were reconciled with the Christian community on Maundy Thursday, the
Thursday before Easter. It was a public display of their penitence.
These
practices have since gone by the wayside, replaced instead by the symbolism of
placing ashes on the forehead. We may no longer be in sackcloths or segregated
from each other but attending an Ash Wednesday service and having ashes marked
on our forehead remains a public announcement to the world that we have moved
into a time of reflection and penitence.
And
yet, today’s reading from Matthew seems to indicate that we need to be
invisible. If you are going to be pious, give alms, pray, and fast. Do so in
private. Don’t announce it to the world. Don’t be obvious about it. Be
invisible. Hide. Is Matthew telling us to disguise the fact that we are
Christian? Is he telling us to hide who we are?
Not
at all. Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting were the three pillars of piety for a
devout Jew. And all three acts of piety can easily be transformed to be acts of
self-glorification. All three acts of piety can be done not to glorify God but
to glorify one’s self. The issue becomes one of motive.
Many
pious and devout Jews were doing the right thing but for the wrong reason. There
is always the temptation for religious people to demonstrate their religiosity
in order to receive praise, affirmation, and applause. Christians are no
exception. And that is what Matthew is wanting us to avoid. Matthew wants us to
beware of practicing our piety before others in order to be seen by them. Instead,
practice piety because you believe it brings you into a closer relationship
with God. Evangelize by living out the Christian life without expecting praise
in return. Do so because you know it to be the right thing to do, not because
you want a reward from God or from others.
The
purpose of tonight’s text is to inspire us to give and act out of our hearts,
without any expectation of reward. When Jesus Christ lives in our hearts, our
acts of charity, devotion, and love are real, not phony. They are genuine not
fake. They come from unselfish motives with no expectation of any external
reward. Jesus wants us to let our lights shine that others might see our good
works of love, but we are not to show off our works of love. Don’t do things in
order to be a hero or receive praise, but just because the person in front of
you needs love. That’s what it is all about. Announce your Christianity to the
World! But do it without expectation of anything in return.
Tonight
is a night where we aren’t meant to be quiet. We become visible to the world by
donning ashes on our forehead. A colleague of mine once said to me that ashes
are a symbol that blow away in the wind, that washes off without a problem, and
that disappear as easily as they appear. He said that the world is ashes, the
signs and symbols of sin and death are all around us.
The
ashes may be temporary, but they reveal what is underneath the sign they mark –
the mark of the one who has claimed us, the sign of the one who will not leave
us, even in death, the cross of the one who turns ashes into something new, who
turns us into something new.
The
world is ashes. There is division in the world, in our country, in our
communities. Our hearts crumble as we listen to the news, as we follow events
on social media, and maybe even as we listen to friends and family. But we have
the Gospel of truth and hope. We have the message that from the ashes something
new will be born and the phoenix of a new world will rise.
As
Christians, not only do we need to be a part of it, but we need to lead the
way. A few years ago, a joint message from the bishops of MNO Synod, Diocese of
Rupert’s Land, and Diocese of Brandon contained this statement, “God is
speaking, the Spirit is sighing deeply, and the Body of Christ is compelled to
prayer and prepares to act to relieve suffering.”
The
Church in every age has responded to God’s call to pray and work for peace. As
the church, the Body of Christ, moves through the marketplace and side streets,
it is a sign of God’s holy and healing presence, a responsibility the gospel
compels us to take up. Let us pray and work for understanding, relief, and
compassion in our communities. Let us recommit ourselves to the work of
reconciliation which Jesus has shown us through the Gospel stories. Let us work
to dispel fear and then draw people into healthy interdependent relationships
where we can act locally to make a global difference.
On
this Ash Wednesday, may God’s gracious love guide us into Lent and deeper trust
as we follow Jesus. Our faith practices are not about us or what others might
think. Jesus commands us to practice our faith in ways that focus on God, not
ourselves. Jesus calls us to share our practices with God. Tonight, as we
accept the sign of the cross on our foreheads, let us remember that we are
Christians, and they will know us by our love.
Amen.
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