Ash Wednesday Sermon

Ancient Audience:

We all stand on the edge of our own demise.

None new that better than the people of God during the time when the book of Joel was proclaimed. Joel 2:1-2 tells us that the people of God are standing on the edge of battle against the most viscous and ferocious enemy in the known world, all the people of God could do was barricade themselves in the city of Jerusalem. Their assailants have been described as the “borgs” of the world; ancient Nazi’s if you will. The people of Assyria were masters at killing, masters at enslaving, and masters at reveling in the demise of any and everyone. If you ever have the opportunity to go to the British Museum you can see their ancient war murals depicting people losing their heads, their entrails being spilled, and being brought into slavery. This was the approaching enemy of the people of God and their was nothing they could do but shutter in fear and pray for a miracle.

And pray they did, but the most depressing part of the story of Joel is in chapter 2:11. “The Lord utters His voice at the head of His army; how vast is His host! Numberless are those who obey His command. Truly the day of the Lord is great; terrible indeed- who can endure it?” The sobering reality for the people of God in the midst of their impending destruction was that their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was behind this hostile takeover. This was not a scenario of bad people coming and destroying innocent lives, this was a case of judgement against a wicked people, God’s people.

You see, God is truly is slow to anger and abounding in patience, but if the people of God continue to transgress His Word and commands, God will bring about His judgement. He is love, but He is also a God of justice and truth. Thus, to say that the people of God in Joel stood on the edge of their own demise, is a true statement. They were about to lie in the bed they made.

Yet even in the midst of their despair, devastation, and destruction they heard these words from God:

“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”

Return to me. God sends an army to judge the people of God for the sins they have committed, the choices they have made, and the problems they have created, yet He still shows mercy and says “return to me.” The people of God have been given another chance to repent of their wickedness and “who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him.” The mercy and love of God even in the midst their stupid choices and actions is astounding. He truly is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”

Yet, God is not solely interested in the people of God coming to Him; He is interested in them coming to Him in repentance that is deeper than simply outward forms. The words of Joel proclaim to “rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God.” He was looking for true repentance that realized that the devastation at their doorsteps was not the fault of anyone but themselves. They were responsible for the Assyrians coming; they were guilty and no one else for this situation. A truly repentant heart does not seek to justify its situation, it simply acknowledges that it is has sinned against God and stands in need of God’s mercy. It understands and admits that we all stand on the edge of our own demise.

Current Audience:

St. Paul teaches us in Romans 3:10-12 that “there is none who is righteous, not even one; there is none who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.” Each and every one of us, including this preacher, stand on the edge of our own demise. We were born into sin because of our connection to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, yet we are not simply victims of our own circumstances. Each and everyone one of us stand guilty for sins of rebellion towards God, acts of wickedness towards humanity and even crippling our own lives through self-hated (whether we recognize that or not).

Some of us in this room may stand on the edge of a cliff looking at a train-wreck that we created, while others are on the edge of making decisions that if not stopped will result in a train-wreck for you, your family and friends. “All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our way,” Isaiah 53:6. There is not one of us in this room that has not broken the law of God and stands deserving of His judgement, just like the people of God in our story. There is not one of us in this room that is not just one stupid decision away from changing the course of your life and the ones you love. Men, all it takes is one alluring thought about that new female colleague to stick and your whole life could be different; ladies, its only one unrealistic expectation placed on your daughter that you engrain in her through time that could cause her to hate you later in life. Students, its just one party that you shouldn’t have went to that could land you marked for the rest of your life. We all stand on the edge of our own demise.

I do not bring these sobering thoughts to you out of some desire to emotionally manipulate you or cause you to feel bad, I bring these thoughts up on this day, on Ash Wednesday, to remind each and everyone of us who we are, humans. We are fallen, frail humans who have a bend toward destruction and outside of the saving work of Jesus Christ, we will make the wrong choice. That is what Ash Wednesday is all about; that is what the 40 days of Lent are all about. It is not about giving up chocolate or soda or TV; it is about deep introspection that forces us to confront the fact that we are fallen humans despite our best efforts. It is a day and a season that symbolically places the sign of the cross on our head with the ashes of our own sinful humanity.

Yet, that is not the end of our story. The Lord says to us, “return to me.” “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent is a time for us to prepare our hearts for Christ’s descent to the cross. It is a time for us to ask that scary question the writer asks in Psalms 139:23-24 “search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” It is a season of introspection and repentance so that when Christ is placed in the tomb on good Friday, we can truly say that we “have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer We who live, but it is Christ who lives in” us. It is a season of bowing before the alter of God and asking for strength to walk away from the sin that so easily entangles us.

The reason we place ashes on our foreheads on this day is to remind us that we are broken humans with a propensity towards destruction, but thanks be to God because of Jesus Christ, He makes beauty from our ashes. We go through 40 days of repentance because we know that after the death and devastation of good Friday, resurrection and new life come on Sunday. Even in the midst of our despair, devastation, and destruction, God says “return to me.”

Take this season and the placement of ashes on your head today as a chance to look deep in your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal areas that need to change. The people of God in Joel’s time needed a “do over” and through the mercy of God and their repentance, they got one. Lent is our chance for a “do over.” We all stand on the edge of our own demise, but through the Father sending His Son Jesus Christ to model true humanity, die for our sin and the sin of the whole world, and gloriously rise again in the power of the Spirit, we have been given the chance to step away from that edge and live life abundantly. “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart.”

Lets stand.