Promised Treasures - Ashes

Ash Wednesday

February 22, 2023

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

 “Promised Treasures – Ashes”

Ashes are before us today as we enter into the 40-day Lenten season. The ritual of repentance in worship this day, marking our foreheads with a cross of ashes, is an ancient one, reminding us that we are but mortals with a limited span of life, calling us to live in this world in such a way that we may always be ready to leave it. The haunting words from the imposition of ashes this day hearken back to our first parents in the Garden of Eden, following their fall into sin (Genesis 3:1ff.). These words remind us that the curse which Adam and Eve faced because of their sin and disobedience is one that we still face in our own lives today. It is the original sin, and has been handed down to us from them. As God spoke to Adam, so He speaks to us today: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). And yet, there is a promised treasure within these ashes smeared on our foreheads. The ashes we receive are in the form of a cross, reminding us that in Jesus, who gave his life for us upon the tree of the cross, there is forgiveness of sins, resurrection from the dead, and the promise of eternal life in him. The message for this Ash Wednesday, based on the words of Jesus in the Gospel lesson, is entitled: “Promised Treasures – Ashes.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Remember the children’s nursery rhyme, “Ring around the rosie, pockets full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down?” The origins of this are uncertain, but the ending of that rhyme speaks truth, even if we don’t want to hear it: ashes, ashes, we all fall down. Some may see this Lenten season as a relic from the past, freighted with guilt and images of suffering. Why dwell on this? For the believer in Christ, the Lenten season affords us the opportunity to view again the great cost which Jesus willingly paid for us and for our salvation. Lent is an opportunity to embrace in a new and fresh way the promised treasures that God freely offers to us: his blessed Word that tells the wonderful story of all that God in Christ has done for us; our own Baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection through water and the Word; the foretaste of the feast to come that we receive even now through the holy Sacrament of Christ’s true Body and Blood. Lent is not an end in itself; it is a season of preparation that makes us ready for the great good news that “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” Lent is all about getting us ready to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. As we journey toward Easter, this Lenten series, “Promised Treasures,” will lift up ways in which the Gospel is conveyed through physical senses of sight, smell, and touch. Beginning today and each Sunday of the Lenten season, we will see, touch, smell, and feel things like ashes, salt, water, light, bread, and palms. Then, during Holy Week, the focus shifts to elements like water and blood (wine) for Maundy Thursday, wood for Good Friday, and finally, milk and honey for Easter Sunday. The purpose of focusing on these earthly elements is to make the eternal love of God more memorable, tactile, and meaningful for the people of God. Living as we do in an anxious and sinful world, these elements are memorable footholds for renewed hope and strength in our journey of faith.

When a fire destroys forests, homes, businesses, or entire communities, what is left are charred remains and ashes. The smell of that burning can remain for quite a long time. For those who have lived through a fire, it is a devastating experience. Personal belongings and possessions, family keepsakes and mementos, precious photos and things that cannot be replaced can all be lost to fire. The ashes that remain have no value whatsoever, except to serve as a physical reminder of what has been lost. And yet, it is from such ashes that new life springs up! From the devastated forest floor, new seedlings emerge. From what is lost in our own lives, as tragic as that is, people often remark that what has been lost are things, and things can be replaced, but lives cannot. Those ashes that represent such loss can help us reassess what is important in life and what is not.

The season of Lent is a call to return to our baptismal roots in faith. It is in holy Baptism that we die to sin and are raised to new life in Christ. It is in holy Baptism that we are first marked with the cross of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit for eternal life. It is in holy Baptism that we are named as children of God and inheritors of salvation. The original Baptismal font of our Sanctuary is now a ceremonial font at the back of the Sanctuary. This reminds us that it is through this washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) that we enter into the family of faith and come into God’s house. Water has been placed into the Baptismal font there at the back of the Sanctuary so that we may dip our fingers into as we enter and leave the house of the Lord, tracing the sign of the cross, reminding us who we are and Whose we are. From the ashes of our past, new life is graciously bestowed upon us through our Lenten Savior Jesus Christ, who shed his blood and gave his life for us all.

In the Gospel lesson appointed for Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21), we find the origins of the three-fold Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – works of love, giving to the needy. Jesus instructs us that these are not to be things that draw attention to ourselves. Rather, these are to be disciplines, practices, that point others to God, not us. Not once, not twice, but three times in this section of Scripture, Jesus cautions us against doing such things in order to be seen by others: “Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward” (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16). So that’s your reward? To be noticed, to be seen, by others? That has about as much value as ashes. It has no value. It may well be that our own vanity is one of the things that we must give up for the Lenten season. Jesus desires to give so much more to his people! It is those closing verses of our Gospel lesson that remind us of the truth of Jesus’ own promised treasure: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Let the promised treasure of Jesus’ saving love, sealed with his own blood on the tree of the cross, be at the heart of this blessed Lenten season. Amen.