Ashes and Hearts

Ash Wednesday

February 14, 2024

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

 “Journey to Joy: Ashes and Hearts”

When I first learned that Ash Wednesday would fall on Valentine’s Day this year, my immediate thought was: “Nothing says love like ashes.” Really, what do we do with today? For many people, it’s all about candy hearts, taking your special someone out for a romantic dinner, and all the other things that go along with Valentine’s Day. And then there’s Ash Wednesday when a cross of ashes is smeared on our foreheads with the solemn words: “Remember, you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19b). The 40-day Lenten season begins today with Jesus’ call to give to the needy, prayer and fasting – the traditional disciplines of the Lenten season – as we heard in the Gospel lesson. Remembering all that Jesus did for us, in response to that great love, this is a time when Christians often voluntarily choose to give up, or fast from, certain things they love. By emptying ourselves, we are asking the Lord to fill us as only He can do. The two aspects of this day – Valentines Day and Ash Wednesday – at first seem polar opposite. But perhaps they aren’t so opposite as we may think. All of this flows into preaching for today under the theme, “Journey to Joy: Ashes and Hearts.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

The theme for preaching during this Lenten season is entitled, “Journey to Joy.” The somber Lenten season doesn’t seem particularly joyful. In fact, the signs of joy are deliberately removed from our Sanctuary and worship in this season: the cross is draped in the penitential purple of Lent; the beauty of the altar is veiled entirely; joyful “Alleluias” are omitted from our worship. Things just seem different – some would say depressing – in this season. Ash Wednesday puts us on a journey, but it doesn’t have to be depressing. It might be different, but different doesn’t mean bad. Is life always joyful? Of course, not. There are days and even seasons in life when joy is in short supply. We know this from our own experience. But what happens when we voluntarily step back from joy to contemplate the deeper things of life and faith, including Jesus’ own Passion – his suffering and death? What happens when we willingly commit ourselves to forego certain pleasures, deny ourselves, and take up our cross to follow Jesus (Mark 8:34ff.)? All of this is part of the season of Lent which begins today. Lent is a season which leads to joy – the joy of resurrection and new life at Easter that we have in our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we express our love and affection toward those we love? That’s what Valentine’s Day is about, right? Of course, there is a commercialized aspect to all of this. Last year, the average person spent $192.80 showing their love and affection. As a nation, last year we spent nearly $26 billion showing our collective love and affection (Average Cost Of Valentine's Day: 2023 Statistics | Bankrate). That’s a lot of love and affection! But how do you put a price on such a thing as love and affection? When it comes to God expressing his love and affection for us, this is something that cannot be measured in dollars and cents. It is measured in something of far greater value – the life of God’s only Son. This is what we heard in the Epistle lesson on this Ash Wednesday (2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10), as Paul the apostle writes: “For our sake [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). There it is – that’s what we call the Gospel, the Good News. This is not what we can do for God, but what God in Christ has already done for us. And it’s all gift. It comes to us freely. We don’t earn or merit this. We can’t buy it. It’s all about God’s amazing grace: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. The heart of God’s love and grace for us is revealed in God’s only Son, Jesus, who lived and died and rose again that we might be his own here in time and hereafter in eternity. Nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39).

In our own lives, when we have hurt or grieved those whom we love, that’s a very painful place to be. We are uncomfortable being in such a place because the relationship has been broken by what was said or done. We try our best to set things right, to make amends, to show that we are sorry, all of which may take time and help. If this is true on a human level, is it not true on another level – the spiritual level? The answer is yes, and that is what the Lenten season is about. Recognizing that we have grieved our Father’s heart of love by the evil we have done and the good we have failed to do, we are led by the Holy Spirit to a place of repentance. The cross of ashes on our foreheads is an outward sign of this inward sorrow over sin. As I wrote in my blog for this month: “A big word in Scripture is repentance. Sometimes we think this word means just contrition; you know, feeling sorry for the evil we have done or the good we have failed to do. But it’s much more than that. Repentance means a change of heart and mind that leads to a turn-around in life. It means walking in a new direction, all through the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit. Adam and Eve found out that you can run, but you can’t hide from God (Genesis 3:8ff.), and neither can we. Repentance is all about coming clean with God about ourselves, including our trying to build the foundation of our lives on something other than God. Sooner or later, all of these false foundations will be revealed for what they really are: false foundations. They don’t hold up because they can’t hold up. God has a better – much better – plan for us” (St. John's Lutheran Church: Alexandria, VA > Foundations (sjlc.com). God’s plan for us centers in the full and abundant life freely given in the life, death and resurrection God’s own Son, Jesus (John 10:10).

Maybe when all is said and done, the ashes of Ash Wednesday and the hearts of Valentines Day are not so far removed from one another. Our Father’s heart of love calls out to us, beckons to us, urgently invites us to “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your
hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:12-13). Recognizing that we are but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27; Job 30:19, 42:6), we are led by the Spirit and respond to our Father’s heart of love with repentant joy. And so our journey of joy begins this day. Marked with a cross of ashes, we follow Jesus on his way to the cross of Good Friday and to resurrection victory on Easter Sunday. God guide us and bless us on our Lenten journey of joy for Jesus’ sake. Amen.