SERMON: "Ashes, Ashes"

"Ashes, Ashes"
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 Psalm 51 II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

We read in Genesis 18:27 these words: “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” The season of Lent begins on a Wednesday and the reason why is its own story.

Lent lasts 40 days and the number was chosen because it corresponds to the number of days Jesus spent in the desert being tempted. Now, if you’re mathematically inclined you’ve already done the calculation. There are actually more than 40 days between the Wednesday on which Lent begins and Easter Sunday morning. What gives? Well, here’s how it’s figured. In the early church, the length of the Lenten observance varied, but eventually it began six weeks, or 42 days, before Easter. But, since Sundays weren’t supposed to be considered fast days, that only left 36 days of fasting. So, in the 7th century, four days were added before the first Sunday in Lent in order to establish 40 fasting days. Hence, the first day of Lent is a Wednesday!

We call this first day of Lent "Ash" Wednesday. The custom comes from an old ceremony when Christians who had committed “serious,” “grave,” faults/sins were obliged to do public penance. The Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days of repenting for their wrongdoing and sprinkled ashes over them which had been made from the palms from the previous Palm Sunday celebration. Then, while the faithful - everyone other than those who had committed “grave” misdeeds – while the faithful recited the Seven Penitential Psalms - Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 - those destined to 40 days of repenting were turned out of the holy place because of their sins, as Adam and Eve were turned out of the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience. Now, get this: they were not allowed to enter the church again until Maundy Thursday after having won reconciliation by doing penance for the forty days and receiving sacramental absolution. (1) Later on the practice included ALL Christians in recognition that, “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (2)

"With the ashes on our foreheads, our sin is quite literally ‘before’ us, and we echo the Palmists’s prayer. Ashes, the residue of a burned-out fire, is meant to symbolize the less-than-spectacular state of humanity. Gray and lifeless, ashes make it clear that something is not right, that human beings have settled in the dust and settled for the worst.” (3)

"Lent is (indeed) a somber time, a time for reflection and growth, a time to change our ways and deepen our commitment. Our Lord entered into suffering and death during this period on our behalf. The least we can do is enter into the spiritual demands of the season for Him.

“This Lenten season will carry us through the next five Sundays. We will walk in the shadow of the Cross. We will taste the dryness of the desert and feel the loneliness of the wilderness. If we truly step into the spirituality of the Lenten season, we will feel like we have walked through the valley or shadow of death itself.

“Then we will come to Holy Week. We will see the triumph and tension of Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and set the stage for His final passion. We will see the trial and tribulation of Maundy Thursday, when Jesus was arrested and condemned to death. We will stare into the unspeakable darkness of Good Friday, when our Lord hung on a Cross to die.

“And then, finally, we will come to the bright light and magnificent redemption of Easter morning. The Resurrection will be real and meaningful to us because we will have walked to Calvary to get there. Again, if we really enter into the spirit of Lent in the forty days ahead, we will be happy and grateful for our Lord’s victory when it finally comes on Easter Sunday.

“But (on Ash Wednesday) we begin with dust and ashes. We begin by hearing Abraham speak for all of us: ‘Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.’

“Who among us would care to say this about ourselves? How many of us can be as honest as Abraham? It goes against the grain, doesn’t it, this spirituality of dust and ashes.

“It stands in contrast to the superficial piety and self-seeking silliness which too often passes for religion today. It contradicts the religion of self-esteem; it violates the ‘Praise the Lord and give me the goodies” religion which this self-satisfied age is content to hear. But scripture says that to everything, there is a season. There is a time to make a joyful noise unto the Lord,’ and there is a time for dust and ashes.’ Ash Wednesday is a time to strip away our vanities and delusions.  It is a time for dust and ashes.

“’Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.’ It may not sound so at first, but this spirituality of dust and ashes is good and healthy for us. It leads us to admit our frailty and confess our sin.” (4)

Do you remember your parents telling you that you should eat such and such a thing because it was good for you? In an article in Homiletics magazine, Brian Gray reflects on those words in his life related to his experience with spinach. “’Thirty seconds to finish eating your vegetables, young man, or you’re in big trouble … and remember – vegetables are good for the body.’

“The anguish which was my childhood. Facing a four-bite creamed spinach enemy. Sliding a lukewarm, leafy mass off the spoon into reluctant mouth. Pursing tight lips to keep that villainous vegetable behind them. A gulp of milk to wash it down, a hard swallow, and only three spoonfuls of agony left. But hey – I’m told, ‘It’s good for me.’

“Today I love spinach. I start with fresh spinach, not that frozen green block that was once creamed for me. I sauté it in a little olive oil, rough-chopped garlic and kosher salt. It’s not only good for me … it’s flat-out good. So something changed over the years. I learned to prepare and enjoy that which was once merely the object of childhood obedience. Force-fed nutrition became a culinary pleasure. And then, like now, spinach is still good for my body.” (5)

I suppose one of the reasons my eye caught this little illustration of Brian’s was because it has been my experience as well concerning spinach. I hated it as a child. And today, well, especially fresh spinach which I didn’t know anything about growing up, well, bring it on. And, I don’t even mind the cooked stuff, especially if there’s plenty of vinegar around.

But, Gray went on to say: “A Lenten fast can be the same ‘it’s good for you’ routine. We preach a fast – a 40-day laying aside of some habit or vice – and we tell people it is good for them. But if they stop chewing their nails until Easter, will they be more like Jesus? Is giving up candy a monastic spiritual discipline? Who are we kidding? When did the church calendar become cod liver oil? Is it merely something we unwittingly  consume for our health … just like our parents did … without ever seeing the benefits?” (6)

"What better evidence of the perception of Lenten dirge do we need than Fat Tuesday?  Historically, people celebrated Mardi Gras or Carnival (which is Latin for farewell to meat) as a last vestige of enjoyment before the 40-day Lenten fast weighed them down. Finish the party so we can start the liturgy.

“Instead of taking Lent, thawing it out, creaming it, and serving it like some ‘it’s good for you’ family vegetable recipe, what if we became culinary artists who prepare and enjoy Lent instead of obedient children who merely swallow the traditional family meal – how about fasting from some object or pattern that really prevents us from intimacy with Christ.” (7)

And then he offers some suggestions quite a bit different than the traditional giving up Pepsi or desserts or TV: give up the snooze button, talk radio, working those extra hours on Saturday, perhaps instead of depriving, how about embracing something new – some new spiritual discipline, reading a book, a daily jog, committing to loving something tangible.

Lent is corporate remembering the last days of Christ. We begin with dust and ashes, but it is important to know that we do not end with dust and ashes. Finally, it is the goodness and mercy of God we dwell on, not just our own unworthiness. We began by confessing our sins, but we end at the table, the place of our redemption and reconciliation with God. It is good and proper that we are both reminded that we are of dust and a redeemed people all at the same time.


1.David E. Leininger, “Good News in the Ashes,” Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., 2005, 0-000-0000-16.
2.Psalms 6; 32; 51; 102; 130; 143.
3. http://www.homileticsonline.com/Installments/feb2094.htm.
4. Erskine White, The Victory of the Cross, “Dust and Ashes,” (Lima, Ohio: C.S.S. Publishing Company, Inc., 1991), 1-55673-227-5.
5.Brian Gray, Homiletics, p. 7.
6.Ibid.
7.Ibid.