“WHEN CHRIST ASHES YOU”
Saint Matthew 6: 16-21
Ash Wednesday: 6 March Anno Domini 2019
Father Jay Watson SSP
It is Wednesday not Sunday. It is the beginning of the Church Season, i.e. The Lord’s Season, of Lent. Nobody cares whether you enjoy Lent, any more than whether you enjoy having God’s Law preached to you every Sunday during every other Season of the year. It doesn’t matter what abuses have occurred over this day any more than what abuses have accrued over the name “Christianity” over the centuries. One repents of one’s own sins and strives by The Holy Ghost to amend and be what one has been called to be. The entire life of a follower of Christ is meant to be one of repentance.
Ash, ashes. The word appears 42 times in Scripture. Sometimes only as a byproduct of sacrificial death—death of an animal—sometimes to signify a befallen state (Job, Mordecai, a Prophet), but most accurately to signify a sinner’s true repentant nature before a righteous and holy God: “Abraham answered and said…’I have taken upon me to speak unto The Lord, which am but dust and ashes.’” [Gen. 18.27]. You see, it is both condition and attitude. It is both state, and understanding said state. Disabuse yourselves of protestant intellectualism and dry “head-calculating.” Repentance is more than thinking. Repentance is turning. Turning is acting.
None of this speaks against forensic justification. The woman who wept copiously at Christ’s feet HAD been forgiven and KNEW she had been forgiven…and thusly, she wept. Her weeping, in that situation, was her application of ash. You who confess that good works follow faith, let others see…let yourself see. Give up fearing outward expression of your inward gift of Grace…your faith in The Faithful One.
Jesus says “when you fast.” How can it not be good if Jesus says you will be doing it…says so approvingly? To wear ash or to fast are simply outward visible symbols of a broken and contrite heart; a heart slain by the Law on its road to Holy Absolution by way of confession of sin.
The Word of The Lord…
Sons of Adam, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of the serpent, and daily succumb to his sibilant hissings, like your first father “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” [Gen. 3] Likewise St. Paul tells you “Romans” of Kansas: “…the wages of sin is death.” [Rom. 6.23a]
The Word of The Lord from Saint Matthew: “moreover when ye fast,” and again “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
The argument against fasting and being marked by ash, that it is too Romanist, could very well be the same argument that “Pastor Billy-Bob” hurls against the “collect of the day,” the historic lectionary, or even the Nicene Creed and the Our Father. You know better. Arguing against wearing ashes on “Ash” Wednesday are also specious. For then Christians ought not ever wear neck crucifixes in public or pray before eating at a restaurant…so as to not be “hypocrites.” Really? The real hypocrite is the clown who’s always accusing other people, pious people, of being hypocrites.
Only Jesus, Only His Gospel—which is Himself with His enduring ever-present words and His sacramental presence—can free you and liberate your hearts from the chains of sin and selfishness. When someone saves your life, I suppose you could just “think” thank you. But if you truly believe you’ve been saved, saved by the sacrifice of the Savior, you might well “show it” in word and deed. Not to earn anything but because it just flows from a new you. You’re free to do or not to do…you’re redeemed, forgiven…home. What do you want to do?
Well, what you desire to do…you still do not. You don’t love perfectly and you love yourself too much. Jesus takes care of it; you. Jesus Lents you and Jesus ashes you.
Who fasted? Christ did. He fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and He fasted on the Cross for six long hours—tasting only your sin and the bitter cup of The Father’s wrath.
Who anoints the head? Christ had His head anointed in the Jordan by John so that He could anoint your head in the 8-sided Baptismal Font—straight from His own sacred head anointed by a crown of thorns. Jesus anoints you every time He touches your forehead in the Holy Absolution.
Who washes the face? You’ll wash the ash from your forehead after the Mass, to be sure, but with the joy, yes, a Lenten Joy, realizing that Jesus washes you clean from all your sins in His Word, in His Body and Blood.
Where is your treasure? You know. But, it’s good to be reminded. Your treasure is Jesus. Where is Jesus for you? Jesus has The Holy Ghost call you by His good words of “loosing” to this place, this pulpit and this altar. Your treasure is Jesus’ words and Person. Your heart and breath and soul and mind is Jesus’ forgiving pardon and His forgiving Body and Blood. Your treasure at the rail—your heart, His heart’s fruit, given and shed for you. Here Jesus takes you and ashes you with Law, the reality of what it took to bring you home, but here Jesus again washes not just symbolic ash off of you, but cleanses you totally from death and hell.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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