Sitting in Ashes and Sackcloth
Rev. David French
02/22/23
Today, we begin our forty-day journey of confession, contrition, and repentance. Ashes are imposed and impressed on us with a cross on our foreheads. It’s the first external reminder that Lent has come, and I must die. Ashes for baptized Christians are a sign of confession, repentance, suffering, and grief.
When God first confronted Adam in the Garden of Eden after the fall into sin, God immediately reminded Adam that just as he came from the dust of the ground, so his body would again become dust. Even though Adam and Eve were created perfectly, they would now die because they disobeyed God’s command.
As their children, we speak the same words when we impose ashes: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return! Death comes to all people because all have been born with it from our first parents, Adam and Eve. As King David rightly confesses, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). Therefore, Lent is a very healthy, annual spiritual practice for us because it truly begs us to take off the old clothing of sin so that we may be clothed anew by Jesus Christ.
If you do a quick review of the Holy Scriptures, there is evidence of ashes throughout. Job covered himself with ashes because of his grief and shame. Jeremiah reminds us of ashes in Lamentations. Ezekiel preached cities such as Tyre would repent in dust and roll in ashes. Isaiah also warned God’s people about idolatry and worshiping wooden idols. One who worships them feeds on ashes. In Esther 4:1, Mordecai mourns for the people of God, tearing his clothes and putting on dust and ashes after he hears the murderous edict of the king and his servant Haman. Later, after Jonah preached to the city of Nineveh, the king and all the people mourned in dust and ashes. Finally, Jesus does not hide from ashes but exhorts the Galilean cities of Corazon, Bethsaida, and Capernaum to repent in sackcloth and ashes in today’s Gospel. The ashes you wear tonight remind you of your sin. Just as Nineveh sinned and repented in dust and ashes, many others repented after God’s prophets preached to them.
Today, we begin a new sermon series, Promised Treasures! Each week, we’ll highlight an ancient visible and biblical object that impresses upon us who we are and what God has done to save us. A number of these objects are common in daily life today, but by utilizing them in this way, you will better appreciate your history as the people of God and your daily need for Jesus Christ.
Tonight, we sit and clothe ourselves in dust and ashes as Job did. Job was blessed with a large family from God. He had a wife, seven sons, and three daughters. He owned a lot of land, had numerous servants, and thousands of animals. He was one of the wealthiest men in the east, like a modern-day Elon Musk. But then God allowed almost all his earthly possessions to be taken away in one fell swoop. Then, He permitted Job’s body to be so deeply afflicted with boils and sores, from the bottom of his feet to the crown of his head. He literally scraped his scabs and skin with a piece of pottery to get some relief. It got so bad that even Job’s wife desperately says to him, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9).
All Christians suffer in life, and if you haven’t, you will. In fact, St. Paul says to the Philippian congregation and St. Timothy that all Christians suffer. Some sufferings and trials are worse or less than others. Some are self-made due to our selfish ways and our bad choices. As I’ve often said, “If you stick your finger in a socket, you’re going to get shocked.”
Other suffering comes to us by others because we live in a sinful world. And when sin touches us, so does death! Our grandparents die, our parents die, children die, and other loved ones perish. So, we sit in ashes with Job before God we remember as Luther once said, “We are beggars, this is true.” You see repentance levels the playing field of life. It makes us recognize that any and every blessing we enjoy and possess is only a gift from our merciful God’s loving and almighty hand.
But thanks be to God, being baptized into Christ’s death is more than only wearing ashes. You are also baptized into His resurrection. Jesus teaches you also have been raised from the ashes of your death and grave and has assured you of eternal life. Jesus said to Martha at Lazarus’s death, “I am the Resurrection and the life, Jesus said to her. Anyone who believes in me will live even if he dies. Yes, anyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe that?” (John 11:25-26).
God reveals through St. Paul, “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, … we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). That is, you are no longer clothed in death but with the righteousness and life of Christ!
After Job endured his ashes and his cross, God raised him out of suffering. Jesus Christ washed and raised you with a new purpose. He washed away all your ashes and promised to bless you! Good Friday is coming, reminding you that Jesus Christ has taken your sackcloth and ashes, that is your sin and all it brings as Paul writes, “[God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Easter is our proof that God has overcome death, that sin, your sin, has been paid for. You and I now live in peace with hope and joy because Christ has been from the dead. So even as we sit in dust and ashes today that we may grieve, suffer, and repent. We also grieve as Job did. Job had hope and faith in the promise of his Redeemer.
In the end, you and I and all who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb will not be clothed in ashes but in stunningly white robes, washed completely by the blood of the resurrected lamb, Jesus Christ! Your joy is not found in you, but only in the Lord Jesus, who offers you His precious body and blood in this Supper. In Him, you are clothed. In Him, you are redeemed. In Him, you are secure, both now and forever!
In His name, Amen.