The Oil of Repentance

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV).

Lent is a wonderful time in the Christian calendar. It begins with Ash Wednesday. Many Christians mark this as the first day of this season of reflection and repentance leading up to Resurrection Sunday (Easter). In some church traditions a mark of ashes is placed on a person’s forehead, as a reminder of sin and of Christ’s sacrifice to save us. In the Old Testament, people put on sackcloth and ashes as a sign of mourning, often because of their sins. They recognized that their sins grieved their Lord and God. Similarly, people would be anointed with oil as a sign, but not of mourning. Being anointed with oil was a sign of favor and holiness, a calling that God had in mind for every believer. This was an outward sign of an inner reality. Today we might see baptism as a similar symbolic mark. It signifies the faith that has been born within us through the calling of God in the Holy Spirit that marks us as God’s covenant children. We have been called to be part of his family. The water symbolizes the washing away of sin and the rising to new life we receive in Christ. Regardless of whether you have been baptized with water, received your ashes in worship, or anointed with oil, today should be a day to confess your sins and to strive toward holiness as you reflect on the journey of Christ to the cross. It is a time to mourn our shaky obedience. But it is also a time to dance. We take comfort and joy in the fact that Christ’s sacrifice for us paid the penalty for our sin. We can go forward in calm, delightful assurance that Jesus’ anointing becomes ours, with the promise of new life with God forever! As you reflect on this wonderful opportunity of calling, find that one person God puts in your path today to give or get a kind expression of the grace of God. It may be just the thing that will allow you to “set the people free”! We are all in some way like Moses… called to lead others to the Promised Land!