Ash Wednesday, 2024

 

For everything there is a season, and la 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).

 

Today is Ash Wednesday. Many Christians mark this as the first day of Lent, a 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 you. This was an outward sign of an inner reality. If you or your children have been baptized, the symbolism is similar. Baptism marks us as God’s covenant children, 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.

 

Today is a day to confess our sins and to continue in our journey toward holiness as we 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 celebrate. We take comfort and joy in the fact that Christ’s sacrifice for us paid all 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!