Ashes
Commentary
Most of us are aware of ashes as a symbol of a repentant heart and spirit and have heard this theme pressed at the beginning of many Lenten seasons. Maybe we ought to let our imagination loose for a moment or two and let ashes speak to us in other ways.
Symbol of death. Ashes are what is left when the body is gone. Ashes can symbolize the fact that we are nothing, have nothing to bring or offer and an acknowledgment that if we are to be made into anything, we are like those in Ezekiel ïs valley of dry bones -- a people completely dependent on God for new life.
Symbol of worthlessness. What can have less value than an ash pile? Once again ashes serve as a worthy symbol. By identifying with ashes we can declare ourselves worthless and undeserving. We are then ready to receive the gift of grace.
Symbol of cleansing. When I was a boy I used to watch as my grandmother boiled her water for washing clothes over an open fire. When the clothes were clean and put away and the fire had died down, Grandma would take her pots and pans out to the fireplace and begin to clean away accumulations that had come from much cooking. Ashes still contain those elements for cleansing. They can speak to us of that cleansing that comes when we are penitent.
Ash Wednesday is the right time to speak of all these themes and to look beyond our own penitence and see the face of a God who is ready to receive, forgive, and accept even before we turn.
OUTLINE I
True Confessions
Psalm 51:1-12
Introduction: Who is it that does not know that Psalm 51 is attributed to King David as his words of penitence after his affair with Bathsheba? Whether that contention is true has, no impact on the fact that this is one of the most beautiful and complete prayers of penitence we are given in the Psalms.
A. Verses 1-5. Take time to point out the extremely personal nature of these verses. They are so broadly put that they will fit the circumstances of any and all of us. Note that the request for cleansing is based on a clear acceptance of guilt. No excuses, no hedging, just clear and real repentance.
B. Verses 6-9. This prayer is based on a knowledge of God as one who offers his grace freely. Note the requests that are added to the prayer for forgiveness -- teach me, purge me, fill me, hide your face, and then blot out my sin. It is not only cleansing and forgiveness that the poet seeks, but more -- the gift of positive gifts that enable one to truly repent, turn, be made new, and pursue new life.
C. Verses 10-12. The beauty of the poem continues. Here is an acknowledgment that transformation comes as a gift from God. Only the power of God is sufficient to work that change, that re-creation that is his salvation.
Conclusion: Note that the balance of this poem was in all probability written at another time and added by someone who simply could not accept the declarations of grace. He wants to deserve God ïs good gifts and looks forward to the day when their liturgical rightness will earn his blessing.
Contrast the truth found in the first twelve verses which are, after all, in the same spirit as that revealed in Jesus Christ.
OUTLINE II
A Faithful Judge
Joel 2:1, 2, 12-17a
Introduction: What a wonderful summary of the entire message of the Gospel. Just take a look.
A. It is Joel who takes the vision of the Day of the Lord as a great day of blessing and transforms it into a day of judgment upon a people who are faithless and straying. Joel becomes the herald of judgment.
B. Then in verses 12-14 the prophet issues an altar call. Judgment looms on the horizon but repentance and forgiveness is still a possibility. In true New Testament style the message is that now is the day of salvation.
C. Verse 15 and 16. Nothing else is more important than making things right with God, not even a new marriage, not even the tasks of the day. All are to assemble to hear the Word.
D. Verse 17. Here is a call to come into the presence of God to petition his grace and acceptance. Then we come to the crux of the matter. Take a look at the last lines. God will not let his people down. His name and reputation is at stake. All who see what happens will know that their God is faithful.
Conclusion: It is interesting how judgment, repentance and the faithfulness of God are linked in this poem. Surely it is because both judgment and repentance are made possible because God is faithful and keeps his word. Remind the congregation of these declarations and offer them the same assurances that are given here and make repentance possible.
OUTLINE III
Accept God's Gift
2 Corinthians 5:20b--6:2-10
Introduction: Paul never once forgets where transformation begins. He invites the Corinthians to be reconciled to God. It is what is and is not in them that brings about the separation. God is not their enemy, rather they are his enemy and need to lay down their opposition.
A. It is clear that salvation as offered by Paul is at God ïs initiative. He has sent his only Son, has set the acceptable time and that time is now. Now is the time. Now is the day. Paul knows that in Corinth, as in every congregation, there are those who cannot believe that grace is a gift, who seek to earn and deserve merit, who want to wait and delay. Here he faces all these problems and wants to cut across them with his call to acceptance of God ïs gift.
B. The second part of this selection is a long listing of Paul ïs credentials as an apostle. It is these things which give him the ministry and the message as well as the right to make the offer and the call to salvation.
Conclusion: There is not a congregation in the world in which this call of immediacy will not be relevant. There are still those who cannot believe, who prefer to merit God ïs gifts, who wish to put off the day of decision. Issue the call. Use Paul ïs language. And do it not because of the judgment that may come if a decision is not made but because of the salvation and wholeness that may not be had when there is delay.
Symbol of death. Ashes are what is left when the body is gone. Ashes can symbolize the fact that we are nothing, have nothing to bring or offer and an acknowledgment that if we are to be made into anything, we are like those in Ezekiel ïs valley of dry bones -- a people completely dependent on God for new life.
Symbol of worthlessness. What can have less value than an ash pile? Once again ashes serve as a worthy symbol. By identifying with ashes we can declare ourselves worthless and undeserving. We are then ready to receive the gift of grace.
Symbol of cleansing. When I was a boy I used to watch as my grandmother boiled her water for washing clothes over an open fire. When the clothes were clean and put away and the fire had died down, Grandma would take her pots and pans out to the fireplace and begin to clean away accumulations that had come from much cooking. Ashes still contain those elements for cleansing. They can speak to us of that cleansing that comes when we are penitent.
Ash Wednesday is the right time to speak of all these themes and to look beyond our own penitence and see the face of a God who is ready to receive, forgive, and accept even before we turn.
OUTLINE I
True Confessions
Psalm 51:1-12
Introduction: Who is it that does not know that Psalm 51 is attributed to King David as his words of penitence after his affair with Bathsheba? Whether that contention is true has, no impact on the fact that this is one of the most beautiful and complete prayers of penitence we are given in the Psalms.
A. Verses 1-5. Take time to point out the extremely personal nature of these verses. They are so broadly put that they will fit the circumstances of any and all of us. Note that the request for cleansing is based on a clear acceptance of guilt. No excuses, no hedging, just clear and real repentance.
B. Verses 6-9. This prayer is based on a knowledge of God as one who offers his grace freely. Note the requests that are added to the prayer for forgiveness -- teach me, purge me, fill me, hide your face, and then blot out my sin. It is not only cleansing and forgiveness that the poet seeks, but more -- the gift of positive gifts that enable one to truly repent, turn, be made new, and pursue new life.
C. Verses 10-12. The beauty of the poem continues. Here is an acknowledgment that transformation comes as a gift from God. Only the power of God is sufficient to work that change, that re-creation that is his salvation.
Conclusion: Note that the balance of this poem was in all probability written at another time and added by someone who simply could not accept the declarations of grace. He wants to deserve God ïs good gifts and looks forward to the day when their liturgical rightness will earn his blessing.
Contrast the truth found in the first twelve verses which are, after all, in the same spirit as that revealed in Jesus Christ.
OUTLINE II
A Faithful Judge
Joel 2:1, 2, 12-17a
Introduction: What a wonderful summary of the entire message of the Gospel. Just take a look.
A. It is Joel who takes the vision of the Day of the Lord as a great day of blessing and transforms it into a day of judgment upon a people who are faithless and straying. Joel becomes the herald of judgment.
B. Then in verses 12-14 the prophet issues an altar call. Judgment looms on the horizon but repentance and forgiveness is still a possibility. In true New Testament style the message is that now is the day of salvation.
C. Verse 15 and 16. Nothing else is more important than making things right with God, not even a new marriage, not even the tasks of the day. All are to assemble to hear the Word.
D. Verse 17. Here is a call to come into the presence of God to petition his grace and acceptance. Then we come to the crux of the matter. Take a look at the last lines. God will not let his people down. His name and reputation is at stake. All who see what happens will know that their God is faithful.
Conclusion: It is interesting how judgment, repentance and the faithfulness of God are linked in this poem. Surely it is because both judgment and repentance are made possible because God is faithful and keeps his word. Remind the congregation of these declarations and offer them the same assurances that are given here and make repentance possible.
OUTLINE III
Accept God's Gift
2 Corinthians 5:20b--6:2-10
Introduction: Paul never once forgets where transformation begins. He invites the Corinthians to be reconciled to God. It is what is and is not in them that brings about the separation. God is not their enemy, rather they are his enemy and need to lay down their opposition.
A. It is clear that salvation as offered by Paul is at God ïs initiative. He has sent his only Son, has set the acceptable time and that time is now. Now is the time. Now is the day. Paul knows that in Corinth, as in every congregation, there are those who cannot believe that grace is a gift, who seek to earn and deserve merit, who want to wait and delay. Here he faces all these problems and wants to cut across them with his call to acceptance of God ïs gift.
B. The second part of this selection is a long listing of Paul ïs credentials as an apostle. It is these things which give him the ministry and the message as well as the right to make the offer and the call to salvation.
Conclusion: There is not a congregation in the world in which this call of immediacy will not be relevant. There are still those who cannot believe, who prefer to merit God ïs gifts, who wish to put off the day of decision. Issue the call. Use Paul ïs language. And do it not because of the judgment that may come if a decision is not made but because of the salvation and wholeness that may not be had when there is delay.
