Ash Wednesday
Preaching
Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
Sometime between 500 and 350 B.C., post-exilic Israel experienced a devastating locust plague, followed by a drought. That experience is described in Joel chapter 1. And certainly the people suffered under the dreadful effects of those disasters. But the message of the prophet Joel -- prompted not by the natural disasters, but given him as a revelation from the Lord -- is that the Israelites face a still more terrible disaster if they do not repent and return to their God. "The day of the Lord is coming, it is near" (2:1).
The Day of the Lord is one of the most familiar concepts found throughout the Bible. It arose in the time of the tribal federation and of the Judges, when God fought on behalf of Israel against their enemies. Because the Lord defeated Israel's foes in those days, the idea arose that he would always be on their side, and that there would come a day -- a Day of the Lord -- when God would defeat all of Israel's enemies and she would be exalted among the nations.
Beginning with Amos in the eighth century B.C., the prophets turned that popular confidence upside down. Yes, the Day of the Lord is coming, they announced, the Day of God's final judgment, when he would defeat all of his enemies and bring in his kingdom on earth. But far from being exalted, sinful Israel too would be judged. "Woe to you who desire the Day of the Lord!" Amos proclaimed. "Why do you desire the Day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light" (Amos 5:18).
Many of the prophets who came after Amos affirmed that dreadful message, as does Joel here in 2:1-2 (cf. Zephaniah 1; Isaiah 2:6-22; Ezekiel 7; Malachi 4:5; 3:1-5). Sinful Israel is not going to get off scot free with her sins against God, but rather will be judged like all the peoples. The darkness and gloom of the Day is near, and there is, spread upon the mountains, the awful judging hosts of God's armies (2:2), of God's "foe from the north," as Jeremiah calls them (Jeremiah 4-6). Chapter 3 of Joel vividly pictures the judgment taking place on the Day, and Joel 2:28-32 portrays the events that will precede it.
The thought of the last judgment on the Day of the Lord continues into the New Testament. "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God," writes Paul (Romans 14:10), and throughout the New Testament, the Day of the Lord is consistently connected with Christ's second coming, with his final judgment of us, and with his establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Thus, Paul's constant prayer is that his churches will be found guiltless and blameless on the Day of the Lord and thus be able to stand and inherit eternal life in the judgment (cf. the epistle lessons for Ash Wednesday: Romans 13:11-13; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 3:13).
Our indifferent and corrupt society does not believe that God judges anyone, of course. The little godlet that we have fashioned for ourselves in our naivete is only kind and benevolent, ready to help us out of a jam, but never accusing and judgmental, always willing to forgive, no matter what our attitude toward him. But the God of the Old and New Testaments is the Lord, and his lordship cannot be mocked. What we have sown, we shall also reap, writes Paul (Galatians 6:7), just as our Lord portrays all peoples called to account for their actions before the judgment seat of the Son of Man (Matthew 25:31-46). We, who have been made in the image of God, are responsible to him, and his question to us will be, "What is this you have done?" (Genesis 3:13). Thus, on this Ash Wednesday, in some churches our foreheads are marked with ashes from the Palm Sunday celebration of the Christ whom we have crucified, and we are told, "Remember that you are dust," (cf. Genesis 3:19), just as Paul reminds us that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:21).
That is not the end of the story, however, for our lesson in Joel continues, and there is spoken into our sinful lives God's little word "yet." "Nevertheless." "But." God brings a counter message, an announcement of good news (2:12-13). "Even now," God says through his prophet, you can return to me and be forgiven. Now, on this day, in the midst of our situation, when our sins have multiplied and we have been heedless of our God. Even now when not one of us has the goodness to stand in the judgment of our Lord, and not one of us measures up to what God intended us to be. Even now, when our weakness, our pride, our selfishness, and our terribly human mistakes have earned for us nothing but the censure of our Lord, we can nevertheless know his forgiveness and be restored to fellowship with him, to give us the certain hope of eternal life in his kingdom.
We are called to repentance on this Ash Wednesday, and that repentance involves, says our Joel text, a rending of our hearts (v. 13). For it is in our hearts that our sin lies, is it not? In our inner beings, where we nurse our grudges and hatreds, where our desires and lusts lie, where we fashion our self-will, heedless of the will of God. What comes out of a person, Jesus teaches, is what defiles him or her -- "evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness" -- thus does our Lord catalogue our sins (Mark 7:20-23). And so it is in our hearts that we need to repent of our waywardness and to direct our lives toward our God. Outward show of fasting in Lent, evident acts of piety are not enough. God wants our inner turning with all our heart.
We should not be misled, however. It is not because we clean up our lives that God forgives us. Rather, our text says that it is because the Lord "is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (2:13). We can never coerce God's love for us by something we do. But in contrast to our hearts, God's is a heart of pure love, finally revealed to us in the cross of Jesus Christ. There on Golgotha, he pours out his forgiveness, even while we are still sinners, and so the mark of ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday becomes not the mark of death, but of life and love to all eternity. Yes, apart from that sacrifice of Christ on the cross, you and I will die. But Jesus Christ also rose from the dead and now lives and loves us. And his goodness is sufficient to forgive us in the eyes of our God and to give us his eternal life. Indeed, his Spirit living in us is able to make us new persons in God's sight.
So it all comes down to trusting God's love in our Lord Jesus Christ, you see, repenting of our sin in the depths of our hearts, and giving them fully to our Lord, that he may remake us into the persons that he wants us to be and that we may inherit eternal life in his good kingdom that is coming. Surely, the love of Christ now demands from us our love, our life, our all.
The Day of the Lord is one of the most familiar concepts found throughout the Bible. It arose in the time of the tribal federation and of the Judges, when God fought on behalf of Israel against their enemies. Because the Lord defeated Israel's foes in those days, the idea arose that he would always be on their side, and that there would come a day -- a Day of the Lord -- when God would defeat all of Israel's enemies and she would be exalted among the nations.
Beginning with Amos in the eighth century B.C., the prophets turned that popular confidence upside down. Yes, the Day of the Lord is coming, they announced, the Day of God's final judgment, when he would defeat all of his enemies and bring in his kingdom on earth. But far from being exalted, sinful Israel too would be judged. "Woe to you who desire the Day of the Lord!" Amos proclaimed. "Why do you desire the Day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light" (Amos 5:18).
Many of the prophets who came after Amos affirmed that dreadful message, as does Joel here in 2:1-2 (cf. Zephaniah 1; Isaiah 2:6-22; Ezekiel 7; Malachi 4:5; 3:1-5). Sinful Israel is not going to get off scot free with her sins against God, but rather will be judged like all the peoples. The darkness and gloom of the Day is near, and there is, spread upon the mountains, the awful judging hosts of God's armies (2:2), of God's "foe from the north," as Jeremiah calls them (Jeremiah 4-6). Chapter 3 of Joel vividly pictures the judgment taking place on the Day, and Joel 2:28-32 portrays the events that will precede it.
The thought of the last judgment on the Day of the Lord continues into the New Testament. "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God," writes Paul (Romans 14:10), and throughout the New Testament, the Day of the Lord is consistently connected with Christ's second coming, with his final judgment of us, and with his establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Thus, Paul's constant prayer is that his churches will be found guiltless and blameless on the Day of the Lord and thus be able to stand and inherit eternal life in the judgment (cf. the epistle lessons for Ash Wednesday: Romans 13:11-13; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 3:13).
Our indifferent and corrupt society does not believe that God judges anyone, of course. The little godlet that we have fashioned for ourselves in our naivete is only kind and benevolent, ready to help us out of a jam, but never accusing and judgmental, always willing to forgive, no matter what our attitude toward him. But the God of the Old and New Testaments is the Lord, and his lordship cannot be mocked. What we have sown, we shall also reap, writes Paul (Galatians 6:7), just as our Lord portrays all peoples called to account for their actions before the judgment seat of the Son of Man (Matthew 25:31-46). We, who have been made in the image of God, are responsible to him, and his question to us will be, "What is this you have done?" (Genesis 3:13). Thus, on this Ash Wednesday, in some churches our foreheads are marked with ashes from the Palm Sunday celebration of the Christ whom we have crucified, and we are told, "Remember that you are dust," (cf. Genesis 3:19), just as Paul reminds us that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:21).
That is not the end of the story, however, for our lesson in Joel continues, and there is spoken into our sinful lives God's little word "yet." "Nevertheless." "But." God brings a counter message, an announcement of good news (2:12-13). "Even now," God says through his prophet, you can return to me and be forgiven. Now, on this day, in the midst of our situation, when our sins have multiplied and we have been heedless of our God. Even now when not one of us has the goodness to stand in the judgment of our Lord, and not one of us measures up to what God intended us to be. Even now, when our weakness, our pride, our selfishness, and our terribly human mistakes have earned for us nothing but the censure of our Lord, we can nevertheless know his forgiveness and be restored to fellowship with him, to give us the certain hope of eternal life in his kingdom.
We are called to repentance on this Ash Wednesday, and that repentance involves, says our Joel text, a rending of our hearts (v. 13). For it is in our hearts that our sin lies, is it not? In our inner beings, where we nurse our grudges and hatreds, where our desires and lusts lie, where we fashion our self-will, heedless of the will of God. What comes out of a person, Jesus teaches, is what defiles him or her -- "evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness" -- thus does our Lord catalogue our sins (Mark 7:20-23). And so it is in our hearts that we need to repent of our waywardness and to direct our lives toward our God. Outward show of fasting in Lent, evident acts of piety are not enough. God wants our inner turning with all our heart.
We should not be misled, however. It is not because we clean up our lives that God forgives us. Rather, our text says that it is because the Lord "is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (2:13). We can never coerce God's love for us by something we do. But in contrast to our hearts, God's is a heart of pure love, finally revealed to us in the cross of Jesus Christ. There on Golgotha, he pours out his forgiveness, even while we are still sinners, and so the mark of ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday becomes not the mark of death, but of life and love to all eternity. Yes, apart from that sacrifice of Christ on the cross, you and I will die. But Jesus Christ also rose from the dead and now lives and loves us. And his goodness is sufficient to forgive us in the eyes of our God and to give us his eternal life. Indeed, his Spirit living in us is able to make us new persons in God's sight.
So it all comes down to trusting God's love in our Lord Jesus Christ, you see, repenting of our sin in the depths of our hearts, and giving them fully to our Lord, that he may remake us into the persons that he wants us to be and that we may inherit eternal life in his good kingdom that is coming. Surely, the love of Christ now demands from us our love, our life, our all.
