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On Ash Wednesday, the Christian Church enter the forty-day season of Lent. What is Lent for? It is a time of 1) self-examination, 2) repentance, and 3) renewal by the reception of God’s grace in Christ. We subject ourselves to examination in the light of God’s Word; we are brought to repentance through His Word; and ask Him to renew our life of faith and prayer with His Word and Sacraments, as we prepare for the joyful holy day of Easter and for the seven weeks of the Easter season.
During Lent, you should examine your life honestly (really, you must do this every day, but it’s particularly the focus of Lent). Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are all going to die; quite possibly, you will die soon, or alternatively, Jesus could return at any moment to judge the living and the dead. “Remember, you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” That is an unavoidable fact for all sinners, and it should humble us before the God who gives life to the dead, the Holy Trinity who has given you new life in Baptism. You have God to thank for your life today, and your life in eternity, and He calls out to us: “You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”
Examine your life. What kinds of things get between you and your Father in heaven? What false gods have you placed above Him? Have you loved the creation more than the Creator? What keeps you from loving the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself? What hinders you from taking up your cross each day and following Jesus?
During Lent, you should repent of your sins and purge all those things that get between you and your Father in heaven; cast out your false gods; redirect your love from the creation to the Creator; and gladly suffer with Jesus under the cross as you love your neighbor as yourself. As you examine yourself, you will find that what gets between you and the Lord is your sinfulness, and the sin that does all the damage is unbelief — that is, ignoring the Word of God or not treasuring His Word and living by it. So, Lent is a time of repentance.
The Old Testament reading for Ash Wednesday is from Joel 2: “Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” Return to the Lord; that’s repentance. The Lord invites us to return to Him, and He waits with open arms, ready to forgive the sins of all who repent, for He has shown that He loves you and has forgiven you by sending His Son to die for your sins on the cross. During Lent you must not get stuck with navel- gazing, only examining yourself, focusing on your wretchedness: “Oh, what sinners we are, oh, what sinners we are!” The Lord calls and invites us to turn outside ourselves and keep our eyes on Him in repentant faith. A traditional verse we focus on during Lent is from Hebrews 12[2]: “Oh, come, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” As long as our eyes are focused on Jesus our Savior and His cross, we will be kept free from self-pity, fear, and despair.
Having repented of our sin and returned to the Lord, we now ask Him to renew our lives by disciplining us. Lent is a time of discipline. We hate that word, as most children do. The word “discipline” is from the same root as the word “disciple.” Jesus told His apostles, “Go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them to treasure all My Words.” We have been baptized and we are discipled, we are disciplined, as we are taught the Word of the Lord from the Bible and in the church.
In the Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday from Matthew 6, Jesus talks about three disciplines that the Church has traditionally emphasized during Lent: prayer, fasting, and works of charity (almsgiving). May the Lord bless us with a Lent filled with these activities so that we can seek His grace in prayer, discipline our bodies, and show our love for our neighbor, all the while looking forward to a Happy Easter! Amen.
