Ash Wednesday – A Tradition of Men (but a good one!)

Ash Wednesday is a traditionally important day within the life of many church denominations. Ironically, being one who is not overly friendly to non-biblical, man-made “traditions” within the current church calendar, I find Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season to be, rather appropriate, meaningful, and significant in the Christian experience. In fact, I think they are practices that really do define and explain just what Christ’s message and work were all about! 

Firstly, to acknowledge we are mortal is to acknowledge we are sinners (actually, sin incarnate.) The Psalmist quite astutely points out that all men are by nature born sinners. No one becomes a sinner after birth by doing this or that “sinful act.” All of us are literally conceived as such, as a sinner. Sin is in our DNA so to speak. As the Psalmist wrote:

“Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5 (NSRVUE)

And it was also written:

“The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies.” Psalm 58:3 (NSRVUE)

And Paul shares this fact with the Romans, but in different words, when he wrote to them this:

“For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability.” Romans 7:18 (NSRVUE)

Yes, Paul acknowledged his innate sinfulness, that sin was, in fact, his human nature, something he was born with and not something acquired by him, either through an act performed or not performed.

To illustrate this concept even further, Isaiah declares that no human act is anything but sin. He wrote:

“But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)

To be sure, from a divine perspective, an infinitely righteous perspective, our best human efforts, and due to our human nature and motivations, are uniquely steeped in sin. For although we as humans might see our acts of “goodness” as such, they are in the deepest reaches of ourselves, motivated in some form or another by self-desire. It is simply not possible for us as humans to avoid the motivations of our human nature. We are simply trapped and held in bondage to our nature. For again as Paul wrote:

“For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability.” Romans 7:18 (NSRVUE)

We can no more do other than what we are than a turtle can fly or a fish walk across the Sahara.

Recognizing and acknowledging what and who we are is the beginning of repentance. And it only follows, one can’t repent from what one does not honestly and wholly believe needs repentance. And such is the wonder of Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is when we deliberately and honestly look upon ourselves and once again acknowledge to ourselves that we are more than just sinners, but that we are sin itself, sin incarnate. And of course, left to our own devices, we will reap the natural end of the natural creature — we, like Adam, will die.

And no, it won’t be a temporary passing where we “surely don’t die” but be like God and just continue to live on eternally in a different “spiritual” form. (That initial lie of Satan’s is still alive and well amongst many of us humans to this very day.) No, like Adam we will die. From dust and ashes we came; to dust and ashes we will return. Once again, left to our own devices we will do as all in nature does, we will return to the “nothingness” we were. And thus, we take the ashes to our foreheads to remind ourselves of our mortality, hopelessness and inability to save ourselves. Ah! But there is good news to be had!

By acknowledging who and what we are, and then repenting of such, even though we, as Paul stated, have not the ability to actually change ourselves and be the righteousness of God, Jesus has made it possible for all those who reject the nature of the Old Man and wish to take on the nature of the New Man to be saved from this body of sin and death! As Paul so joyously wrote:

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:24-25 (NKJV)

Yes, amongst the many man-made traditions that over the centuries the church has embraced to itself (nearly all of which I find sadly counterfeit or outright pagan) Ash Wednesday certainly stands out as an edifying and nurturing construct of the european/gentile church. Not a Holy Day by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a solemn time of re-reflection. It is good that we as frail and often vacillating human beings come together regularly every year to remind ourselves and each other of the weakness and dead-endedness of mortality; to repent (reject) of our current human nature; and have our faith of salvation refreshed by the power of the Holy Spirit and communion of like-minded brethren.

To be true, to acknowledge one’s sinful nature (human nature) and to repent of it is just a beginning and a “here and now” event; and in the next 40 days of Lent we can heartily meditate on such. The ultimate destination, however, the transformation into the literal “righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the resurrection on to eternal life (John 11:25-26) is yet ahead of us, but it is soon to happen! So few years remain until that stupendous Day appears. In the meantime, however, let us be continually reminded in the confession and repentance of our mortal, sinful, human nature, and thank God for the soon appearing of His Son, Jesus!

We are waiting, Lord Jesus. Come soon!