Ash Wednesday
Matt 6:1-6, 16-21

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

There was no internet or social media when our Lord preached today’s Gospel in the Sermon on the Mount.  The average person didn’t dream of “going viral,” and merchants didn’t tell people to “be sure to like us on Facebook and Twitter.”  There were no YouTube personalities and Instagram celebrities.

But even though technology has changed, human nature hasn’t.  In every decade and century and millennium, the fallen old Adam craves attention and loves to be seen by other people in order to be praised by them. The same thing that is true now was true in the first century–we naturally seek reward and approval from others more than God.

Today we call it “virtue signaling”–doing certain things publicly and for show to indicate that you’re a good person and that you support the right things.  In a lot of ways, it’s the contemporary version of being a Pharisee–wearing your righteousness on your sleeve so that others will see you and notice you.  But our Lord says today to beware of practicing your righteousness to be seen by other people.  If that is your motivation for doing such things, then “you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”  For if the goal is a dopamine rush for someone noticing you, well, you have your reward.  But that good feeling only lasts a little while.  It’s not a treasure that endures

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The righteousness that our Lord offers to us instead is not a passing and phony good feeling but rather eternal life and communion with Him.  Instead of minutes or hours, it lasts forever.  Jesus came to give us this righteousness as a free gift.  And as a result of this gift, we are freed up to do truly good works for the right reasons.

The Old Adam in us is a hypocrite who does religion and good works lovelessly, for himself.  He doesn’t give to the needy because his neighbor is in need; rather he does it in order to “sound the trumpet before [him], that is to say, to “toot his own horn.”  That’s why Jesus says not even to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing when you give.  The old Adam doesn’t pray with his eyes focused upwards on God, but sideways on the neighbor and what he thinks.  That’s why Jesus says, go into your room and close the door when you pray.  The old Adam doesn’t fast and engage in self-denial for the sake of leading a more disciplined Christian life but in order to look super spiritual.  That’s why Jesus says to wash your face and anoint your head and get yourself all put together like usual when you fast.  And of all these good works Jesus says: Let it be in secret.  Trust that God the Father sees.  Let your reward be from Him and not from man.

And I should add another warning here.  The Old Adam can even twist these Gospel words. He says, “Well, since people often do these good works for self-serving reasons, I’m not going to be a hypocrite.  My solution is that I’m not going to give special attention to any of these spiritual disciplines.  No danger of me praying in front of others or fasting or giving away my money to charity and church.  I’m just going to do my usual other stuff.”  But that’s just falling into the ditch on the opposite side of the road.  Jesus doesn’t speak of these things as if they’re optional.  It’s not if but, “When you do a charitable deed...”  “When you pray...”  “When you fast...”  So consider how you will do these things, not only during Lent, but beyond as well–how you will give to support the ministry of the Gospel and your neighbor in need; how you will engage in daily prayer and what resources you might use to do that; how you will discipline your body through fasting and self-denial and bring it into subjection.  Beware of letting the abuse of these practices cause you to abandon them.

Our Lord came to crucify the Old Adam in us, and to give us a new life in Christ, who is the New Adam–to give us a renewed self that is motivated by true righteousness and actual self-giving love.  Though we inherit a mortal curse from our father Adam, we are given immortal blessing in our brother Jesus.

The name “Adam” is closely related in Hebrew to the word “adamah” – meaning “dust or dirt”  He was created from the dirt, and so that is his name.  The Word of God is clear for him and for all of us who have fallen with Adam, “Dust you are and to dust you shall return.”

The ashes that are applied to you on this day are a reminder of that.  But they are more than that.  For ashes are not merely dust; they are what’s left after something has been burned.  And so it is that they remind us of the sacrifices of old, the burnt offerings.  Those burned animal sacrifices were performed in view of the once-for-all, final sacrifice of Jesus, who suffered hell for us to redeem us.  That’s why those ashes are in the shape of a cross.  They are a sign of repentance–not only the sorrow over sin, but also the turning away from sin toward Christ who forgives us and sets us free.  The ashes are more than just dust, for they proclaim the sure and certain hope we have that we will be raised from the dust in the resurrection of the body on the Last Day.

So we receive the ashes on our bodies, not as a work of righteousness to parade before men.  It is not virtue signaling, but an act of humble honesty.  It is an admission of guilt and a cry for help as we stand at the edge of our graves, teetering between life and death.  But above all it is a statement of faith in the One who conquered the grave.  And so on this day we cry out, “Lord, have mercy; Jesus help!”

And the Lord does indeed help us; He comes to our rescue.  For He redeemed you and called you by name, when His name, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit was placed upon you–when, not only your head, but your very soul was washed in baptismal water, cleansed, and given the gift of eternal life.

That’s why we have the ancient custom of tracing that sign of the cross on your forehead at your baptism, as we say in the baptismal liturgy: “Receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.”  Remember that as you wash off the ashes later.  You are cleansed in Christ, marked and signed and redeemed by His holy cross.

It is also the custom for the pastor to make the sign of the cross upon your forehead on your deathbed.  The sign of the cross is even made on your casket at your burial, tracing the sign of the holy cross upon you one more time until the Crucified One rouses you from your body’s slumber and raises you in the flesh to everlasting life, which is the fulfillment of your baptism.

Believing and living in this truth, we are freed from being dependent on the clicks and the likes and the back-patting and the praise of people; we are freed to be God-pleasers rather than man-pleasers, storing up treasure not on earth but in heaven.  Instead of signaling our own virtues, we point to and praise the virtues of our Savior, who sacrificed all to win you back through the hidden and secret means of the cross.  Hidden in secret beneath the goriness of the crucifixion is the glory of God and the love of God for you.  The Father sees in secret and honors His Son’s work, and He now reveals openly the mystery of the cross through His Word.  Through the foolishness of the preaching of Christ crucified, He saves you who believe.

So trust in Him.  Trust that He sees you and knows you and that He will give you openly the reward of Christ on the Last Day.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠