5 March 2025
Text: Matt 6:1-21
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Jesus calls us to repent. Lent is a time for self-reflection and self-examination. It is a time of what St. Paul calls “mortification of the flesh,” which means “self-discipline.” We are especially mindful this time of year to take sin seriously. We often complain about our fallen world, and we are quick to point fingers and blame others. But what we need to be doing is looking in the mirror.
And if you look in the mirror today, you will see a reminder on your forehead. It is not a reminder of how you are better than others because you came to church, or because you have a cross on your forehead or around your neck. You see a reminder that you are a poor, miserable sinner, and that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
It’s easy to forget this, dear friends. We don’t like to think about it. We don’t like to be reminded that we will die. I don’t like to be reminded that I will trace the cross on the forehead of the bodies of many of my parishioners when they lay in the casket. We don’t like to be reminded that we are sinners, and we certainly don’t like to be called to repentance.
Jesus implores us to “practice righteousness,” but we are not to parade our good works in front of others “in order to be seen by them.” For that is no good work at all. In fact, that’s part of the problem and why you have a cross on your forehead, why I’m reminding you of your mortality. Jesus says: “Stop it.”
Jesus says that we are required to “give to the needy.” We are required to pray. We are required to fast. But we are not to make a show of it before other people. For when we do such things, we convert good works into sins. And we poor, miserable sinners are good at that. We can even turn confessing Jesus into a sin, if it is done with pride.
So by pride, can we turn receiving ashes on the forehead into sin? Can we sin by going to church? Can we sin by prayer and Bible-reading and fasting? Yes we can. Can we sin by not receiving ashes on the forehead, not going to church, not praying, and not reading the Bible? Yes, we can do that too. We’re good at sinning, and we like it. And that is the problem.
The ashes on your forehead are not a symbol of how good you are, dear friends. Just the opposite. They are a sign telling the world that you are a poor, miserable sinner who needs to repent. They are a confession that because of our sins, we will return to dust. They are not a boast, but rather a humiliation. But they are a reminder.
Lent is more than one day, dear friends. Lent is a forty day journey of giving to the needy, of prayer, and of fasting. It is a time to hear the Word of God and the preaching of the Word calling you to repentance. It is also a time to hear the Lord’s words of absolution. This is a time of the Law, but it is also a time of the Gospel: of the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake.
And that, dear friends, is why the ashes take the shape of a cross. The cross is a symbol of death, a reminder of law and order, of the penalty for transgression of the Law. It is a reminder of what Jesus has done for us: dying on the cross so that we can live, shouldering our sins so that we can be forgiven, bearing the burden of the Law so that we can live in the Gospel.
And as Christians, as those who have been forgiven not because we are good, but because Jesus is perfect, not because we have done good works, but because of Jesus’ perfect works, not because we go to church, but because Jesus has brought us into His church – this cross, and all crosses, are reminders.
“Remember, O man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
And remember that you cannot save yourself. Your works – even your good works – are hopelessly tainted and corrupted by sin. You are helpless and dying. But you are not hopeless and not eternally dying. You are forgiven because of the cross of Jesus. You are made alive because of the resurrection of Jesus. You are assured of salvation because of the atonement of Jesus.
You are also called to remember, O man, your forgiveness when absolution is pronounced over you by authority and command and assurance of Jesus. You are called to remember the Good News of what our Lord has done for us in the Holy Scriptures and in the preaching of the Word of God. You are called to remember “the forgiveness of sins” in Christ’s blood when you receive His true body and blood “in memory” of Him. And you are also called to remember your Holy Baptism, when you were born again and washed of your sins, when you were claimed by the Triune God to be a child of God (“and so we are,” as St. John says).
You are Christians, dear friends. And this is nothing about which to boast. You did nothing (except sin). Jesus did everything (except sin). You are capable of no good works (they are Christ working in you through the Holy Spirit). You have no boast before the world other than Christ and His cross.
Our confession before one another and before the world is that we are poor, miserable sinners, and we are dust and to dust we shall return. We are marked for death. But it is also our confession that our hope is in Christ, in the cross, in His grace and mercy.
We will leave this Divine Service in silence. Mardi Gras is over. Today is not a day of feasting. It is a somber day of reflection. This is a season of giving to the needy, of prayer, and of fasting. It is a time of remembrance and a time of self-examination. This is our forty days in the wilderness to face the devil. But we do not face him alone, dear friends. For Jesus is with us. His Word sustains us. His Sacrament fortifies us. And the reminders that we have – the ashes, the cross, and most importantly, our baptism – all point us to Him who gives us forgiveness and life and salvation.
And even in this time of somber remembrance, we are still glad, dear friends. For we take to heart the words of the hymn:
So we with all our hearts each day
To You our glad
thanksgiving pay,
Then walk
obedient to Your Word,
And now and ever
praise You, Lord.
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