Ash Wednesday
Day 1
Welcome to Day 1 of the Lenten Season, also known as Ash Wednesday. As you head to work or school today, you may notice people walking down the street with a smudge of what looks like dirt on their forehead. Now, before you act on the urge to stare, or even help them out by saying, “Um, you’ve got a little something on your forehead,” read on to learn why people all over the world commemorate Ash Wednesday in this way.
Read Genesis 3:1-19
In Genesis 2:15 we read that “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Because this was before Adam and Eve sinned, we must conclude that the tending and protecting the garden that God assigned to Adam was good work. It was important and life-giving.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they were punished in very specific ways. God’s punishment of Adam involved his relationship with the very ground from which he was formed. The idea of work itself was not Adam’s punishment, but rather the hardship and frustration that would accompany Adam’s labor. By the sweat of his brow, Adam (and by the way, all of his descendants as well) would work hard to grow food from the ground, but would be thwarted by the thorns and thistles it would also bring forth. This never-ending battle with the land and weather would plague Adam until he passed on and his body returned to dust.
Why are Ashes used on Ash Wednesday?
Ever heard of the phrase “sackcloth and ashes?” There is a tradition of donning ashes as a sign of penitence or great sorrow that predates Jesus, Easter, and certainly Lent. In the Old Testament, Job repents “in dust and ashes,” and there are other associations of ashes and repentance in Esther, Samuel, Isaiah and Jeremiah.
Why is Ash Wednesday called Ash Wednesday?
In the 600s, Pope Gregory the Great officially moved the beginning of the Lenten season to a Wednesday, now called Ash Wednesday, to secure the exact number of 40 days in Lent—not counting Sundays, which were feast days. As Christians came to the church to begin the Lenten season, Gregory marked their foreheads with ashes, reminding them of the biblical symbol of repentance (sackcloth and ashes) and their own mortality: "You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19)
The ashes were collected after the burning of palm branches (or crosses made from Palm leaves) from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations. In some churches today, the ashes are used to draw a cross on the head of people to mark the beginning of their Lenten fast. The drawing of a cross is often done while repeating the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15)
Full disclosure…by the 11th century, the practice was widespread throughout the Catholic Church — until Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, threw the practice out in the 16th century because it was not biblically based.
Big Picture Questions for Today:
“Then why are we even learning about this? We’re not Catholic!!” you might ask. (Unless you are Catholic:) There are a couple of reasons:
To place in proper perspective the great cost that Jesus willingly paid to rescue and redeem us, and present us holy and blameless before God the Father.
To remind ourselves of our position in Christ. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. Apart from Him, I would have no hope.
Pray for the Lord to give you a proper view of your sin that drove Jesus to the cross, and thank Him for His sacrifice.
Blessings,
Gay B Brown