22/02/2023
22 February 2023. Wednesday, in Holy Week
Followers of Jesus: Ash Wednesday Lectionary
Readings: Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Psalm 70; Joel 1 -2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent. This is the day when we traditionally apply an ashen cross on our foreheads as a sign of mortality and the fragility of life. The priest reminds us "Remember, man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19). Marking with ash is a symbolic reminder that we come from the dust and that so much of what we do, and are, will return to dust one day. Lent is about remembering why Jesus died. He died because we think and do evil things. These things anger God, and such evil is destined to be reduced to ash one day.
We live in a tension between the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death. We work hard at denying, ignoring, forgetting, outrunning, and overcoming these two realities. But they are always there. They are always present to us in the same way the ashes with which we will be marked were already a part of and present in the palms we carried last year on Palm Sunday.
Although we are to remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return, we ought never to forget that we are Holy Dust, created and inspired by the very breath and Spirit of God, as described in Genesis chapter 2: “The Lord God formed from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” In these days, as we reflect on our relationship to the Earth itself, the Hebrew reminds us just how interconnected and interdependent we really are – man (Adam), is made of the dust of the ground (ad amah). Just as Moses was reminded by the burning bush that he was standing on Holy Ground, so the ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us that everywhere we stand, everywhere we walk, every speck of dust is Holy Ground – and that we are made Holy from the moment of our very first breath. Receiving these ashes is meant to remind us of these humbling and defining truths.
Ash Wednesday is a day to stop, reflect on who we are and whose we are, adopt an attitude of humility, and hit the reset button of our life in Christ. A day to remember that we are dust, but that we are Holy Dust, animated by God’s own breath. For it is God’s own Spirit that enlivens us and sustains us, day in and day out.
A day to remember that God loves us so much as to make sacrifices for us when we are unable to do so ourselves. A day to allow God in Christ to forgive us so that we might live the residue of our lives reflecting the very love that God has for us and for all of creation. A day that we may remind ourselves with great humility to love God, love all others, and love all of creation itself. For that is what it means to be the Holy Dust of God! In what ways have the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death, made themselves known in your life? Maybe that’s what you are facing today.
When we turn to God as a community, in a spirit of repentance and renewal, there is a feeling of solidarity and mutual support, which seems to take us to a new level of motivation and we know from experience that, if we don’t seize this opportunity right from the start of Lent, then it is all too likely that this time of grace will pass us by — at least, for another year.
The Church has long recognized how challenging it is to keep these core promises that constitute walking in the Way of Christ. This is why we set aside these forty days each year for self-examination and repentance; prayer, fasting, and self-denial; to read and meditate on God’s holy Word. The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us not only of our mortality and need for regular repentance but also that it is only by God’s “gracious gift that we are given everlasting life” through Jesus Christ. Amen
Credit: compiled by Dr George, various sources
