WHY DO WE NEED ASH WEDNESDAY AND LENT?

“They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.

‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.

Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct?

No, they have no shame at all;

they do not even know how to blush.” (Jeremiah 6:14,15. NIV)

 

“My people are broken – shattered! – and they put on band-aids,

Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’

But things are not ‘just fine’!

Do you suppose they are embarrassed over this outrage?

No, they have no shame.

They don’t even know how to blush.” (Jeremiah 6:14,15. The Message)

A religion or a church that does not accurately diagnose the spiritual disease of its members and society cannot provide the right treatment to aid healing. Churches that do not deal with sin and the need for forgiveness and deliverance from evil, are of little use. There are many large non-denominational churches (what I call the big box churches or the Walmart churches) who major on celebration but neglect penitence. Remember, when Jesus began to preach his message was “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). The value of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent is that it prepares us for Holy Week, the Resurrection and Easter, so that we can appreciate it for the reality it is – for the good news of the salvation that we need.

Despite the denial of our problems and responsibilities we have to face up to our sins. Sin has to be taken seriously. What is sin? Sin is estrangement from God. Sin is going one’s own way rather than God’s way. Sin separates us from God. Sin is opposition to Jesus. Sin is unbelief. Sin is falling short of God’s will for our lives. Sin is a spiritual disease that deceives us and sets itself up against God. Sin prevents us from loving God and our neighbor. Sin is a spiritual cancer that prevents us from becoming what God wants us to become. If not treated sin will take us over and cause all kinds of evil. We cannot take sin lightly.

What are the effects or symptoms of sin? Lack of shame; hardness of heart; the desire to avoid guilt by playing the victim, blaming others, or redefining good and evil. You cannot sin if you move the goalposts to your advantage. Ralph Waldo Emerson justified his leaving the church by making himself the standard so that he could not fall short, nor fail.

“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferrable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong what is against it.” (Self-Reliance)

Sin for many is simply letting themselves down, not fulfilling their own standards. Being true to one’s own nature is seen to be authentic. Judging others who are different from you is seen to be more sinful than being tolerant and accepting of them as they are. But what if there is a moral law that is divine? What if goodness is a divine command revealed in Holy Scripture? What if our nature is flawed, fallen, sinful, self-deceived? Are we capable of self-diagnosis? Do we have blinders on our eyes so that we cannot see or admit to our sin? Can we be judge or jury when we are the defendant in God’s court? If there is a moral law by which we are held accountable then it matters little what we think about our nature. We are held to a higher standard than our feelings or desires.

We have different diagnostic terms for disease. We also have different diagnostic terms for sin. The main New Testament words for sin are hamartia: a missing of the mark, falling short, failure; adikia: unrighteousness, unfairness; anomia: lawlessness, breaking of the moral law; asebeia: impiety, blasphemy; parabasis: transgression; paraptoma: falling away, unfaithfulness; poneria: depravity; epithymia: lust, covetousness; apeitheia: disobedience. Sin is lack of love: impatience, unkindness, envy, boastfulness, pride, rudeness, selfishness, anger, malice, slander, greed and mean-spiritedness. There are sins of commission: what we have done that we ought not to have done; and there are sins of omission: what we have not done that we ought to have done. Perhaps the latter bother us most.

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity makes the argument that Christianity simply does not make sense until you acknowledge God’s Moral Law and the reality of your sin.

“Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realized there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power – it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk. When you know you are sick, you will listen to the doctor.”

Postmodern romanticism does not want to listen to the doctor. The message of our secular age is the same as that of the age of Jeremiah. The spiritual state of humanity is serious but the pundits and philosophers say: “It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’ But things are not ‘just fine’! They have no shame, they do not even know how to blush. Read Romans 1:24-32 where St. Paul describes first century pagan society. His description could be written of our society today. Immorality and crime is endemic. There is a breakdown of marriage and the family. There is sexual confusion. Terrorism flourishes. “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32. NIV)

This is why we need the message of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent – to remind us of our spiritual condition and our need for salvation in Christ, for ourselves and for all. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Jesus paid the wages for us on the Cross. He ransomed us so that we might be released from the tyranny of sin and be freed to enter into eternal life; the life of love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Lent reminds us of the need for serious self-examination, reflection and renewal so that we may be able to enjoy the resurrection life which Christ brings through his Spirit dwelling within us.