SEASONS - PONDERING ASH WEDNESDAY

UNDERSTANDING THE SYMBOLISM THAT IS REPRESENTED BY THE OBSERVANCE OF ASH WEDNESDAY

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

It is almost that time of the year again, the day we see people walking around with smudged ashes on their foreheads.  I grew up Baptist and I can remember being a child and seeing someone with ashes and thinking they just got real dirty and didn’t wash their face.  I never knew the significance of Ash Wednesday until I started going to the Episcopal Church. 

Now that I am nondenominational in my religious affiliations; I find I miss Ash Wednesday and Lent, and even though now I have chosen to mostly observe the Hebraic Holy Days from a Christian perspective; I often observe Ash Wednesday and Lent right along with my Episcopal and Catholic friends. 

I don’t feel this is a requirement of God; but I don’t think God minds it either.  Actually, I think God truly appreciates any time when we humans make an effort to remember to be conscious of our sins and work on repentance and confession and try to set our minds and hearts to the mode of overcoming and the pursuit of the holy.  Lent and Ash Wednesday are days that fall into this type of observance.

Ash Wednesday actually marks the first day of Lent.  Lent lasts for 40 days, and it is a time for meditating and examining our hearts as we make our way through life’s annual calendar up until the day that we celebrate the joyous day of The Resurrection of Christ. 

It is a time to reflect and grow closer to God. 

It is a time to make little sacrifices in our daily living to show our love and devotion to God.

It is a time to put extra effort into prayerful fasting. 

We are always reminded to reflect on the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the dessert.  It was a time that he was tempted by Satan and he overcame Satan by The Word of God.   

So; on the first day of Lent, ashes are imposed on the foreheads of the faithful as a reminder that they are mere humans who will live and die one day.   The ashes appear in the shape of a cross and they are worn all of the first day of Lent as a testimony to the fact that we come from ashes (the dust of the earth) and we shall one day return to ashes.  It is to remind us of our own humanity; which emphasizes the fact that without God in our lives we are really nothing at all. 

The mark on the forehead brings many other thoughts.  Some people remember how Cain, an unrepentant sinner, was marked by God.  Cain did not repent nor did he consider bringing the proper sacrifice that God commanded to redeem his sins.  Because of this he was doomed to live with the mark of his sins upon him until the day that he died.  Cain was living in total rebellion all the days of his life.  He was determined to put himself and his own desires above the desires of God.  Cain is a study in contrast to the person desiring to observe the process of Lent.

The whole idea of the season is to remember NOT to be like Cain, but to examine your heart and repent of any un-repented sins before the day that celebrates The Resurrection of Christ, who IS the miracle provided by God that saves our souls from death and merely returning to the dust of the earth.

Since I observe the Jewish Holy Days from a Christian perspective in a very nondenominational way (is that a paradox?)  much of this work of the soul that many of my Catholic and Episcopal friends faithfully go through at Lent are things that I begin in the Fall Holy Days starting with the season of Elul and continuing through to Rosh Hashanah, or The Feast of Trumpets, then The Days of Awe which lead up to The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur.)  I see Yom Kippur as a shadow of the work Jesus did on the cross and it speaks of Atonement, just like Resurrection Day.  Of course, I also celebrate Resurrection Day, which culminates with Early First Fruits at the end of the Passover week when I consider my sins in the days of unleavened bread and ponder how to put them out of my life and how to put more of Christ into my life.  Very similar to Lent, Unleavened Bread is also a type of fast.  So many of these days have the same underlying truths and symbols of Lent, and they actually are more authentic to the scriptures.

So if I join in and observe Lent also, much of the spiritual housekeeping of my adopted Jewish heart has already taken place; especially since I observe the Seven Days of Unleavened Bread and Early First Fruits, where I am reminded to purge the leaven from my life.  Leven represents sin.  Fast days are tied in even before that time though during the time leading up to Purim at The Fast of Esther. 

So, basically by the time everyone else gets around to these housecleaning times of the soul; I’ve already been practicing those exercises and observances in many ways and many days all through the year with God’s Holy Days; but it never hurts to be thorough when it comes to your soul and eternity – so I often chose to join in and go through Lent with my friends, even though I do not feel this is actually required or commanded directly by God.  

We know from historical studies that the whole idea of Lent was actually started by a monk many years ago, and possibly evolved from his own personal studies of those observing the original Holy Days of God we find in Exodus.  He merely put some of the same or similar practices and meditations into a different time of the year and added the imposition of Ashes.  Ashes have always been, since the ancient days, a biblical symbol of showing repentance and morning for the human condition of mankind. 

I think we all can agree the important thing is to be sure you DO repent, during any time or season.   This is what really matters.  After all, repentance should actually be a DAILY observance for all Christians, and these extra; though not commanded seasons of examination, help us to stay aware of what God expects from us all through the year.  It also expresses one’s desire to please God and to offer up sacrifices that are pleasing to Him.  

Seasons come and go and what do we learn from them?  

How do we keep our observances pure with the right intentions before God?  

A key element is to let God lead your mind and heart to where He wants your spiritual awakenings to be.  It is best to start any significant season of meditation and reflection with prayer that asks for clarity and guidance and truth.  Every year should be a little different in some way, because God doesn't have us living stagnant lives.  We should be building our characters upon the foundations that he lays within our hearts, improving every year and changing and transforming to God’s image more and more as we go further and further on the journey of the Christian life.  We learn in stages, as we go through daily living with God as our guide and Christ as our Redeemer.  Our lives and days are full of varied things to learn, yet, all of God is constant and never changing no matter what time or season we are currently going through.       

So the ashes are imposed in the mark on the forehead that is put there in the shape of a cross.  It is the cross that makes the mark of Ash Wednesday so different from the mark of Cain.  Here the faithful have their counter-mark, their identification in the sign of the cross as being servants of The Most High God. Instead of being marked as rebellious sinners; they are marked for their imperfect but humble desire to live in total submission to God's will.     

It is also interesting that the ashes are imposed on the forehead as opposed to any other part of the body.  They are placed right over the brain, the part of us that thinks and considers the things of life.  When God captures a heart, the process usually starts in the mind before making its way down to the heart.  

Marks do carry significance.  Remember how God called Abraham to “mark” his own people through the act of circumcision?  Today we consider that one who decides to live in God’s Kingdom and pursue God’s ways with all of his heart is marked of God through the circumcision of the heart.    

Could this marking of the heart, so symbolic of perfect love and obedience to God, be the next step that comes to reside within us after the marking of the mind?  What stays and resides inside the mind eventually shows up and proceeds outward in actions that come straight from the heart which show the heart's true colors of either love or hate.  

We are in constant need of the Word of God to mark our minds. 

Is your mind marked with the words of the Holy Scriptures?  

We are in constant need of the love of God to mark our hearts. 

Is your heart marked with the love of God?

With the marking of the ashes we are also symbolically reminded of a passage of scripture found in Ezekiel 9 which speaks of The Glory of God instructing a man with a writing kit in his hands to go about Jerusalem marking the foreheads of the people who have lamented and wept or grieved over the detestable things that have happened in the city.  Instructions were given for everyone who did NOT have this mark to be killed, showing no mercy. 

Most people interpret this passage found in Ezekiel Chapter 9 to be a prophetic and futuristic vision of Jesus Christ being the “man with the writing kit”.  The “writing kit” is symbolic of The Lamb’s Book of Life, and it is only Christ who has the authority over this book.  There He has recorded those who have given their souls over to Him and He has written their names down in his book and blotted out their sins (which were recorded too) with the covering of his blood.  Let’s look at that passage a little closer, thinking of how a person can be “marked” of God.

Let’s read that passage to be sure of what it is telling us in prophecy: 

Ezekiel Chapter 9:

Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.”  And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.  With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side.  They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.  Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the Cherubim, where it had been and moved to the threshold of the temple.  Then the LORD called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion.  Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark.  Begin at my sanctuary.  “So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.  Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain.  Go!”  So they went out and began killing throughout the city.  While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas Sovereign LORD!  Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”  He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice.  They say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’  So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.  “Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded. 

So what does this passage found in Eziekel that speaks of a “mark” on the forehead mean?

I think it speaks of final judgment, and I clearly notice that those marked by Jesus receive mercy and pardon from the other evil sinners of the earth. 

So whether or not we celebrate Lent in any shape, form or fashion in our lives; the truth is that a day of judgment is coming and the whole earth will receive the wrath of God; except those who have the mark of Christ covering them.   It does not matter which ritual you chose to follow to show the world the shape of your heart during this season; what matters is that your heart is marked and circumcised by Christ.

Are you marked by Him?  

Are you covered in the blood of Christ that assures your pardon from your many sins?  

Now is the time.  

This is the season to draw near to God.  Judgment day will come.  I pray that we all are ready and that our focus is clearly glued to the light of Christ that leads us to our heavenly home with God the Father.    

 In one sense these people are like Cain in that they are protected from death.  The reasons though are very different.  They are protected because they have been faithful and true, Cain was protected so that he could suffer enough to possibly see his own sins and change.  It never happened.  God always allows us these times to consider our sins and He is patient as He waits to see if we will change.  Some of us remain in sin, like Cain, but those of us who are willing to humble ourselves and change eventually reap unimaginable blessings in eternal life.  

Lent will soon began and many of God's people on the earth will start this process of sorting out their lives.  Now you know when you see the marks on people's foreheads; what they are doing and why they do it.  

Have you noticed the faithful?  

More importantly, have you noticed the mark of love and kindness from a neighbor or a friend?  That too might be symbolic of the mark of Christ over their heart.  Some sacrifices involve giving instead of giving up.  Sometimes, during this process God leads people to make changes in how they relate to their fellowman as well as how they relate to God.  

Whatever customs we follow and however we observe them today; in the end we will all be marked, one way or the other.  

Which way will you chose and what will be the sign over your heart?  

Will the things that you have been taught in your head sink down into your heart and spirit and spill out to others in the world or will you be like Cain and turn your face away?

We all have a choice.  

The mark comes from God, but the meaning of it is found within our own souls.  

What will your mark look like?