Ash Wednesday
Text: Psalm 51
As you entered the sanctuary this evening, you had the opportunity to receive ashes. This tradition of placing ashes on the forehead began around the 11th century. But why would we do this?
The first reason we place ashes on our forehead goes back to the first sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. After their sin, God said to Adam and Eve, because of your disobedience, you and all your offspring will return to the ground from which you were created, “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19b)
In other words, because of your sin, you will die and return to the earth. For this reason, the use of ashes throughout Scripture has been associated with sin and death. They are a sign of mourning and sadness.
Now, what does it mean to sin?
To sin means to miss the mark. Think of an archer shooting an arrow; when they miss the target, they miss the mark.
How do you miss the mark? How do you sin?
The Ten Commandments provide a mirror for Christians to look into and examine their lives and where they have transgressed and fallen short.
The season of Lent is a time when the Christian is invited and expected to examine their lives and where they have missed the mark or sinned.
For instance, do you have other gods outside your heavenly Father? Do your words confess Jesus as your Savior, or is his name a means of expressing anger and displeasure? What about attending church? Is it a priority for you and your family? Have you loved your parents as you ought? Has the anger of your heart burned hot, murdering your neighbor with your thoughts and words? Or has your love been reserved for the wife or husband God entrusted you?
This last one was challenging for King David, the writer of Psalm 51. As he lay with Bathsheba, he broke the Sixth Commandment, among other things.
The whole situation became a snowballing of sin…
First, David saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof, and rather than turning away, he grew with desire for her. Then, to cover up his infidelity with Bathsheba and her pregnancy, David had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, brought back from battle so that he, too, might lay with his wife. However, Uriah was a loyal soldier who could not do such a thing while his fellow soldiers remained in the thick of battle. So what would David do? He’d have Uriah sent to the frontlines, where his death would be all but certain.
David’s sin was great. He attempted to fix what he could not. The consequence of his sin was the death of the child he and Bathsheba conceived.
What does a person do when such situations arise? When you cannot fix what has been broken?
You learn the art of lamenting.
To lament is the action of addressing God in your deep despair, expressing your grief, sorrow, and regret, and acknowledging or confessing your sin and your dire need for the help that can only come from God – the forgiveness of sin.
This is what David did after Nathan, the prophet, came and rebuked him for his sin with Bathsheba and the trail of destruction it left. David learned to lament, and the familiar words of Psalm 51 are the voice of his confession for the sins committed against Bathsheba, Uriah, and God as he stood convicted by the words of the prophet Nathan.
David began by saying,
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgression” (Psalm 51:1).
David begins by rightly confessing only God can reconcile sin. Only He can make right what was wrong. Only He can blot out the transgressions and evils of man’s heart.
David went on to say,
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. (Psalm 51:3)
In other words, I can’t outrun these transgressions of my heart.
In fact,
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)
I have been a sinner from the moment of conception.
But in light of this, my confession of sin,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10-12)
This prayer of David can only be made and acceptable to God with “a broken and contrite heart.” (Psalm 51:17b)
And this is what is at the core of lamenting, “a broken and contrite heart.” (Psalm 51:17b)
Throughout this season of Lent, we will examine similar Psalms of lament so that we might rightly learn to examine the sins of our hearts and confess them to God.
When we do not know how to confess our sins, the Psalms give voice to our pleas for mercy and forgiveness; they become our teacher.
Let us mourn and lament the sins of our hearts with David; let us call out with him from our pits of shame and despair, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgression” (Psalm 51:1).
And then know that He does. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into your flesh to bear your sins and transgressions upon the cross, to die in your place. This is love, and this is mercy.
So, look to the ashes upon your forehead in the mirror this night, rightly mourn your transgressions, but then look to the cross of Jesus, confess with your lips, and see how He has blotted and erased your every sin. +INJ+
