Ash
Wednesday is the name given to the first day of the season of Lent, in which
the Pastor applies ashes to the foreheads of Christians to signify an inner
repentance. But what is the history and the meaning of this Christian holy day?Ash
Wednesday, originally called dies
cinerum (day of ashes) is
mentioned in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary, and probably
dates from at least the 8th Century. One of the earliest descriptions of Ash
Wednesday is found in the writings of the Anglo-Saxon abbot Aelfric (955-1020).
In his Lives of the Saints, he writes, "We read in the books both in the
Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed
themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do
this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to
signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast."
Aelfric then proceeds to tell the tale of a man who refused to go to church for
the ashes and was accidentally killed several days later in a boar hunt! This
quotation confirms what we know from other sources, that throughout the Middle
Ages ashes were sprinkled on the head, rather than anointed on the forehead as
in our day. As Aelfric suggests, the pouring of ashes on one's body (and
dressing in sackcloth, a very rough material) as an outer manifestation of
inner repentance or mourning is an ancient practice. It is mentioned several
times in the Old Testament. What is probably the earliest occurrence is found
at the very end of the book of Job. Job, having been rebuked by God, confesses,
"Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6).
Other examples are found in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1,3, Isaiah 61:3, Jeremiah
6:26, Ezekiel 27:30, and Daniel 9:3. In the New Testament, Jesus alludes to the
practice in Matthew 11:21: "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If
the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." In the typical
Ash Wednesday observance, Christians are invited to the altar to receive the
imposition of ashes, prior to receiving the holy Supper. The Pastor applies
ashes in the shape of the cross on the forehead of each, while speaking the
words, "For dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis
3:19). This is of course what God spoke to Adam and Eve after they eaten of the
forbidden fruit and fallen into sin. These words indicated to our first parents
the bitterest fruit of their sin, namely death. In the context of the Ash
Wednesday imposition of ashes, they remind each penitent of their sinfulness
and mortality, and, thus, their need to repent and get right with God before it
is too late. The cross reminds each penitent of the good news that through
Jesus Christ crucified there is forgiveness for all sins, all guilt, and all
punishment.
Many
Christians choose to leave the ashes on their forehead for the remainder of the
day, not to be showy and boastful (see Matthew 6:16-18). Rather, they do it as
a witness that all people are sinners in need of repentance AND that through
Jesus all sins are forgiven through faith.
Ash Wednesday, like the season of Lent, is never mentioned in Scripture
and is not commanded by God. Christians are free to either observe or not
observe it. It also should be obvious that the imposition of ashes, like
similar external practices, are meaningless, even hypocritical, unless there is
a corresponding inner repentance and change of behavior. This is made clear in
Isaiah 58:5-7 when God says,
Is this
the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it
only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes ?
Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 "Is not this
the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie
the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it
not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with
shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your
own flesh and blood?
With this in mind,
however, the rite of ashes on Ash Wednesday is heartily recommended to the
Christian as a grand opportunity for repentance and spiritual renewal within the
framework of confession and absolution. A blessed Ash Wednesday observance to
all.
