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SCRIPTURE READINGS

JOEL 2:12-17

2 CORINTHIANS 5:20-6:10

MATTHEW 6:1-6, 16-21

ASH WEDNESDAY REFLECTION

Ash Wednesday begins the season of lent (40 days of fast, prayers and reflecting on God’s Word in preparation for Easter). It is a day that reminds us that human beings are mere ashes, therefore, we must be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ to have eternal life. Ash Wednesday in some churches is observed whereby the priest or pastor makes the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the congregants with ash made out of the dry palm fronds of last year’s Palm Sunday. The ashes signify our mortality, weakness and finiteness before God. The theme for our Ash Wednesday Sercvice is “rend our hearts not our garments.” We shall reflect on the following two reasons for which we are required to rend our hearts and not our garments.

1. To rend the heart not the garment is an act of genuine repentance.

2. To rend the heart not the garment leads to reconciliation with God in whom we are made righteous and become God’s ambassadors or agent of reconciliation.

First, genuine repentance is a sign that you have rend your heart, not your garment. In Jewish culture, a person rends his garment to demonstrate or express remorse, grief, or sorrow over an event or act. It was one of the ways the Isrealites expressed their sign of repentance as they pleaded forgiveness and mercy during fasting. Apart from rending garments, the Jews also wear sackcloth and sit in ashes as a sign of penitence and sorrow. It was later realized that the act of rendering one’s garment was reduced to a superficial or theatrical performance, but inwardly, people were not repentant of their sins. This time around, God threatened to bring judgment on the nation Israel for their unrepentance or disobedience, It was for this reason He spoke through the Prophet Joel admonishing the people, “… “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12-13). In other words, their repentance must not be superficial but must be from the heart. God acknowledges repentance that is from the heart. Our fasting and prayers must, first of all lead to repentance. Unfortunately, many Christians have turned the spiritual exercise of fasting and prayers, which must draw one closer to God into a theatrical performance and a showmanship of self-righteousness. God sees our hearts if we rend it, but people do not see our garment when we rend it. God is more interested in the regeneration of the heart than the mere publicly display of Spirituality. It is for this reason Jesus tells us that “… when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:16-21). Let us use the Lent season to focus on genuine repentance and living a life that pleases God. “…For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Secondly, those who genuinely rend their heart through repentance are reconciled to God, made righteous, and will be made God’s agents of reconciliation through Christ. Paul confirms this fact when he wrote that “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Dear friend, when we rend our hearts, we become ambassadors for Christ, are made righteous through faith, and are sent on the mission of winning souls and reconciling the lost and the perishing to God. If we fail to rend our hearts, we can not be counted as worthy ambassadors of Christ. How can you be a Christian all these years and will not be counted or acknowledged as a worthy ambassador of Christ on earth? The only reason we are unworthy is because we have rend our garments and not our hearts. Ash Wednesday and the rest of the days in Lent offer us the opportunity to surrender our entire life to Jesus and become His faithful servant and Ambassadors on earth. Rending our hearts enables us to please God by l carrying out the great commission in Mattew 28:18-20 (Mission and Evangelism) even as we await His second coming.

In summary, the theme for our Ash Wednesday is “rend your heats, not your garments.” We have acknowledged the fact that genuine repentance is a sign of rending one’s heart. Again, we shall be reconciled to God and become His agent of reconciliation or ambassadors on earth if we rend our hearts, not our garments. May the Holy Spirit empower us through the Lent season and beyond to rend our hearts, not our garments, as we prepare ourselves for the day of the Lord. Amen.