Ash Wednesday: Video of Divine Service and Text of Sermon

Video of Ash Wednesday Divine Service

Ash Wednesday 

Joel 2:12-19
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21


O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. 

The text that is the basis for the homily tonight is Exodus 2:23-25. 

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

These words come at a transition point. On the one side is that Israel’s situation in Egypt has changed. Joseph and his brothers have died. His whole generation is but a memory. The crisis of the seven-year drought has slipped into the mists of ancient history. The pharaoh that rules Egypt now has an immigration problem. Israel has the best land and keeps having large families. There are too many of them. So, they are forced into hard labor. Then, finally, officially enslaved with none of the rights and privileges they once knew. In addition, as a form of population control, all the baby boys are supposed to be killed. 

Their collective life is miserable. There is no escape. All they can do is lament to the Lord and beg for a merciful intervention so that they are rescued from this horrible situation that they neither asked for nor deserve. 

In this terrible transitional moment when their freedom is taken from them, the LORD hears their groans and anguished prayers. He sees their misery. He remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God remembers and he acts upon his promises in order to bring His people back to freedom. 

Unsuspecting, stuttering, Moses will be the instrument through which God will lead his people to freedom. 

In these Wednesdays in Lent, we will reflect on the Good News of God that comes to us in the Exodus from Egypt. God works in powerful and mysterious ways to bring his people to freedom. 

Today, we come to church with our own groanings and sufferings and pains. We bear the mark of ashes upon our foreheads because we are keenly aware of our sins. We feel that we are caught in a spiritual battle that we cannot escape. We know what God wants of us. We know the commandments of God. We know that God expects us to love Him and our neighbors. We know that we are to forgive others as Christ forgives us. We know that as ambassadors of Christ, we are to exemplify the love the Lord shows us. We are told by the Apostle Paul that love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Knowing what God expects of you makes you aware of how you fall short. Why is your pride such that you insist on your own way, insist that you be heard, and that everyone else see that you are right and they are wrong? Why do you feel like your love for your neighbor is a thin veneer, and truth be told, you wouldn’t mind one bit if they stumbled and fell or just simply went away? Why exactly are you so irritable? Why are you consumed by envy? Why do you not want to flee from your impure thoughts? Why do you love your possessions so much? Why do you demand the approval of others instead of basking in the love of God and family alone? 

God’s Word shines a light on you. You see your soul as dark as the ashes imposed upon you. You see your sin. You cannot escape it. Nor can you avoid all the of the influence of the world and the devil. The world and the devil want to see you fall headlong into despair and just give up and give in. 

You own your sin. It’s yours. Yet your faith holds onto the hope given in God’s Word. The LORD remembers his covenant. The LORD acts upon His covenant. What is true for Israel is true for you. The LORD sees you. When you were baptized, He made a covenant with you. The Good News of Jesus Christ and His cross was placed upon you. You are claimed by God. Christ died for you. You admit your sins to God. You wear the ashes of repentance because you know that Jesus came for you. He died for you. He forgives you. 

You are on the way to the Promised Land because the Lord rescues you. Complete freedom from the corruption of your sinful nature and the influence of the world and the devil awaits us.  

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

  


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