Sermon for Ash Wednesday 2014
Isaiah 59:12-21 + Joel 2:12-19 + Matthew 6:16-21
Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly. So God called upon Israel through the prophet Joel to drop everything they were doing and come together in repentance around the Lord’s altar, to mourn over their sins and to seek God’s mercy.
It’s for the same purpose that we have come together tonight in sacred assembly around this altar of the Lord: To consecrate a fast—a 40 day Lenten fast, to turn from our sin, and to seek the Lord’s favor.
We fast in a New Testament way, which is not an external thing, but an internal thing. People once criticized Jesus because His disciples didn’t fast like other Jews. His reply is enlightening: “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
We fast, at least on the inside, because we mourn. We mourn because we are separated for now from Jesus, our Bridegroom, our Savior, our treasure, who has ascended into heaven, and our real life is hidden with Him there, while we still live here below with sin surrounding us and with our sinful flesh always, always right there with us. God does not count sins against us who are baptized and believe in His Son. But we still sin.
So it’s proper that we should mourn. And if your flesh starts to convince you that you do not sin, then listen to God who says that you do. But even without His saying so, you know it, because your conscience—the one He implanted in your heart—accuses you. And you know it, because your flesh wears out, gets tired, grows old, decays. You are dying, slowly or quickly. You are returning to dust. You can eat three healthy meals a day, every day of your life, and you will still die. Eating food does not eliminate death. It just postpones it for awhile.
Which means that you have a more serious need to consider than taking care of your body. To fast is to contemplate death and the grave, where there is no food, no eating. It is to think on your sin, which is the reason why your body will lie in the grave one day, returning to dust. And so, to fast is to live in repentance, mourning over your sin, hating it, wanting to be rid of it. It is to recognize that God owes you nothing. You deserve nothing from Him but wrath.
To fast is to remember that food is not enough. It won’t save you. What more do you want? What more do you need? Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. There is such a thing as food for the soul. It’s the food of the Word of Christ and the body and blood of Christ that are the most important, because while eating a meal three times a day every day will still end with you returning to dust in the grave, the Word of Christ, His body and blood, will actually keep your soul alive, even though your flesh decays, and will even end up with your flesh restored and glorified on the Last Day.
In our Gospel, Jesus gives us some instructions concerning a proper fast. When you fast, Jesus says, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
If the purpose of fasting is to mourn over your sins and to humble yourself before God, your Creator whom you have offended with your sins, then making a show of it before men would not be serving its purpose at all, but would be pure hypocrisy, like bragging about how humble you are, so that other people can have a high opinion of you. Don’t be the people who come to church during Lent so that other people, or even that sneaky man in the mirror, can see what a godly, obedient Christian you are. For such people, there is no heavenly reward.
No, says Jesus. Do not be like them—hypocrites, pretenders, actors who put on a show for other people. Instead, He says, But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
You see, mourning over sin doesn’t mean you go around announcing to the world that you’re mourning over sin, or looking sad or depressed. It means living each day with your heart concerned, not about what people think of you, but about what God thinks of you. And you have to get this right. What does God think of you?
If He is thinking of you, judging you, evaluating you based on you and what you do, then it’s wrath and condemnation. But He comes right out in Scripture and tells you that He does not want to judge you based on you. He wants rather to judge you based on Christ, and so He calls you to turn away from yourself, from trusting in yourself, from your sins and your deeds, and to flee instead to Christ. Because all who trust in Christ are evaluated by God based on Christ’s righteousness, sheltered from God’s wrath, and basking only in God’s favor.
And that is the reward, the gift, the treasure that God wants to give you. Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
How do you lay up treasures on earth? By seeking earthly rewards, earthly comforts, by living to please men. Why do you seek to please other people? Why do other people’s opinions matter to you? People are but a breath. They, like you, will be dead before too long. Why impress people? To get ahead in this life? Is that what you want? Anything you get here will eventually wear out, even as you yourself will wear out.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Heavenly treasure. What is that? Paul tells us in Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. In Him, in Him. In Christ. Every spiritual blessing is wrapped up in Him. His righteousness, His blood, His merits have purchased all things, even God’s forgiveness and eternal life, for you, and an eternal inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. What more do you want?
It is God who has laid up those treasures in heaven for you, where Christ is. But here is God’s great gift to you. Until you are brought to your heavenly home, God gives you Jesus here, in His Word and His Holy Supper. This is where you get righteousness. You get forgiveness of all sins. You get eternal life. You get a Father’s love and grace and mercy. You get Jesus Christ Himself. All these treasures are stored up for you in the Sacrament. Let these treasures of Christ be the things that your heart treasures. Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
May your heart be on the Sacrament of Christ tonight, and throughout this Lenten season. May your heart be set on the Word of Christ at every opportunity during this spiritual fast that we consecrate tonight—on Sundays, but also at the weekly Wednesday services, and even every day during Holy Week. God has treasure to give you, won by Christ, given out by the Holy Spirit.
What more do you want? Think about that question throughout these forty-days. Your flesh will answer, “Many things!” But let the answer of your heart be, “Nothing! Only Jesus.” Your heart will not be disappointed. Amen.
