Sackcloth and Ashes

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. ~ Esther 4:1

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” ~ Genesis 3:19

It is Ash Wednesday again, and the beginning of another Lenten season of contemplation, penitence, and renewal. It’s hard to believe that two years have passed since we experienced the extraordinary Lent of 2020. Back then, we believed our brief time of global discomfort would be short-lived and then “normal”would resume. The next springtime season of Lent saw us discouraged after another brief shutdown and promises of new variants of the pandemic virus. We were battered and bruised by political discord and polarizing choices. Employment opportunities surged as stimulus funds ran out and necessity demanded economic activity, whatever the risk. Then, “the great resignation” began as possibilities for lifestyle improvement and greater well-being availed themselves. One more surge of pandemic-related illnesses frightened us but also showed its weakening impact on most of us. It tempts us to think COVID is finally behind us, for now. Environmental events, including earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, flooding, ice, snow, tornadoes, and volcano eruptions, continue to scare and frustrate with more frequency and intensity. Now, the economy is faltering, inflation is rising rapidly, and America’s old foe, Russia, is invading a neighboring sovereign nation as the world witnesses yet another raging maniacal dictator’s unrelenting depravity and violence. So, another Lenten season of angst is before us. How shall we enter it this time?

As I write this early on Wednesday, I expect a large gathering of worshipers at this evening’s traditional Ash Wednesday service. I am heartened by the return of so many people to the habit of regular in-person worship for special occasions and on Sunday mornings. Despite all the difficulties, our Shiloh family was faithful to God as our leaders, staff, and I kept moving in hope toward a yet unseen promised land. We have rejoiced and grieved like the wilderness wanders of the Exodus who witnessed the loss of loved ones, friends, and acquaintances along the way. They saw rebellion, faithfulness, selfishness, and maligning of God. They watched in horror as the LORD punished their sin too. 

I recall my prediction two years ago that the pandemic would reveal the givers and the takers in our society and it occurred as envisioned. Hardened hearts led to angry insults, narcissistic complaints, and condescending, passive-aggressive commentaries by the takers - and the LORD witnessed all of it. The LORD also witnessed humble repentance and authentic transformation. He saw acts of kindness and grace; patient, long-suffering endurance, and courageous willingness. Heaven applauded as dozens of Shiloh folk read the entire Bible in 90 days, started small groups, and embraced new brothers and sisters of Christ. It’s been a rollercoaster ride for sure, and some givers became weary and emotionally ill, myself included. Springtime hints of new life and another Lenten season that causes hope and, hopefully, sincere supplication.

Lent is a time of sackcloth and ashes wherein we strive to prepare our souls for remembering the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus. Lent is a type of reenactment of the circumstances faced in Jesus’s three-year ministry. Before Jesus began, the LORD seemed withdrawn and emptied of compassion for the people He’d set apart. Humanistic religion in the LORD’s name replaced personal interaction with Him. The religion and its disciplines vaguely comforted people oppressed by one secular, pagan super power after another. If they questioned the authenticity and efficacy of it, they risked being cast from the only society they knew. Repressive cultural norms grounded the usual trials and charms of life while foreign domination capped them off so that most of the people of God lived within limits that God never intended for them. Then, Jesus came.  

He taught the truth about the LORD’s majestic plan and showed His immeasurable grace and love. Jesus shook the stale religion until it crumbled and awakened the hearts of true seekers. He condemned the proud takers whose religion served their flesh and gave previously unimaginable hope to the givers who only wanted righteousness of spirit that we call sanctification. Some of his disciples were born again at the moment they realized Jesus’s true nature and they repented of their ignorance with gladness. Others slowly grew through understanding and insight though they resisted the freedom offered through Jesus and chose slavery to religion and social acceptance. Then, overwhelmed by the flood of glory and grace, they capitulated, repented, and were born again in the Spirit after sorrow gave way. It is probable that, like Jesus, his disciples underwent a period of sackcloth and ashes after receiving grace and new life in the Spirit. For Jesus, it was a well-known 40-day fast and confrontation with the devil. We can only guess about his immediate followers' experiences, though there are hints in the epistles. Lent, then, is an opportunity for all Christian Believers to recall their repentance, conversion, and new life in the Spirit and experience it afresh.

When the Passover came, Jesus gave a new covenant based on his sacrifice and opened a new way of salvation that no satanic contrivance could corrupt. He suffered every indignation the world’s takers could thrust upon him. He died brutally on a cross at the hands of men. Jesus endured horrors of the unseen realm so inconceivable that his disciples cannot imagine them, but, praise the Lord, will never face them because he did. He arose from death, victorious over Sin and as the first sign of a resurrection awaiting his disciples on the great Day of the LORD.

Lest we give in to the temptation to mock Jesus' detractors, accusers, and killers, let us remember the old axiom, “There, but for the grace of God go I.” We too are unrepentant and sure in our ignorance and arrogance. We too have no hope of heaven and resurrection apart from the LORD’s grace. Our response to Jesus is not dissimilar to our response to the pandemic, the political vitriol, the grief of constant change, the wars and rumors of wars, etc. In each situation, one must choose to be a giver, rather than a taker, to be a disciple of Jesus the Christ rather than the world of the flesh. There is no room for selfishness and self-pity in the disciple’s heart. That is why we painfully struggle when it tries to crowd out the Spirit within. We are like Jesus at Gethsemane, though infinitely inferior to our Lord. He too wrestled with the human and divine tension caused by Sin, though his struggle was with the author of Sin and our is with our inner nature of sin. At Gethsemane, Jesus gave us the only appropriate response to our trials, fears, and frustrations - “Not my will, but Yours be done, Heavenly Father.” 

    I urge you to put on sackcloth and ashes during this Lenten season. Take up new disciplines, pray with repentant sorrow and gladness. Open your heart to new life and revival if you’ve been a giver, and accept reproach if you’ve been a taker. Jesus gave it all for us all, but we must humbly submit to our Lord to begin a new way of being. Let this Lent be a time of prayer, especially for our church family, our community, our region, nation, and world. Pray for Christ’s divine intervention in our affairs and then have the courage to stand amid the signs and wonders of His majestic might and the Enemy’s retaliation - Like Ukrainians against Russia, though our battle belongs to the LORD. Shiloh Church is ready for revival, but we must show our dedication to giving rather than taking; we must show our heartfelt desire to witness Christ’s reign over the Body gathered here. Let us put on sackcloth and ashes, and let us pray.