Ashes to...Life

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which centres on repentance. The Old Testament tells us about physical signs of repentance, which include the tearing of clothes and dressing in sackcloth (a rough, burlap-like material), and sitting in ashes.

Many Christians will receive the imposition of ashes on this day, which usually are created from the previous years' palm branches being burned. The ashes call to mind repentance and also the reality of God's Word to Adam in Genesis 3:19 when He spoke of the consequences of sin:

By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your bread,
until you return to the ground—
because out of it were you taken.
For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.

At the same time, the ashes are formed in the shape of a cross, reminding the sinner that Jesus went to the cross and died for his or her sin; it is by the death of Jesus that we are saved from eternal death and ashes.

In John 1, we read that Jesus, the eternal Word of God, came to His own but His own did not receive Him. And we're reminded that in our sin, we reject Jesus. We reject His identity, that He is in fact God in the flesh; we reject His mission to seek and to save the lost because we don't believe that we're lost and in need of rescue; we reject His teaching because it doesn't suit our sinful desires.

And yet, the love and power of God in Jesus is greater than our sin. John the Baptizer (about whom John the Apostle was writing in chapter 1) knew this. John the Baptizer knew who he was, and who he wasn't. He openly stated, "I am not the Christ", knowing that he wasn't the one who was God's Chosen One who would save the world from sin and death. John the Baptizer knew he was there to get people ready for that Christ. He knew he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way.

And how did he prepare the way? By inviting people to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. By literally pointing people to the actual Christ, saying to them "Behold (this is one of my favourite Biblical words) the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world".

On this day, it's important that I too know who I am and who I'm not. I'm not the Christ. I'm much more like John the Baptizer - just a voice crying in this digital wilderness: there's the Christ, the eternal Word of God made flesh to take upon Himself your sin and deal with it forever. Trust Him. Believe Him. Behold Him. Look to Him for rescue, for salvation, for eternal life. Don't look to yourself or me or anyone else.

This is the promise of God through John the Apostle: when you receive Him through faith—by hearing His Word and believing it to be true, by believing that it is true for you—He gives you the right to become His beloved child. Not by your own will or power, but by His. And becoming His child gives you all the rights of a beloved child; above all, the inheritance stored up for you: eternal life.