From Ashes to Beauty: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 - Ash Wednesday

 [Jesus said:] ¹“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

  ²“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
  ⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
  ¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
  ¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Remember You are Dust by Lawrence OP on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” 

 

In other words, when you practice your faith, don’t be show-offy. When you do good works and help others, don’t draw attention to yourself. 

 

Reading this, I realize that Lutherans have never had a reputation for drawing attention to ourselves. We don’t go door-to-door the recruit church members; we don’t stand on street corners and had out tracts; we don’t dress distinctively; and we don’t require you to give up eating meat on Fridays during Lent.  

 

We tend to be rather private about our faith and faith practices, and we are (unfortunately) not accustomed to praying out loud even in the presence of fellow Christians.  

 

Receiving the ashes on your forehead tonight may be the most public way that you have declared your faith to the world. And since it’s nighttime, most of you are going to probably go straight home and wash off the ashes before you go to bed. And that’s perfectly fine. I know I will. 

 

It would seem, then, that Jesus doesn’t really have a lot to say to us, even as this is the first day of Lent, except maybe, “if you’re giving up chocolate for Lent or you’re not going to eat meat on Fridays, don’t make an issue out of it.” 

 

But Jesus’s teachings go much deeper than that—because what you do on the outside comes from who you are on the inside. This is about more than what you do. It’s about who you are. 

 

The reason why Jesus is critical of those practice their faith for show is that they are putting on a false self. That’s what a hypocrite does—a hypocrite works very hard to present themselves as something they are not.  

 

As sinners, we all do this.  

• We care a great deal about what people think of us.  

• We spend ungodly amounts of money on designer labels and luxury goods. 

• We bend over backwards to please people, because we cannot imagine letting people down and not having their approval.  

• We don’t ask others for help because we want to appear as strong and capable. 

• We shove our pains and doubts deep into our selves so as not to appear weak.  

• We bear grudges and withhold forgiveness because of our insistence on being right.  

• We judge people and act with contempt towards those we see as lazy, immoral, untrustworthy, and dangerous  

• We act as if we don’t struggle with sin; the “real sinners” are people who don’t go to church or believe what we believe.  

• We avoid conflict at all costs. We value winning over compromise. 

• We’re perfectionists. We don’t challenge ourselves for fear of making mistakes. 

• We hesitate to do what’s right if we’re not certain of the outcome. 

• We hold back parts of ourselves from Jesus because we don’t want to give up control of our lives or let go of the things we value. 

 

In putting on a false self we are trying to be God—or maybe something even greater than God. Have you ever imagined the amount of evil we commit in our effort to be something we are not? How we judge, hurt, exploit, and steal to feed what is an illusion? 

 

Then you wonder why you’re anxious; why you’re exhausted; why you constantly feel threatened; why you believe that you’re not good enough. It’s because you’re feeding that false self. It’s because you are reaching for something that is not God. 

 

Tonight, we come face-to-face with some difficult truths: I’m a sinner. So are you. As sinners, we hurt one another to get what we want and what we think we need. We reduce our neighbors to ashes.  

 

But we are ashes, too. The wages of sin is death. It’s sin that destroys you, not God.  

 

One day, we will all return to dust. Compared to God and the universe, we are but a speck.  

 

But Jesus changes all that. Even though we are responsible for his death on the cross, he forgives. By grace, this dust that you are is being transformed into something beautiful—a person bearing God’s image; a person baptized with the Holy Spirit; a person through whom Christ lives and breathes to fill this world with divine love and healing.  

 

And if you have ever been or felt like you’re being judged by other people for not being good enough, I have good news for you today: Jesus loves the person you are, not the person others think you should be. No matter what you’ve done or what people think you’ve done, You’re forgiven. You’re accepted.  

 

Tonight, Jesus is calling you to give up something far greater than chocolate or hamburgers. Jesus is calling you to follow him to Calvary where you will die to the false self that others say you should be or that you think you must be. 

 

As long as you live you will never be perfect. You will never be what you “should” be. You will let people down; people will judge you for no good reason—but you are accepted. Whether you’re right or wrong in life, Christ will be your righteousness. Instead of being a false self, you are free to be your true self—and someone who’s worth or value depends not on what kind of clothes you wear, how much money you have, or what other people think of you. Your treasure is in heaven, while God’s treasure is on earth—being you. Whatever you lose or sacrifice to follow Jesus, you will gain back in amazing grace. 

 

Tonight, we celebrate the love that makes beautiful things out of dust, who does beautiful things for you, and who does beautiful things through you. From dust you came and to dust you shall return, but you are a child of God. That is what makes all the difference.