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Wednesday 5 March 2025 Ash Wednesday
Wash my face or daub it with ash?
Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Context: at a Mass (Eucharist) or Service of the Word, with the imposition of ashes as part of the liturgy, for a mainly white suburban middle-class congregation, although newer parishioners are much more culturally diverse; educational levels generally high, with most of the congregation established, practising Catholics
Aim: to encourage thought and re-evaluation of Lenten practices that are taken for granted and often go unexamined and undeveloped since childhood ‘giving up’
INTRODUCING PARADOX
Anyone who chooses to start thinking about religion – any religion – will eventually have to grapple with and develop a taste for paradox: the ability to hold two apparently contradictory things side-by-side and say ‘yes’ to both of them. And not a 50/50 compromise – it’s a 100% ‘yes’ to both. To put it another way: many theological questions that seem to invite an ‘either/or’ answer are often most completely answered with a ‘both/and’ response. So, Jesus is true God AND true Man. God is Three AND God is One. Salvation requires Grace AND Faith, AND furthermore if not accompanied by good works, then there would appear to be a problem somewhere. (James 2:17)
In western, rationalist thought we are notoriously bad at paradox. We like to have our ducks in a neat tidy row. But that’s not always how it is. And in approaching the complexities hidden away in today’s celebration of Ash Wednesday we need as much paradox-processing as we can muster.
WASH MY FACE OR DAUB IT WITH ASH?
The Gospel says that when we fast, we should wash our faces and make them presentable, yet within minutes of proclaiming this, many of us will daub our foreheads with dirty ash. We say that this is a sign and reminder to me of my sinfulness and mortality, and yet it will be placed in the very place where I can’t see it unless I look in a mirror. And some of us will play the game of trying to keep it there for as long as possible – maybe the kindly unsuspecting person on the till in Tesco will pluck up courage to tell us that there’s a problem with our face and offer us a wet wipe. What do we think we’re doing?
At least the Gospel message is clear and unequivocal. Do all your good stuff in secret, and then you will be rewarded. At least those ducks are in a row…
… except they’re not. For only in the previous chapter of Matthew, Jesus has proclaimed ‘No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub… your light must shine in people’s sight so that seeing your good works they may give praise to your Father in heaven.’ (Matthew 5:14-16)
GOOD DEEDS, PRIDE AND FALSE HUMILITY
Letting good deeds be seen should be for God’s glory, but there’s the ever-present risk of my glory and my pride creeping in. However, that doesn’t mean that secrecy about good deeds is the risk-free option. The sin of Pride has an ugly twin: False Humility. Too much secrecy about good deeds risks tipping over into denial of my God-given gifts, denial of the goodness and Grace of God operating within me and through me.
Similar paradoxes emerge surrounding our Lenten disciplines. Should we ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12) while at the same time recognising that salvation is the free gift of God that we can in no way earn or merit? Grace is indeed gratis. But surely, we’re expected to do something? Yet giving up chocolate isn’t going to get us into heaven. And a bit of failure in Lent is probably good too. Getting to Easter Sunday with a triumphant ‘Yes! I did it!’ would not be healthy. Easter isn’t about ‘I did it’, it’s about ‘He did it’. Jesus is the one who gets to say, ‘It is accomplished.’ (John 19:30)
EASTER IS THE KEY
And maybe keeping our eyes fixed on the Easter mystery is the key to our Lenten paradoxes. Only one question matters: do our ash and our good works and our giving up, our fasting, our prayer, our whatever, help us enter into the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ? All our good works are but a participation in His once and for all sufficient Good Work. Our sufferings and pains are His. Through His wounds we are healed.
NOW!
And finally, a note for the procrastinators. The gift of Lent is that it comes upon us whether we are ready for it or not. No matter. The prophet Joel (in our first reading) and the apostle Paul (in our second reading) agree. Now! Now! Do it now! The day of salvation is always today.
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Issue 195: Speaking of Last Things
