Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. This is the season representing Jesus’ life after his baptism and before his crucifixion. It represents the 40 days in the wilderness in which he fasted and was tempted by the devil.
Many know Lent to be a time of sacrifice – of giving something up or taking something on. Some fast, some give up sweets, some exercise more diligently. Many attend Ash Wednesday services in which they acknowledge the entering of this holy time. Marked with an ashen cross on the forehead while the words, ‘from dust you have come, and to dust you shall return’ mark the ears and hearts of the vulnerable receiver.
I have learned in my studies that gospel of Matthew paints Jesus as a ‘marked man’ from the beginning. From birth his life is being threatened by king Herod. And the threat of death continues until he is raised again.
In this rite, we have also been marked. Marked for death. It is a sign of our mortality, of our limitedness, or our fragility. It is a sign of the threat of death – temptation in all of our days in the ‘wilderness’ - the place throughout scripture representing a land of anxiety, fear, and conflict – a foreign land from which we have been promised deliverance.
We see throughout the Old Testament, that the wilderness is the place where we are most tempted to lose hope. Where we doubt the promise that says ‘I will be your God and you will be my people’. Where we forget God’s presence, providence, and power despite being led by God himself in a cloud during the day and pillar of fire by night, day in and day out; despite being provided miraculous daily bread and gushing springs of water in the desert; despite battles being won without the lifting of a single Israelite finger. Where we doubt God’s grace – somehow – despite the countless times we have done wrong to ourselves, others, and God, and the many more countless times God has forgiven us.
Thus, the scriptures, time and time again, tell us to “REMEMBER”. Remember what I have done for you. Remember my grace. Teach your children and your children’s children. Never forget.
And so we study the scriptures to remember our humanity. To be remember our tendency to sin – against God and each other. And to be reminded of God’s unconditional love and unbounded grace. That we are still here because of God’s mercy. That our creator who breathed life into us, and who has the ability to take that breath away just as easily, bound himself to us, his creatures, whom he loved so well, and emptied himself out to the point of a humiliating death on a cross. All so that we may know his face again, and know what it is to truly have Life.
So what does it mean to be marked this Lent? What does it mean to follow Christ through the wilderness? I think it means to be reminded that to follow Christ means to die to ourselves; to lay our lives down for the sake of our brothers and sisters, putting their needs before our own, considering them better than ourselves (Phil 2:3). That when we are tempted with to figure out our own way of survival, we respond, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” And when we are tempted to test the power of God and save ourselves, we respond, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” And when we are tempted to worship anything but god in order to glorify ourselves, we respond “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” (Matt 4:1-11)
As St. Francis of Assisi prayed,
O Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
How will your mark burn into your everyday life? How will that mark of death stain your relationships? Will you surrender your pride that others may feel love? Will you give up meals that others may eat? Will you stop shopping that other may be clothed?
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