Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is the 40 days (minus Sundays) prior to Easter, when we celebrate the rising of Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior. If you live or work in New York City, you’ll see droves of people passing you by with ashes marking their foreheads. If you’ve ever wondered why, we have to look back to the Book of Job and see what the ashes signify.
“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5-6 ESV)
The Book of Job is an epic poem, along the lines of the Iliad, recounting the events Job’s encounter with God. In the very beginning of the Book, Job loses everything: his health, wealth, and family. He has nothing to live for and is trying to rationalize his fate with three of his best friends and his wife. The conclusion Job comes to is that God just doesn’t care. Then God speaks to Job and shows Job exactly who He is. In encountering God’s majesty and awesomeness, Job understands that he is actually nothing. He feels such sorrow and is filled with such contrition in light of his encounter with God that he covers himself in the dust and ashes of his life around him to signify his unworthiness. It is in this feeling of “unworthiness” that Job realizes how God loves him despite his inequity. It is on Ash Wednesday, that we, like Job, recognize our unworthiness before God and are humbled by God’s ultimate act of love and sacrifice for people who are nothing more than dust and ashes. Today, we should reflect on the impact of that love in our daily lives. If that love, through Jesus Christ, does not impact our daily lives, we should ask how we can ask God to put His love through Jesus into our everyday so that we can witness what God has in store for us. Allow God to work within your heart to help you recognize His love in our lives today.
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