“Truth-telling”

Ash Wednesday 2008

              Tonight is all about truth-telling, telling the truth about who we are as people and about our relationship with God and with one another.  The truth is that we are sinners, each and every one of us.  As our baptismal liturgy states, “we are born children of a fallen humanity.”  It is a result of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and their disobedience to God’s Word and command.  God said, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day that you eat of it you shall die.”  Adam and Eve traded God’s Word for a lie as the serpent, who “was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made,” caused Eve to question God’s word, saying, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden,” directly contradicting God by telling her, “You shall not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  The temptation was too great.  She saw that the fruit was good for food; that it was a delight to her eyes; that it was to be desired.  Eve ate of the fruit and gave some to Adam and the result was a broken relationship and separation from God.  This story of Adam and Eve is our story.  We are children of a fallen humanity.  We are by nature sinful and unclean.  The Bible tells us the truth, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

              Another truth is that we all will die.  We are all terminal.  We may not like to think about that, but it is true.  The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it pretty straight forward, “For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other.”  Even though we may understand this, when death comes, it always takes us by surprise, revealing its power over us.  Like a thief in the night, death snatches away what we treasure most in life, our loving relationships with family and friends.  Death comes to all.  No one can escape it.  No one can postpone it.  No one can alleviate its fearsome grip upon us.  It is why in the Bible it says the last great enemy to be destroyed is death.

              Tony Campolo tells a story that highlights the stark reality of death.  It is called “The Potato Salad Promise.”  There is a church that celebrates one day a year student recognition day.  One year, after several students had spoken quite eloquently about their life and faith, the pastor started his sermon in a striking way: “Young people, you may not think you’re going to die, but you are.  One of these days, they’ll take you to the cemetery, drop you in a hole, throw some dirt on your face and go back to the church and eat potato salad.”  We may not like to acknowledge it, Campolo says, but some day every one of us will have to face the “Potato Salad Promise,” that we will all die.  Again, the Bible tells us the truth, “the wages of sin is death.”

              Ash Wednesday is about truth-telling.  For most of us, we don’t want to face the truth.  Admitting who we are does not come naturally for us feel-good, positive-thinking, sin-denying modern people.  We would rather put a good face on it, cover it up with some makeup, pretend that we are something else than what we are.  We are good people, after all.  We live a good life and try to help others.  We don’t want to be told we are sinners and that we will all die.  But the journey for truth is a hard road.  It takes us to a place where we do not willingly go, to confession and repentance.  Getting to the truth involves admitting that “we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”  That “we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, but what we have done and left undone.”  That “we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.”  Through our confession, we come to the truth that we need God and what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

              Ashes, then, becomes a sign of our confession and need for forgiveness.  It reminds us of our sinfulness and mortality.  It reminds us that we can not save ourselves.  It reminds us that we are not all that God intended for us to be.  It reminds us that we need the grace and mercy of God.  It reminds us that we belong to God, the Creator of all things.  Our lessons for tonight point out the truth, that God desires a new relationship with us and makes it possible.  The Prophet Joel called the people to repentance so God could forgive.  “Return to the Lord, your God,” he says, “for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  When confronted by the truth of his sin, King David realized what he had done, repented, and asked God to forgive him, creating in him a clean heart and a new and right spirit.  The Apostle Paul urges us, “Be reconciled to God,” that is, accept the forgiveness that is being offered, because “Now is the day of salvation.”  Jesus warns us against the hypocrisy of practicing our piety in public in order to gain the approval of others.  Our praying, fasting, and giving are to be done in order to honor God and serve our neighbor.  It is to be done in secret, for what God sees in secret, God will reward, for it is what goes on inside of us, in our hearts that matters most to God.

              For those who repent and confess their sin before God, the truth is this:  God forgives you and gives to you a new life.  That is the truth.  Salvation comes from God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   Yes, “the wages of sin is death,” but the greater truth is this: “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

              I began to understand more fully what Ash Wednesday was all about after my dad and mom died.  Their illnesses and deaths illustrated in a real and tangible way the truth that we are frail, mortal people.  They died, leaving us behind to grieve their loss.  But my father and mother also shared with us another truth, a truth that they clinged to throughout their lives, a truth that comes from God and breaks the power of sin and death.  By faith and trust in Jesus, there is life, eternal life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  As we stood at their graves, pouring sand on their caskets, saying, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” we also proclaimed this word, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”  That, my friends, is the truth.  Amen.