FIRST SCRIPTURE READING          Isaiah 58:1-12

58 Shout out; do not hold back!
    Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
² Yet day after day they seek me
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they want God on their side.^[a]
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day
    and oppress all your workers.
⁴ You fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
    will not make your voice heard on high.
⁵ Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
    and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
⁸ Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator^[b] shall go before you;
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”

If you remove the yoke from among you,
    the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
¹⁰ if you offer your food to the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your needs in parched places
    and make your bones strong,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water
    whose waters never fail.

SECOND SCRIPTURE READING              Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness 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. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so 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. ⁶ But 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 somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so 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,²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

An Ash Wednesday Meditation

Our two texts this afternoon paint a picture of what piety truly is. For most Westerners, one’s piety – that is, one’s conscious decisions to be more Christlike, are primarily geared to the individual person, i.e. us! We boil it down to a question of MY praying, MY giving, MY fasting, the looks of MY countenance and face.  Seen this way, it’s all a case in missing the point. 

Our text today are selections from the sermon on the mount.  Jesus has given the community instructions on what it means to be in community with God and with others. Jesus records all the “blessed ares” we remember so well – the poor, the hungry, the gentle, the mourners, the seekers – all of which describe the fabric of what we call the Christian life. Jesus reminds us we will be persecuted and that as community we are the salt which enhances the world we live in and are a light unto the ways of God for others to see.  Jesus is speaking to community in the Sermon on the Mount and in today’s text, he still does. 

He’s speaking about relationships among couples, how the community is to love its enemies, and moving in today’s text about the utter winsomeness of our giving. Jesus then goes to begin talking about how we are to pray in this afternoon’s text but for reasons that are entirely beyond me, the compilers of the lectionary cut out Jesus’ primary instruction on prayer. The community asks Jesus, “How should we pray?” and Jesus replies, “Pray then in this way:” Please join me out loud…

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…

…For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” It’s at this point Jesus resumes the sermon and speaks about proper fasting and preparing treasures for heaven.

The prophet Isaiah is a bit more direct. Forget all. your public displays of piety.  Do you want to show God you love him, then you need to be about calling truth to power to the Empire about unjust systems of government, helping liberate those who are bound, feed those who are hungry, cloth the naked, and then stay in community with your people. THEN and only then will the Lord hear your prayers and call out to you.

Ash Wednesday is a powerful reminder that matters of faith are not all about “me and Jesus” but is more about “we and Jesus.” It’s a time to confess we have tried to blaze our own path forward neglecting the help and accountability of those in community. It’s a time we sit up straight and admit we have been slouching in our chair when it comes to exposing the abused civil rights of others. Ash Wednesday is the day to lay claim to the fact that before we go into our room and pray to the Father in secret, we need to first go check on the condition of our neighbor.

Ash Wednesday is a Christian’s reboot button. It’s a day we commit to putting our reliance on God, taking care of the community we live in, and reset our hearts calibration to ways of Jesus as he outlines in the Sermon on the Mount.  In the name of the One who is, was, and is to come.  Amen,