Sermonhelp.Com Wednesday February
17, 1999
An Ash Wednesday Meditation It's What's Inside That Counts I stopped at a convenience store to pick up some milk and a loaf of bread on my way home after the Ash Wednesday service last year. The store was owned by a young Indian fellow. He gave me a strange look when I came to check out. In fact he gave me what seemed to be a rather disgusted look. It wasn't until I was driving down the street that I realized he thought I was somehow mocking Indian women (including his wife) who wear the red "bindi" on their foreheads.¹ I wanted to go back and explain to the man that I wasn't making fun at all. "You see," I imagined I would say, "This is the mark of ashes on my forehead which signifies..." Meanwhile, the words of Jesus come to mind. "Beware of practicing your piety [the NIV -- 'acts of righteousness' is better here]² ...before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven." [Matt. 6:1] How could I go back and tell the young man behind the counter what I was really doing with ashes on my forehead in light of Jesus' warning? Not only would I be telling the guy I was not really a bad guy who was mocking his wife -- but a good guy who was doing a pious thing. As a matter of fact, Jesus goes so far as to say -- when you pray, you should, "...go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret..." How different that sounds from an
experience I had many years ago. I was invited to Sunday dinner at a local cafeteria with
a deacon from my student parish. This deacon was a "god-fearing", upright,
upstanding citizen of the community. He was the definition of piety for people of
his small town.. And... I was uncomfortable around him. He reminded me of one of my
seminary professors favorite quips, "One ought not try to be more religious than
God!" Religious? No one in town
would disagree with the fact that this man was religious. (The problem was, his
piety served to "repel" instead of "attract" and that makes it hard to
be a "fisher of persons!") When we all sat down to eat, he
"announced," "Let us bow our heads and pray." Not exactly your "go into your room and shut the door" kind of prayer! Jesus Points Us To Our Inner Life Jesus' words of caution are really aimed at our inner life. We need to be careful that the outward expression of our religious life is not aimed at pleasing others or receiving the praise of others. When we attend worship so that others will think we are spiritual, or give, or pray to impress someone else, then Jesus says we've gotten our reward. In other words, when our inner motivation for religious activity of any kind is anything other than wanting to be close to God, there is no spiritual gain. I had a bit of experience with this during my high school years when I was smitten by a young woman whose parents were regular church attendees. I had two strikes against me. The girl's mother made it clear that she did not see me as "worthy" of her daughter and I was not a regular church attendee at all. Thinking I might impress her, I not only attended church -- I volunteered to teach a boys Sunday School class. [This does say something about the desperate need for teachers in the church!] Guess what? It was a complete "no win" situation. The girl's mother wasn't impressed, and neither was God! My attendance at worship and teaching of the class did not have anything to do with God. It did, however have to do with my inner life -- the only difficulty was that neither my outward religious activity nor my inner life were about spiritual things. Lest there be confusion, Jesus is not saying: "Don't take offerings at church," "Don't lead in public prayer," or, "Don't join in fast days." Notice carefully what he said. It wasn't, "Beware of practicing your piety in front of others..." There is a very important phrase attached -- namely, "... in order to be seen by them." It is okay to give offerings at church, lead the congregation in prayer or join in a fast day with others. The injunction is against doing these or any other religious activity to get applause, admiration or anything else from others. Jesus challenges his followers to put their hearts in the hands of God so that their affections, longings and motivation will be aimed at growing close to God. What we treasure most will claim our affections and direct our lives. Jesus points us to that treasure that will not fade away with the values of this world. In contrast with the treasure of this world that can be stolen, spiritual treasure -- our relationship with God -- can not be stolen as it is locked away in the vault of the heart which is safely placed in the hands of God. Jesus Points Us to Self-Examination Jesus raises the issue of self examination by saying, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The treasure that lasts is inner treasure. The treasure that is passing is outer treasure. Inner treasure is the soul's journey home as it were -- a journey from the temporal to the eternal -- from spiritual death to spiritual rebirth. It is the "rest" of St. Augustine's, "Our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in thee." Our Lenten theme this year is "Paradise Lost and Found: The Long Journey Home to God." There is no possible way we can take this journey without looking inward -- without self examination. In one of his speeches, Martin Luther King said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." In fact, the unexamined life is unconscious living -- a life that simply "runs its course" without ever stopping to examine the course. Self examination begins with a simple fact that will be driven home all over the world tonight as Christians in many different lands and countless languages will hear the words, "...Dust you are and to dust you shall return...." [Gen. 3:19] As countless thousands of us receive the imposition of ashes, we are reminded that we are mortal -- limited -- temporal beings. In the hospital, when patients die, a blank is filled in on the chart. "TIME OF EXPIRATION: _______" And when that blank is filled in for you -- and for me -- the only thing that will count will be Jesus' words... "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." [Matt. 6:21] Thus our Lenten journey is also our Lenten challenge. Where is my treasure? What do I value most? And -- the clincher -- what changes do I need to make to place God and my spiritual life higher on my list of priorities? Notes ¹ Concerning the bindi: [The following article was posted on a Hindu discussion group in response to a question -- the response is written by Kunal Singh] As far as I know the bindis (red dot) on women's forehead has not much to do with either religion nor caste. It is largely a feature of Indian cosmetics.In religion, you will see the concept of "tilak" or someone placing a red mark on either the foreheads of people or even figures of deities.That action is generally considered to bestow honor upon the recipient.During Hindu rituals, you see devotees marking the figure of deity or some stone by using a red powder as an act of honoring the deity. in some parts of India, black marks or even ashes are used instead of red powder. From an article in the Earth Times by Soon-Young Yoon - 12/97] "The bindi is generally reserved for married women, although, "Young women sometimes wear decorative bindis for special occasions before they are married. " It goes on to say that although women are the most common bindi users, "a small group of men, usually Brahmins of certain families, wear 'thalika,' large, bindi-like red circles on their foreheads to signify their piety and devotion." ² The word translated piety" or "acts of righteousness" is "dikaiosuvnhn" or "righteousness." Literally this would be "be careful not to make your righteousness before men" The idea is that of the outward actions that come from our inner spiritual life. If we are "right with God" we will express that by "acts of righteousness" or "right living". v.2ff "secret" is "kruptw'/ - krupto" or cryptic. The word "secret" which is used throughout this text is best understood as the personal and private nature of the relationship between God and the individual Christian. It isn't so much that it should be a "secret" that we give our offerings, but rather that our giving is directed inwardly and not a matter of outward compulsion or recognition. Does this eliminate the idea of acknowledgement of gifts or public appreciation for givers? We think not. Jesus' words throughout our text are meant to say to us that our lives are to be directed from the inside out and not from the outside in. Whether there is public acknowledgment is not the issue. Our inner aim is to please God and when God is pleased, we have received our "reward" -- namely we are in harmony with the One who made us. Outward recognition can not compete with the inner sense of having become more fully what God made us to be. |