“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew 6:16-18).
I grew up in a congregation of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod that practiced the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. The people would approach the pastor, who was standing in the front of church. He held a silver vessel containing an unappealing black substance. It was the burned remnants of the palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday mixed with oil. As the people would come to the pastor, he would blacken his thumb with the ashes and make the sign of the cross on the person’s forehead. He would tell each person, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I never realized, however, that this was fasting. Growing up when and where I did, I also didn’t realize that what was to me a natural part of the Ash Wednesday worship service was, in other places, quite a contentious issue.
Later, attending college in what is referred to by some as the “Bible Belt,” I met many people, Christians and non-Christians, who were shocked by this worship practice. Lutherans were few in number in Murray, Ky. Most of my friends were some flavor of evangelical protestant. Knowing that I professed to be a Christian, when the inevitable discussion would arise, many would quote this passage of scripture to me, and tell me the imposition of ashes was unbiblical. I had to admit that I had not thought about it in that way before. It certainly seemed logical.
It has always been the Confessional Lutheran view that the Church should not do away with good traditions and practices, but only those things that take away from the Gospel. The Imposition of Ashes is one of those good traditions. Fasting was an important part of the Jewish religion. The problem Jesus had with fasting was not the practice, but that the hypocrites turned it into a work of self-glorification. Jesus does not forbid fasting, either here or elsewhere. He expects his disciples to fast. Jesus says, “When you fast…” The issue with fasting is not should it be practiced, but rather, are we doing it so other people with think we are holy? Do our hearts feel true sorrow and humility? Fasting can be good training for our will, but God does not command particular times, places, or forms of fasting.[1] There is nothing we have to offer, no work we can do, no ceremony we can perform, in order to merit God’s forgiveness.
After leaving church on Ash Wednesday, sometimes people forgot that they had a smear of ashes on their forehead. Sometimes they would inadvertently scratch their foreheads. The residue on their finger would serve as a subtle reminder that they were dust, and to dust they must one day return. Before going to bed, looking in the mirror, one is once again reminded they are marked with the black stain of sin.
Those ashes, however, are drawn on the forehead in the sign of a cross. Not as if the cross is some kind of magic sign to ward off evil. It is also as a reminder. The cross reminds us that the guilt of mankind’s sin has been paid for by Christ’s death. The blood of Christ shed on the cross has justified us. We did not participate in Christ’s saving work at all. It happened while we were still powerless.[2] God has given us forgiveness as a gift, through Christ Jesus. He sends His Holy Spirit to us to create faith in our hearts through the means of his Word and Sacraments. He enables us to do works that please him – not in order to earn his favor – but to glorify his most holy name. Fasting, and other traditions like the Imposition of Ashes, can help us to look at our sin, confess it, and acknowledge our need for a savior. These traditions, used properly, and not imposed as a law, focus us on Christ and Him crucified.
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[1] Luther, Martin. Luther's Small Catechism. Translated by Concordia Publishing House. Saint Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 1991.
[2] Romans 5:8-9
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