Göttinger Predigten
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Ash Wednesday, 03/01/2017
WHAT’S IN THERE ANYWAY?
Sermon on Matthew 6:16-21, by Walter W. Harms
[Jesus said:] “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What’s in There Anyway?
First, a few words about this Ash Wednesday stuff. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40 week days (not including Sundays) that ends on the evening of our Lord Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. The word “ash” implies something that burned until it was ash. Traditionally the palms used for last year’s Palm Sunday worship (the Sunday before Easter) were burned and the ashes used to mark the foreheads of the worshipers on this day. More about that a bit later.
The 40 days of Lent has been around a long time. It started with Pope Gregory the Great around the year 600 AD. 40 is quite symbolic in Bible history. 40 years was the number of years God’s people rescued from genocide in Egypt traveled in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land, we know today was Palestine.
After the baptism of our Lord by John the Baptizer, Jesus was led into a wilderness and stayed there for 40 days of fasting and prayer. It is from those two facts in history that we have our 40 days of Lent.
As members of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, we do well to spend time each year in special hours of contemplation about what is in our heart anyway. That is because, as our Lord Jesus said to people: “Where your heart is, there is your treasure also.” What we treasure, what we consider as precious, important is going to be found in our heart.
I like what someone (can’t remember the source of this) said about worship. “Worship is an inner attitude and feeling of awe, reverence, gratitude and love toward God resulting from a realization of who He is and who we are.” In other words, worship of our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit takes place in our minds, our spirits, and our souls. That’s what we should look at carefully during these 40 days. So what’s in there anyway?
It certainly may or may not be what we show openly to others. Public worship of our Savior may or may not reveal what is in our hearts. Our prayers publicly or privately may not tell us and not others what’s in our hearts. Even our actions, whether very kind or very mean, may not reveal what truly we treasure.
So this 40 days of Lent may give us an opportunity to scrape away the foam that TV, internet, gaming, partying, shopping, or working too much pretends to be the real us. The real substance of who we are may be just those or they may mask what we fear is underneath, and thus treasure our fears. They may cover the reality of what is important to us. Many of us, including myself, rarely think about what we treasure in our hearts.
God has made us to be very complex. Then comes along the Old Evil Foe, tempting to lead us to treasure other than what we should. For us to sort through what is treasure and what we trash in our lives in most difficult, and sometimes seems impossible. I believe that as a result we simply avoid the issue and as the saying goes, we go with the flow.
All too often that is riding in a boat that is heading toward disasters that will destroy us. We party until the ship hits the iceberg of disaster, whatever that may be for us, and we are in terror.
Lent may give us the opportunity to see what we are and what we should treasure in our hearts and lives.
Our Word who is Jesus today talks about 4 areas of our lives: giving, praying, fasting and wealth accumulation.
Giving. If there ever was a time when we have lots to give to the needy it is now. Why give? Jesus said: “Give and it shall be given unto you.” That’s a pretty amazing statement that does require some kind of faith. Lent helps us to look at the suffering death of Jesus, God’s Son sent into this world to give himself into death for our rescue from the quicksand of eternal damnation that is sucking us into it maw.
Why in the world would he do that anyway? Two factors stand out. The love of his Father and his obedience to Him, and the miserable, awful condition of the beings the Father had created to be in tune with him. That wavelength of connection with Him had been broken and we break it constantly by treasuring almost everybody and everything over and above him. God the Father couldn’t stand it. He treasured you, each of you more than the life of his Son.
Our giving is not even to be compared with the giving of Jesus. So check your giving these 40 days of Lent. Does your giving begin to show what is treasured in your heart?
Praying. Praying is staying in tune with all that God our Father is and what is happening to us and God’s gracious connection with us. St. Paul wrote: “Pray without ceasing.” It certainly doesn’t mean bowing our heads and folding our hands all the time. It means that we need to be in tune with His having had mercy on us, how we should show mercy in the situations we find ourselves in. What does “pray with stopping” mean when we are going to work, school or wherever we go? When we are quarrelling? When life is beautiful and wondrous? When we mourn or celebrate? Where is your heart in all of these things anyway?
Fasting. Fasting is not going without food. Fasting is declining some food for 40 days. It may well remind us of what Jesus gave up for us. If we decide or have decided to give up something for Lent, it should not be obvious. It should tell us of the great reward, better than anything we momentarily have
Well, our heavenly Father does have something waiting for us because of Jesus. What is that “reward”? Life forever in heaven at the heavenly banquet that never, never ends. He gives us an awakening when death shuts the door on life as it did for Jesus. What can we give up for 40 days that will keep us centered on the love of God for us in Jesus, his suffering, his death, his time in the grave, and his being restored to life? What’s in our hearts anyway?
Wealth accumulation. Well, we really don’t want to talk about this, do we? Do any of us ever have enough in savings, in the bank, in investments? Do you have enough to see you and your loved ones to the end of your lives? A frank answer is: none of us knows and as a person connected with Jesus we believe whatever happens, he will take care of us? Right? Well, perhaps….
We live in a society, a nation that is dedicated to having enough money to live well, whatever that might mean. Most of the people in power today have millions, if not billions. They are the powerful, they are admired and envied, and they are the kind we want to become, that is if we are still young enough at this time.
What in the world does Jesus mean when he tells us in Lent: “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven”? I am reminded of a parable that Jesus told. Remember the one about sheep and goats? Both parties are confronted with the news that when Jesus was hungry he got fed or didn’t, when he didn’t have clothes he was given or not given something to wear, when he was thirsty he got or didn’t get water, when he was in prison he was or wasn’t visited. Then his words to those who did it were: “Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before this world was founded.” Wow! Inherit—children inherit, sons and daughters inherit—that’s us, that are you and me?
Is it? What are we banking on when our last hour will come? What is your heart treasuring right now?
The words spoken to us as we receive the mark of the ashes on our foreheads are: “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return”! May God have mercy on us? Christ have mercy on us. Father, have mercy on us. Clean our hearts and keep us until the day when we may kneel before you, our heavenly Father, and you welcome us home. Amen