Reflections of Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012: “Ashes Seeking Help”

All Christians can and should be able to relate to Job. His name means either “one exposed to hostility” or “one who returns and repents”…either way, we should be able to either affirm the fact that we too are exposed to the hostility of the world that tries to rip our faith away from us or verify that we too are in daily and constant need of returning to the Lord in repentance. At the very least, we can relate to the simple description of Job at Job 1:1: Job was “a man.” And we know what happened to him in his mere humanity: he faced terrible suffering. This is what all of us are in the position to relate to. This in itself raises anxiety in us. When we consider the weight of our weakness and vulnerability, especially due to our sin, we should also be able to relate to Job’s confession at 42:6: “therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” 

Now on Ash Wednesday we traditionally emulate Job by taking on ashes, but can we also relate to him by despising ourselves as he despised himself? This too should be easy when we contemplate our sin. Yes, it is that bad and yes, it permeates our sinful nature. On this account, we continually relate to Job as the people of God. We also fear God (we cling to Him and revere Him) and turn away from evil. It is true that we are sinners and while sin and evil are directly related, it is one thing to be sinner, it is another to practice evil. If sin is lawlessness, evil is the pursuit of lawlessness; if sin is falling short of the glory of God, evil revels in the fallen state. Job was a sinner and he confessed his sin, but he turned away from evil. Indeed, our Lord says that we are to hate evil (Amos 5:15). Evil is designed to cause us to abandon the faith.

That is, whereas evil would drive us to unbelief, Job even in his misery and despair; and even when he could not see God, the Word states at Job 1:20 that Job “worshiped.” Terrible things happen, Satan accuses so that we would succumb to our shame and guilt, but remember what God did in Job: he led him to worship. How could Job do this? He could because the God we worship does not live above us, but lives among us. He is Emmanuel/God with us (Isaiah 7), He promises to be with us always (Matt. 28), and Job knew that even after turning to dust, he would be raised before the Lord and see the Lord with his own eyes (Job 19). Job knew that God was with Him. Can we be that bold? That confident? We shouldn’t hesitate. Why?

Jesus joined our ash-heap. In fact, His was larger and taller than any ash pile that has ever existed. His was so high, He had to be lifted on a cross as He bore all sins, the cause for all ashes. How could Job bless the name of the Lord? For one to say, “Lord” is to speak not simply of the Creator-God, but the God of compassion, the God of grace, and the God who does not abandon His people. Did Job have the clarity of faith that we have in the Christian Church? Absolutely not, but he knew enough, he could already see Jesus and Jesus is the God who joins us in our ashes, so that we know — always, always, always — that our lives do not end there.

For Job to know such misery and yet say, “blessed be the name of the Lord” was like knowing that what he was going through was not the end of the story.

How could it be? If Christ entered into our ashes and rose from the grave, then it must be that since we are in Christ, the ashes we know today will not impede our resurrection. Christ is here even in our ashes; Christ is here affirming His victory over our ashes; Christ is here and so that our ashes cannot be the last word. In in the meantime, our ashes remind us to continue to confess our great need for our Lord, the Lord, the One we worship, Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

Dr. Espinosa

• Share