More Than a Smudge: The Promise of Lent

Today’s post was written by Deaconess Heather Wathall. Concordia’s Chaplaincy Department actively contributes to our residents’ well-being, especially during the Lenten season. Enjoy!

Remember that “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). 

Observing this day can appear to be divine-mandated morbidity. We willingly take the time to go to church. The pastor smears a black smudge resembling a cross on our foreheads. He tells us, “You are going to die.”

Why on earth would one voluntarily do such a thing?

Because it is true. Humanity was formed from the earth, and we will return to it when we die.

Genesis 2:7 reveals to us that God “formed” – a word related to the Hebrew word for “a potter – Adam out of the dust of the “ground” – a word related to the Hebrew word for “red.” God then breathed the “breath” – the same Hebrew word as “wind” and “spirit” – of life into Adam, making him literally “living clay.”

So, in Genesis 2:21, God took living clay from Adam’s “side” – the Hebrew word is also translated as “rib,” “beam” or even “side chamber” when about God’s temple in Jerusalem – to make a woman. Verse 24 indicates that this is a design with a holy purpose. “And it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

The joy of creation is tempered in Genesis 3. The consequence of Adam and Eve’s lack of trust in God’s Word is death, just as God had warned Adam (and just as Satan had challenged wasn’t true). When God pronounces judgement for this sin on the serpent, Eve and Adam, He begins with the serpent being “…cursed above all livestock… on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14). And then God pronounced the curse that is our blessing: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). Satan will continue to strike. But the woman’s seed, the Son born of the Virgin Mary would bruise his head. Satan’s attack on Jesus that Good Friday results in his own demise. It’s beautiful.

It’s in the wake of that curse and blessing that God turns to Adam to tell him that he and all of his descendants will die because of this sin against God:

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground, for out if it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Genesis 3:19

God waited until he had promised the solution before he pronounced the consequence over Adam and the rest of us.

In the Gospels, Jesus continually points us to this solution by His cross:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
John 3:14-15

Romans Chapter 5 summarizes all of this. Read the whole thing in your devotional time and let it sink in. Here are some highlights:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1

…but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:16-17

So, it’s a healthy exercise to go receive those ashes today. Many will not understand. They may think you’re showing off your holiness. Perhaps they see you as depressed, morbid or any number of things. But, this act is a strong symbol of Jesus’ great promise: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

This is more than a smudge, it is the promise of our true humanity restored, tempered with the truth of death.

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Founded in 1881, Concordia Lutheran Ministries is a faith-based, CARF-accredited Aging Services Network and recipient of the inaugural Pennsylvania Department of Aging Excellence in Quality Care Award. As one of the largest nonprofit senior care providers in the country, the organization serves 50,000 people annually through in-home care and inpatient locations. Concordia offers a lifetime continuum of care that includes adult day services, home health care, hospice, medical and rehabilitation services, memory care, personal care, assisted living, respite care, retirement living, skilled nursing/short-term rehab, spiritual care and medical equipment.