Sackcloth and Ashes

Today begins the 40 day observance of Lent, the somber season in which we Christians traditionally consider our sins as the reason Christ died. Our observance often includes wearing ashes on our foreheads (hence the name, Ash Wednesday), worship with confession and repentance, fasting, and service to others. In our liturgy, we replace the singing of the “Alleluia” with what is called the Lenten Sentence, which calls us to “Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

These Lenten practices have their basis in Scripture, especially, if surprisingly, in the Old Testament book of Jonah. We would do well to consider his story as we journey through Lent toward the Cross and the Empty Tomb.

Jonah was not happy, for he was having a bad week. It all began when God called him to go preach a warning message to the huge city of Nineveh, which happened to be the capital of Israel’s mortal enemies, the Assyrians. Then when Jonah tried to get out of the task by sailing in the opposite direction, God sent a violent storm, and he was thrown into the sea by the pagan sailors who realized Jonah’s God was angry at him for something. Jonah almost drowned, sinking down to the depths of the sea and being entangled in seaweed. But even as Jonah’s death seemed imminent, along came a great fish that swallowed him whole and kept him alive for three days and nights in its belly. Not a pleasant experience for sure: even if you like seafood, the term, “sleeping with the fishes” is not something you really want to do! Finally, the fish spit Jonah up onto land.

Again, this was not a good week for Jonah, because even though he survived that ordeal, from his perspective, things were about to get worse. God came to him a second time and repeated his command for Jonah to go preach to Nineveh. This time, Jonah obeyed: he proclaimed to the city a simple message, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” and then he sat down and waited for God to pour his wrath upon the Ninevites and destroy them.

But something dramatic happened. The people of Nineveh, from the king on down to the lowliest peasant, believed God, and turned to him in repentance for their sins and violent ways. They fasted and wore sackcloth – think burlap bag. The king himself took off his royal robes and put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes to mourn what he and his people had done and what was likely to happen to them if God did not forgive them. The king ordered that man and beast alike must fast and wear sackcloth, in hopes that God would spare them.

And then, to Jonah’s dismay, God accepted their repentance and forgave them. Jonah complained to the Lord, saying why he fled from God the first time: he didn’t want Nineveh to be spared, and was afraid they might repent and be forgiven. He said to the Lord, “For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”

So why did God spare Nineveh, when centuries earlier he had destroyed other wicked cities such as Sodom and Gomorrah? Jonah 3:10 tells us: “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

Now did you notice what was missing from that explanation for the Lord’s mercy towards Nineveh? It does not say, “When God saw what they did, how they put on sackcloth and ashes and fasted, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them.” What it says is, “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them.” It was not a change of clothing that saved them; it was a change of heart, which showed itself in their new, more righteous way of living.

The main effect of sackcloth and ashes back then, and of all the Lenten disciplines of prayer, worship, service to others, and fasting today, is not on God. He already loves us; he already is by nature gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love; and we cannot manipulate him into forgiving us by what we wear or what we eat. Instead, the main effect of the Lenten disciplines is what those disciplines do to us.

We are the ones who need to be changed. We are the ones who sin and stand in danger of God’s righteous judgement; we are the ones for whom Christ died, and we are the ones called to turn to God in faith and repentance. Lenten disciplines remind us of these facts, and help us to focus on them more than we usually do in our daily lives.

Repentance is what the Lord desires from us. 2 Peter 3:9 says the Lord is patient toward us, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Matthew 4:17 tells us that from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, his message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Then, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, Luke 24:47 says he taught “that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” And on the great day of Pentecost, Peter told the crowd, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. . .” (Acts 2:38)

God’s word clearly says so many times that he desires us to repent. But what does that actually mean? In Part 2 of this blog, I will suggest four things that are essential to true repentance. In the meantime, see what you come up with on your own.

Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Jonah chapters 1-4