First off, I have to confess, my forehead is not smeared with anything but a little foundation this morning. But chances are, later today you’ll run across someone with what appears to be dirt on their forehead.
But it’s not dirt. It’s ashes.
Sound weird? Well, it’s Ash Wednesday! And Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent.
For some in the Christian faith, Lent is a season of penance, reflection and fasting prior to Easter Sunday, the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
For many Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans and Presbyterians (and some Baptists), Ash Wednesday is observed by a priest or minister marking their forehead with ashes in the form of a cross and saying, “Remember man is dust, and to dust you shall return,” – or something like it.
The ashes, made from burned palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday, are a symbol of penance and serve as a reminder to seek forgiveness and humble oneself before God.
Dates for Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday falls 46 days before Easter Sunday. And since Easter Sunday is always hopping around the calendar in April, Ash Wednesday never has a specific date. It can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
While Ash Wednesday falls 46 days before Easter, the Season of Lent is only 40 days. The 40 days of Lent symbolize the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert before beginning his public ministry. So why the discrepancy?
In the early days of the church, Christ’s earliest disciples were Jews who celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday. Jesus changed all that when he rose from the dead on a Sunday. After the resurrection of Christ, the earliest of Christians, known back then as Nazarenes or Followers of the Way, considered Sunday the holiest of days and moved their Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
Since Christians were forbidden to fast or do other forms of penance on the Sabbath, the early Church expanded the period of fasting to six full weeks, excluding the six Sabbath days. But the clever old guys added Ash Wednesday and the Thursday, Friday and Saturday that follow it. So if you do the math, six times six equals 36, plus the four added days and it all equals 40. Voilà!
A Religious Thing
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s consider what the ashes on the forehead mean to those outside the Christian faith. Once they figure out the person really isn’t just walking around with a dirty forehead, they realize it’s a “religious” thing.
The dirty “R” word!
Kidding.
A cross on the forehead on Ash Wednesday, regardless of its history, is a clear statement that a person is a believer in the most controversial figure of all time. But Ash Wednesday is only one day, and this year we have 366 of them. How can the “religious” live out their faith every day?
Jesus himself gave the answer: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Love. Such a simple answer. Such a powerful force.
So in addition to that cross of ashes, I propose we all wear hearts on our foreheads. Every day. :)
