Ash Wednesday
Today, my daughter asked me what is Ash Wednesday since she saw a number of people at her school with ashes on their forehead. Since we are not Catholic, I told her I would look it up and get back to her.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days before Easter. Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and the ashes are taken from palms used on Palm Sunday and then burned. In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat, and contemplating one’s transgressions. Other religions celebrate Ash Wednesday as well, including Methodists, Wesleyan, Nazarene and Church of God.
However, other religions believe that the practice is not consistent with Scripture and is of pagan origin. Matthew 6:16-18 is usually cited to bolster this claim:
16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
These religions say that Jesus warned about doing such things publicly and that followers should fast in private and not for others to see. There are many Christian denominations that do not endorse the practice.
How did Ash Wednesday first get started? According to the AmericanCatholic.org:
Thomas Talley, an expert on the history of the liturgical year, says that the first clearly datable liturgy for Ash Wednesday that provides for sprinkling ashes is in the Romano-Germanic pontifical of 960. Before that time, ashes had been used as a sign of admission to the Order of Penitents. As early as the sixth century, the Spanish Mozarabic rite calls for signing the forehead with ashes when admitting a gravely ill person to the Order of Penitents. At the beginning of the 11th century, Abbot Aelfric notes that it was customary for all the faithful to take part in a ceremony on the Wednesday before Lent that included the imposition of ashes. Near the end of that century, Pope Urban II called for the general use of ashes on that day. Only later did this day come to be called Ash Wednesday.
I can’t say I would know what that is at all.
You state that “However, other religions believe that the practice is not consistent with Scripture and is of pagan origin.” You can say the same thing about Christmas, Easter, Halloween . . . a whole lot of Christian celebrations. What you may not understand is that some Christian customs started when the Church was expanding. They wanted to include pagans, er, market to them, so to speak. So they would supplant a pagan custom with a similar Christian custom. I don’t think God cares if you have ash on your forehead on Ash Wednesday or not. Perhaps it is important that you remember that Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days (the number of non-Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday). And it is also worth noting that the ashes are normally made from the palm leaves used in the previous year’s Palm Sunday, to remember Jesus being greeted in Jeruselum before things went bad (for Him personally, but according to plan, though.
I think the point some religions are making is that you shouldn’t need all the hoopla to be able to remember what Jesus did. We should be remembering His sacrifice all year long. There are plenty of Christians (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) who see religious holidays as the only time that they need to attend church or “be religious.”
No the point is Jeremiah 10:2 “…This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations …”
When will we stop teaching our children the traditions of men, instead of the Word of God?