AN ASH WEDNESDAY HEART
Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Matthew 6:1-6, 16 - 21 "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. (2) "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. (3) But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (4) so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (5) "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. (6) But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ………… (16) "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. (17) But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, (18) so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (19) "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; (20) but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NRSV).
“A heavily booked commercial flight out of Denver was canceled, and a single agent was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the front and slapped his ticket gown on the counter.
“I have to be on this flight and it has to be first class!” he insisted. “I’m sorry sir”, the agent replied.
“I’ll be happy to help you, but I have to take care of these folks first.” The passenger was unimpressed.
“Do you have any idea who I am?” he demanded in a loud enough voice for the passengers behind him to hear.
Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and picked up her public address microphone. “May I have your attention, please? She broadcast throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at the gate who does not know who he is. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to the gate.” As the man in the terminal retreated, the people on the terminal burst into applause.” (Steve May. The Story File. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishing, 2000, p. 246). If you were in that long line, wouldn’t you have clapped also? I would have.
Is it it possible that the Pharisees had to remind God---an all-knowing God of who they were? Although airplanes did mot exist back then, we can safely assume that if this story happened back in the day of Jesus’s earthly ministry, that the demanding passenger would have been a Pharisee.
If we were to summarize the advice the advice Jesus that gives to us in these verses, then we would have to conclude that Jesus wants us to remember that prayer is a matter of the heart. Jesus talks about praise and treasures reminding us that where our treasures are our hearts will be also (Matthew 6:21).
THE HEART’S FOCUS
How many people in the world do we see focusing on worldly praise? 1) The Praise of men: How many of them want the praise of men and women around them? That is something that can turn into an “idol that would keep us”! (From the hymn Jesus Calls Us).
2) Celebrities: How many times do we hear people speak of celebrities as icons or idols? How many of those celebrities live for the praise of their fans? How many award shows are there where there are celebrities whose only goal is to win the accolades of their peers and fans?
3) Soapbox: How many of those celebs us their success as a soapbox to preach to their fans about what they think is best? Most celebrities these days act like secular Pharisees!
What does the word prayer suggest about how it out to be a sincere matter of the heart? Remember Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of Christ?” If you saw that movie you had to read the dialogue of the movie at the bottom of the screen because Jim Cavizel who played the role of Jesus Christ spoke Aramaic.
1)Etymology from Aramaic: “The word for prayer in Aramaic is “Slotha”. … It comes from the root word “Sla” which literally means “to set a trap”. In the East hunters used a box-trap method for hunting. This method involves bait, a box and a string that is pulled to catch the animal that one was hunting for. … So “prayer,” literally means “to set your mind like a trap and wait patiently to catch the thought of God”; that is, to trap inner guidance and impulses”. (Rocco A. Errico. The Ancient Prayer Of Jesus. Los Angelos, California: Science of Mind Publications, 1978, p. 10).
2) Surrender: Obliviously, the Aramaic word for prayer reminds us that our prayers have to be intentional and God centered. Unlike the Pharisee, God must be the center of our prayers and praying not our own accomplishments!
THE ASH WEDNESDAY HEART
How does the lens of the Ash Wednesday heart look at things? T. S. Eliot once wrote, “To do the right thing for the wrong reason is the greatest treason” (The Wasteland). Ash Wednesday is about reflecting on where we are with God and also where we need to be.
What is the treasure of our hearts? If someone were to do an audit on the treasure of our hearts, what would our hearts look like? “At the Constitutional Convention there was so much bickering and fighting going going on between the colonies that solutions to some problems seemed impossible. Benjamin Franklin proposed that, in an effort to affirm common ground and purpose, the delegates begin each day with prayer. Alexander Hamilton argued against the idea, saying it would give people the wrong impression---it might the convention of delegates desperate and unable to solve their problems. The proposal came to a vote. At that moment the founding fathers made a crucial decision. They decided not to pray. They decided to do it themselves without God’s help.” (Steve May. The Story File. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishing, 2000, pp. 247 -248). It seems that our leaders today are often doing the same. Even physical surgery can never change the heart in the spiritual sense anymore than saying “I am sorry” is sincere unless our heart has changed.
How can we rend our hearts without God’s help? Do you recall some of the biblical imagery of mourning and repentance from the Old Testament? Some would rend their garments as a sign of their mourning. Job 1:20 says that "... Job got up, and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then fell to the ground in worship" (NIV). Job did this after he lost all his children and his livestock as he mourned. His mourning was genuine. When Jonah prophesied to the people of Ninevah, everyone repented even the king as they repented in sack cloth and ashes. Do we mourn our sins?
Jesus said in John 8:7, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Does that not explain why we all need the sackcloth and ashes of repentance? I John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (NKJV). Sin is a problem that we have to confront in ourselves. John Wesley once said, "... though sin remains in the life of a believer, it does not rule." For Christians it is not sin but, Christ who rules. But, by the same token this truth does not mean that we are free to do whatever we want. Yes it is true that Jesus liberates us from sin but we must use our freedom for His glory. Christian liberty means this "... the freedom to be all that I can be in Jesus Christ". (Warren Wiersbe. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Volume 2. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989, p. 353). It is only in confronting our sinfulness that we can truly have this kind of freedom. Jesus talks about how we are to pray and witness (Matthew 6:1-6, 19-21). Jesus wants us to do more than external observance. He wants us to benefit from worshiping in "spirit and truth" (John 4:24). We do that by rending not our clothes but our hearts in repentance (Joel 2:12,13).
Let us worship in spirit and truth, rending our hearts as we mournfully confess our sins to God. Repent and return to God from where the areas in our lives that we went astray. Every time someone sees the sign of the cross made with ashes on our heads, we can remind our fellow Christians as to who we are in Christ as we also witness to those who do not know Christ. Remember you are dust and to dust you will return repent and believe the Gospel.
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
