Valentines Ashes
As followers of Jesus living in a broken world, we are no strangers to both the joys and the sorrows that each day brings. To take up our cross and follow Him is to embark on a pilgrimage fraught with both joy and grief, celebration and mourning, the bearing of new burdens, and the beautiful gift of freedom. There is an irony to Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day falling on the same day. Holding that tension forces us to acknowledge the seemingly opposing themes these two days represent: repentance and love.
However, when viewed through the lens of the gospel, these themes are two of the most prevalent in the Bible.
The message of the gospel is one unlike any other. Rather than a religion constructed on a foundation of black-and-white rules, it is a message that forces us to acknowledge our brokenness while simultaneously believing that, despite our sin, we are unconditionally loved and cherished by God. Jesus came to flip the reality of the current religious circles, and the world at large, on its head; He came to confound the wise, humble the proud, and breathe life into those walking in darkness. He came to tell us that through repentance and surrender, we could experience a relationship and everlasting life with Him. Because of His love for us.
What if the requirement of acknowledging our sinfulness is actually God’s gift to us? What if, because of Jesus and what He’s done, we can repent with joy knowing that our sin isn’t our identity? Instead, we are pointed to a person who has brought wholeness to our brokenness.
It has only been in recent months that my eyes have truly been opened to the fact that the good news is referring to the whole package. Jesus’ death and resurrection is miraculous because of the fact that I have fallen short and could never save myself. As a follower of Jesus, I want and need to constantly return to Him in repentance and humility. However, if I am spending all of my time ruminating on my failures, rather than choosing to meditate on His love for me, it doesn’t matter how many times I acknowledge my sin, I will never truly be able to be free.
The paradox of death and life, joy and sorrow, acts as an invitation to a relationship with Jesus. Throughout scripture, we are reminded again and again that God is both tough and tender, just and merciful, powerful and gentle. The very idea that God can hold all of these things at the same time, illustrates how His character is not one of stringent dictatorship but of Fatherly grace. He proves that He can be trusted with our whole being and that He desires for our whole being to belong to Him.
As we enter into this season of Lent, what if Jesus isn’t simply inviting us into a time of repentance, but repentance with joy?
What if Lent isn’t just forty days of living in remorse, but of living in celebration that He has and will continue to make beauty from ashes.
"The trouble with sin isn't that God has a tight moral grid - and coloring within the lines is how we prove we're on his side. It's that sin inhibits us from what we were made to do - love. To minor on sin is to minor on love because sin constricts the capacity for love. Sin is a big issue to God because love is a big issue to God. If I pretend sin is a minor issue for me, I unintentionally make love a minor issue for me too." - Tyler Staton