Unworthily Worthy

If you have enough time read 2 Corinthians 5.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Don’t know how many of you made it to worship yesterday or not. I had my ashes placed on my forehead by a kindergartener during our school chapel service. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Some might say that every day should be an “Ash Wednesday-like day” – a day where we take a real and hard look at ourselves and our shortcomings, our faults, our sins – a day where we take seriously our unworthiness – both in our relationship with the Lord but even in our relationships with one another. I know for certain that I do not deserve what the Lord so graciously gives me as I turn away from Him time and time again. But at the same time, do I really deserve even what my “loved ones” give me? I’m certainly no perfect husband or father or friend (and certainly not a perfect pastor either – and yet not only do they love me (most of the time) but they even pay me!).

No, the truth is I don’t want what I deserve and Ash Wednesday is a great reminder of this. I am a sinner – plain and simple – and what a sinner should get is not what I want. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time! If only life were truly that easy. I have done the crime, I still do the crime, and I will do the crime – and yet O my Lord, what can I do?

Yes, Ash Wednesday is a great day to stop and recognize and fess up to the fact that this person who is “me” is often broken, misguided, misused, overused, underused, abused, and just plain wrong – and the fault of this sinfulness rests squarely upon this same “me”.

AND YET, thanks be to God everyday is NOT Ash Wednesday. For God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The journey which begins on Ash Wednesday always leads us to the cross of Good Friday and the cross always leads us to the empty tomb. And the empty tomb is empty because the crime has been paid for – and thanks be to God it wasn’t paid for by me!

But now that it has been paid for, I become the righteousness of God! Go figure that one out!!! He becomes my sin so that I can become HIS righteousness. (This by the way is called “love”.)

So, no – I probably won’t be treating every day as though it is another Ash Wednesday – even if it is good to reflect upon my sinfulness and unworthiness from time to time - I don’t know if I would be able to stand up under all of that guilt all of the time – even knowing He comes to take it away. Rather I like to spend most of my days as another Easter – basking in the freedom of what it means to now be the righteousness of God – and seeking to live this out with Him and one another.

What I refuse to do (though of course failure comes here at times as well), and this is the point of Ash Wednesday more than anything else, is to look at my sins and try to “take care of them” myself – through denial, blaming others (including HIM), and making excuses. For it is here that freedom is lost and our sins gain the greatest control over our lives.

I am but dust and while I can’t bring myself to life, there is ONE whose breath upon me will – and it is in Him whom I must place my trust.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the love you give me – the crazy, undeserved, don’t-know-why-in-the-world-you’d-even-want-to-give-it love. And forgive me when I turn to the one in my reflection to accomplish that which you have already done. In your name, Jesus. Amen.