Homily For Ash Wednesday 2026
We have received the formal marks of penitence - the ashes on the forehead - and we have heard the penitential service. Now we are entering the most counterculture of seasons - a time of lament, a time of quiet, a time of retreat and meditation. It is countercultural because our society hates discipline, despises any mindfulness about our appetites, our attitudes; even in broader Christian society, one will hear mocking responses to Lent such as “I am giving up fasting for Lent;” or “I am giving up Lent for Lent”. Many find the themes of Lent to be contrary to the joy of the resurrection. Some may say, “Jesus has died and is resurrected, why don’t we just celebrate the truth of Christ’s conquest of death and cast aside fasting, mourning for sin and self-discipline as useless relics of unhelpful guilt?”
Our Epistle for tonight is from the Old Testament prophet Joel and represents a season of corporate fasting. The previous verses of this chapter speak to the coming storm of God’s judgment for Israel’s sins - their idolatry and disobedience to the Lord. The prophetic imagery is of darkness, oppression, the conquering hordes of the unrelenting heathen. No one will escape the day of the Lord’s judgment. Yet, amidst this inescapable judgment, the prophet Joel is calling for God’s people to turn to Him with all their hearts. This turning, or repentance is marked by sorrow for all the things that kept God’s people on the wrong path - the acts and attitudes from which they were called to repent.
Fasting, weeping and mourning that is not a show for the crowd, a public exhibition, but rather a rending of the heart, tearing in two the seat of emotions and will so as to make it compliant to God’s will.
It is important to note the eagerness in which the Lord responds to repentance. He isn’t reluctant to forgive, he isn’t reticent to receive his people - His character is to show unmerited favor, giving us according to his riches and His will. It is the overflow of His goodness expressed in not giving us what we deserve - but giving us what is called mercy; instead of judgment, He gives us what we don’t deserve through his unmerited favor - acceptance and grace. He is slow to anger and fundamentally kind and repenteth him of the evil meaning the Lord may relent in the punishment that will occur if they do not repent. Think of the father receiving the Prodigal Son.
Joel reminds them that even though God is promising judgment and that he will certainly keep his word if they continue on the path that they are traveling, He gives them opportunity for repentance. He tells them for everyone to turn from their sins - for the Lord may relent and bring blessing instead.
The Lord could even bring plentiful harvests so that out of the abundance of His goodness, his people may give him of the first fruits of his kindness through the meat and drink offerings. The famine and desolation of their present circumstances may be replaced by overflowing abundance.
Therefore, everyone should turn from their sins - the elders, the children, the women with little ones, the newlyweds, everyone should turn their attention toward repentance. Joel says the priests should weep on behalf of the people, asking for the Lord to spare them from the rightful judgment of God. The priests were to plead for the people on behalf of God’s reputation among the heathen who would interpret the circumstances as though God had abandoned his people.
In our Epistle, we have the picture of corporate fasting in response to broader sin. It is open, its weeping shared in common by God’s people. By contrast, Our Lord in our Gospel provides the framework for the Christian to fast privately, personally. Jesus tells his followers - when you fast, not if you fast, but when you fast, how to go about it. Why? He is giving them instructions on what constitutes a fast acceptable to God apart from corporate fasting as we see in our Epistle. He says when you fast - let your face show joy, joy in God who knows all things, who knows that you are seeking him in private. That is why he speaks of the washing and anointing of oil which were not just normal aspects of hygiene but indications of extravagant joy. Jesus promises that the one who practices private deprivation combined with public joy, will be rewarded - rewarded with the renewed fellowship with the Lord himself.
The real practice here is the cultivation of the affections of the heart. It is in the disciplines of Lent that we are reminded of the treasurers of heaven that no thief, no decay, nothing can touch. For in Lent we have the opportunity for renewed focus on God’s presence, His eternal goodness. In Lent, the Christian is invited into the feast hidden in the fast. Fasting, repenting from sexual sin, fasting, repenting from idolatry, wrath, strife, fasting from envying, drunkenness, sedition. Fasting,repenting from anything and everything that keeps us from serving God with singleness of heart. And feasting instead on the fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness and self control.
By removing our attention from the pleasures of this life, the many good things God has given us to enjoy, and feasting instead on the word of God, feasting on the Scriptures, feasting on communion with God in prayer, we experience a foretaste of the treasures of heaven.
Fasting from the accelerating busyness and vanity of this present world so we might feast on the peace which passes all understanding, to worship the King whose kingdom is everlasting.
Dearly beloved, let us mourn for sin; let us mourn for the ways in which we have hurt the heart of God by our self-will and rebellion. Let us also feast on the Word of God, the bread of obedience which is true food indeed. Let us feast on the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood, bread and wine in one sense, truest body and blood in His promised real presence. Let this Lent be a fast from all that would keep us from God and a feast upon all that prepares us for the eternal kingdom that he promises to those who love and serve Him. Amen.
