Ash Wednesday – Meditations on the Cross

Ash Wednesday Meditation

INI

The cross is central to the Christian faith. Without it, there’s no atonement for sin. We’d still be enslaved to the devil. A Christianity that doesn’t preach Christ crucified can hardly be considered Christian.

All good fruit produced in our lives finds its source and nourishment in Christ crucified. Much good comes when our hearts and minds focus on the passion of Our Lord. So, as we go along in this Lenten season, we will mediate on our Lord’s suffering and death as we prepare to receive His resurrection with much joy. Each week, we’ll meditate on a different part of Jesus’ suffering, following the seven stanzas of the Hymn we just sang – “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” by Bernard of Clairvaux.

Now, this hymn was written by this great theologian as he meditated upon a crucifix. So, as we go along in these mediations, I invite you to gaze upon our crucifix and meditate on it. And by meditate, I mean, to think with the heart and love with the mind. It’s sort of like when you stare deeply into the eyes of your spouse – you’re filled with wonder, excitement, and awe. The soul is feed with the love of another. And so here, we are fed by the love of our Savior who encountered profound suffering for us.

But the purpose of this mediative exercise isn’t to evoke emotion. Emotionalism doesn’t grow you closer to God. That’s what mystics think and believe. Christ was one to have self-control over His emotions, putting His trust in His Father, letting Him guide His life, rather than what He felt. Like Christ, we put full trust in the objective word of God. From that, emotions may stir. However, the goal isn’t to feel emotions, it’s to set forth the truth of Christ’s sacrificial love for faith to feed on.

The goal of these meditations is to remember Christ’s sacrifice. To never forget it. To dust off the scales from our eyes, hearts, and minds once again. To continue steadfast in God’s Word that we may reach the hope of eternal life.

To break up the monotony, we’ll continue to go through the Christian Questions with Answers, as found in the Small Catechism. Traditionally, these were questions that pastors would ask their members before approaching they received the Sacrament, so as to practice what St. Paul urges the Corinthian church to do. He tells them to examine themselves and then receive the supper. For the reception of God’s gifts with no thought to their lives of sin would lead to an unworthy reception of the Lord’s Supper.

So, when we read it, meditate on the words. Think of your own life as you go to sleep and rise again in the morning. ‘Where have I fallen short? What commandments have I transgressed against? Are there some worse than others? Do my eyes fall to lust? Am I dissatisfied with the things the Lord has given me, and so I covet cars, houses, clothes, spouses, children, or any material goods? How often do I slander another’s reputation behind their back without even a second thought? Am I prideful? Envious? Slothful? Do I complain unnecessarily?’

‘And when I confess these and come to the Lord’s Supper, how do I depart from the table? Am I ready to battle my life of sin? Resting in Christ’s victory, yet also drawing strength from it? OR, am I ready to rest in slavery to my vices once again?’

Luther in his introduction to his passion sermons once said – “There are some, on the other hand, who hear it gladly when they are told Christ rendered satisfaction for us, and that by our own merits and works we cannot obtain salvation, but that Christ alone has purchased it for us by His sufferings and death ; but as soon as they are told that to enjoy the benefits of this atonement they must avoid avarice, worldly-mindedness, gluttony, self-esteem, etc., they are displeased and become enraged. They are unwilling to be rebuked on account of their sins, or to be regarded as Gentiles. Here, also, it is the devil who labors to make the Word of no effect, and we cannot expect anything else but such aversion to the application of the truth.”

So let us enjoy the fruits of the cross, by seeing how our Lord has freed us from our sins through His innocent suffering and death. Thus, we who were once barren trees, fit only for the fire, are made fruitful branches in Him. The fruit Christ bore in His body on the tree now ripens in our lives as we meditate upon His cross.

The first stanza says – “O Sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown. O Sacred Head what glory, what bliss, till now was Thine! Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine.”

Our sin doesn’t start with our hands, feet, or actions – but our heads. Our thoughts. Due to original sin, our thoughts are self-centered. Our thoughts are constantly filled with ungodly things, or good things that are treated as idols – entertainments, pet sins, our stomachs, satisfying every pleasure or impulse that races through our bodies. That’s how we normally go about our days – until we get into trouble – and only THEN does God pass through our minds, our thoughts. Then, we attempt to manipulate God for OUR purposes. Because ultimately, we believe we belong to ourselves. And we think we know what way is best. When things don’t go our way, we believe God is unfair to us. Our bitterness drives us away from Him. Our bitterness leads to His absence from our thoughts.

         But what about the Sacred Head we sing of? In Jesus’ time of trouble, what were His thoughts? At the cross, what filled his mind? Not Himself. Not His comfort or pleasure. Not relief from pain. But YOU. He thought of YOU. YOUR salvation. And obedience to His heavenly Father.

         Was that the only moment of selfless thinking?  Was that self-giving love merely an exception to an otherwise self-loving life? Was he self-absorbed, self-protecting, or self-seeking? I mean He was the Son of God after all… did he cling to such status and privilege? Or did He, in every breath, live for the will of His Father and for the redemption of sinners?

The Heavenly Father and your redemption were always at the forefront of Jesus’ mind. He knew that the completion of the Father’s will ends with a crown of thorns. It’s bloody and gory. In that crown is pictured our hostile, prickly, petty, thoughts against God, against our neighbors, and sometimes, against ourselves.

Against God, we may think, “Your will is too hard for me. Your commands are too restrictive. You withhold something better from me. If I were in charge, I would be a better, more compassionate God than you.” We question God’s thoughts. His plan. His ways. His goodness. We resent His provisions and doubt His promises.

Against those we dislike, we may think, “They deserve every evil that comes their way. Maybe I won’t cause evil, but I will keep my distance from them. I won’t go out of my way to make peace with them or help them in a time of need.” We withhold kindness. Grow cold. We assume the worst about them, being slow to forgive and quick to remember.

Against ourselves we might think “I’m beyond help. I AM my sin. There’s no mercy left for me.” Or, we may turn towards pride “I can fix my life. I will free myself from my sinful condition.” Whether in despair, or self-righteousness, we curve in to look at ourselves.

All our evil thoughts – about God, our enemies, and even ourselves – are pressed by the crown of thorns into the passionate suffering of our Savior. And Jesus wears this crown with self-sacrificial love, because it spells your freedom from it all.

         Therefore, this Sacred Head is yours. His obedience is yours. His holy thoughts are yours. His steadfast trust in the Father is yours. And as we gaze upon Him crucified, we pray that His mind would shape our own — that His self-giving love would loosen the grip of our inward-curved hearts. For the thoughts of God toward you are not wrath, but mercy; not abandonment, but redemption; not condemnation, but the love that bleeds for sinners.

Behold the Sacred Head. It is wounded for you. And in Him, even your thoughts are made new.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston