Throughout Scripture ashes are associated with mourning and lament and repentance. At the end of the book of Job, after God has made it clear to Job that his ways are higher than Job’s, that Job cannot comprehend the barest fraction of what God is doing, Job said to the Lord,
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Job 42:5-6 ESV
Here we see a direct connection between repentance and ashes. The prophet Jonah was sent to Nineveh to warn them of God’s approaching judgment. In this we see God’s concern for the nations surrounding Israel, and his desire to save and show mercy. When Jonah finally arrived he simply declared that in 40 days God would overthrow the city. The people responded immediately.
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Jonah 3:5-6 ESV
The king of Nineveh’s robes were surely ornate and luxurious, befitting a great and powerful—and wealthy—king. He removed this and put on sackcloth, which is a rough fabric woven for its strength and durability, not for its beauty. He then sat in ashes. There is no neat and tidy way to sit in ashes. One would quickly become covered in ash. Within minutes the king would have been filthy. That’s the point! Ashes are like sin; there’s no way for sin to remain neat and tidy. It quickly spreads and covers everything.
With this very public demonstration of repentance, the people of Nineveh had to suppose there was more to Jonah’s message, for he did not offer them a word of hope. They said this:
Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.
Jonah 3:9 ESV
This is exactly what God did! “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it” (Jonah 3:10). God was merciful to the people of Nineveh.
The prophet Daniel says he prayed to the Lord, seeking “mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). The visual image of ash is the same: it gets everywhere, just like sin. It can only make a mess! There are numerous examples of ash used to demonstrate sorrow and lament. When Tamar was harmed, 2 Samuel 13 says “she put ashes on her head”. Job sat in ashes when he was miserable with sores covering his body. When he lamented his lot in life he said directly, “I have become like dust and ashes” (Job 30:19). The writer of Psalm 102 was afflicted and cried out to the Lord and said, “For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink” (Psalm 102:9).
In Luke 4 Jesus read from Isaiah 61 and declared that particular prophecy was fulfilled by him. In that Isaiah text we read that he had come “to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes” (Isaiah 61:3). When Jeremiah called on the people to repent, he told them to “roll in ashes” (Jeremiah 25:34). Jesus told the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida that had he performed those same miracles in Tyre and Sidon, “they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Luke 10:13).
With the exception of the passage in Jeremiah, no one told these folk to put ashes on themselves. It was a visible demonstration of an inward reality, whether mourning or lament or repentance. It shows great sorrow. Though there was no requirement for such a display, it was entirely appropriate.
Ashes are a symbol of mortality and repentance and humility. For a king to be covered in ash is an act of great humility. There’s no personal glory or honor in being covered by ash. There can only be humility. This is why the use of ashes continued into church history.
In the early centuries of the church, when a person had sinned greatly there was an act of public penance, involving ashes. Over time this very specific use of ashes became generalized. By that time the season of Lent was firmly fixed and almost universally practiced by Christians. Lent, of course, is a period of preparation for Easter, the annual celebration of Christ’s resurrection. It is a time of fasting, whether one gives up coffee or soda or chocolate or binge-watching a new Netflix show. Lent is about self-denial and repentance.
This specific use of ashes became generalized and eventually began being observed on the first day of the Lenten season—Ash Wednesday. Lent is 40 days long, but covers 46 days. Since Sundays are never days for fasting (Jesus said wedding guests do not fast while the bridegroom is present and he is present in his assembly on Sundays; Luke 5:33–39), Sundays are excluded. This means the 40-day fast begins on Ash Wednesday.
None of these days is required by Scripture, save for the weekly gathered assembly. The disciples worshiped together on Sunday mornings to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus, for he rose on a Sunday. Sundays are, of course, the “eighth day”, the beginning of new creation. Outside of this particular day, no specific days or times are required to be observed. Christians quickly began recognizing special days throughout the year so as to remind us our lives ought to be governed by the Lord and his kingdom rather than seasons on earth.
Neither Christmas Day nor Easter Sunday are required holy days, yet few Christians question their observance. Pentecost is also a special day for on that day we celebrate the Lord Jesus building his church. We also observe the season of Advent, leading up to Christmas. This season reminds us our hope is in the Lord and in his coming. Lent is a time of repentance. This is the entire point behind self-denial through fasting. Lent reminds us we will never be sufficient in and of ourselves. It is the reminder we need a rescuer to rescue us, and therefore Lent leads us to Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. Many Protestants largely dropped Ash Wednesday altogether, which is unfortunate. As with any day, it can become a substitute for a life of regular repentance. This is what the Christian life is, after all: a life of daily repentance, of constantly turning to the Lord. As the author of Hebrews put it, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7). Rather than limiting repentance to a season, it should be a regular part of following Jesus.
Still, it is important to have that season of focused repentance. Just as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ every Sunday and still have a formal Easter season, so we regularly live lives of repentance and still have a formal season of repentance. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of that season.
This year we’re planning to have an Ash Wednesday service. There is no sense in which fasting or observing Lent—or Christmas or Easter, for that matter!—is required. In some traditions, such as Roman tradition, fasting is required. For Roman Christians fasting during Lent is a matter of canon law. This is contrary to Scripture. Far better to recognize the freedom in Scripture!
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Romans 14:5-6 ESV
We are inviting everyone to join us on Wednesday, February 18 to observe an Ash Wednesday service. It will be a time of singing, of reading Scripture, of being challenged through God’s Word. We plan to mark each person’s forehead with the ashes from burned palm branches, signifying our repentance and need for the Lord Jesus to wash away our sins. We will remember together the words of Scripture: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19) and “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). We will celebrate together the Lord’s Supper as that profound proclamation of the gospel. The Lord Jesus is the one who washes us whiter than snow. We are free to embrace a life of repentance because Jesus is our righteousness.
It is precisely because the Lord has come and has offered himself as the sacrifice that takes away our sin that we can live lives of repentance. It is in light of salvation that we can confess our sins, knowing God is faithful and just to forgive us. By celebrating communion together after receiving ashes indicating our need for repentance, we are declaring together that we are dead to sin and alive to Christ. As Paul explains in Romans 6, we have died with Christ, and the one who has died has been set free from sin. Death no longer has dominion over us.
In short, Ash Wednesday, along with the seasons of Lent and Advent, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, serves to remind us our lives are oriented around the Lord and his gospel. We tend to think of the seasons as guiding our lives. The reason the school year is what it is has to do with farming. The school year still, though it is no longer tied to farming, guides much of our thinking. There is, of course, the actual solar calendar. It’s February, 2026. The church calendar, which begins with the season of Advent, serves to help up orient our lives to what truly matters.
By adding an Ash Wednesday service to our calendar, we are given another opportunity to worship together, to rejoice in the God of our salvation. Like Christmas when we remember in a special, focused way God becoming one of us, and like Easter when we celebrate in a special, focused way the resurrection of Jesus, and like the seasons of Lent and Advent when we are able to focus in a particular way on our need for a Savior, Ash Wednesday is an opportunity to focus on the power of Jesus to save, much like our Tenebrae service each year on Good Friday. In fact, Ash Wednesday begins our preparation for Good Friday and Good Friday is good precisely because of Easter.
The aim of this particular worship time is to celebrate the Lord Jesus, to proclaim together our God is mighty to save. It will be a celebration of God’s goodness to us in Christ. Come and sing with us, “Hallelujah, what a Savior”. We should do this for the same reason we gather every Sunday: our God is worthy of worship. Ashes are a clear reminder of what Jesus accomplished for us: he has given us a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. This simple use of ashes helps us remember what it means that Jesus saves.