today Ash Wednesday is observed by millions of Christians around the world and it marks the start of a 40-day journey of fasting prayer and almsgiving all leading up to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday this period invites the faithful to engage in spiritual renewal and reflection echoing the biblical call to conversion and the importance of repentance in the Christian life but is using ashes as a symbol of penance biblical that's what we're going to be looking at today in a special Lenton episode of Catholic Bible highlights let's dive [Music] in welcome back to Catholic Bible highlights everybody I'm Kenny brashard and I'm so glad to have you with me today as we ramp up to lent and I thought it would be great to do a special episode of Catholic Bible highlights in preparation for Ash Wednesday is it biblical for Christians to be putting ashes on their foreheads or having them sprinkled on their heads as a sign of penance and turning from sin and spiritual renewal we're going to look at nine or 10 verses of scripture in this episode to answer that question question but before we dive into our Bible study on Ash Wednesday I'm going to ask you to do four things and you know what they are like the video right now please click the like button please subscribe to Catholic Bible highlights We Are Climbing toward 20,000 subscribers thanks to everybody who's become a subscriber on the channel and of course comment in the comments below if you would like to enter the dialogue and the discussion about this topic share your insights share your questions share your feedback and enter the discussion with us and of course thanks to everybody who has become a supporter of Catholic Bible highlights there are always two ways to support the channel one is just click the thanks button the super thanks button below the video here and you can leave a gift of any amount to support this Channel or if you'd like to leave a tax deductible gift in support of this channel you can do so through the link in the description of the video below through our partnership with Bridge Builders International you can leave a gift thanks to everybody who's been a supporter of the channel we're so grateful all right you're going to need a few things as you jump into our study on Ash Wednesday and using ashes as a sign of penance of turning from sin and turning to God and spiritual renewal you're going to need a Bible of course and I always have my Bible my a Catholic notaker Bible of course you're going to need a pen so I've got a pen here and you'll need a highlighter I always use the um Crayola twistables highlighters they are perfect for marking up your Bible all the resources that we encourage you to get the Bibles the highlighters and all the books that we recommend on the channel are available in the Catholic Bible highlight store on Amazon and of course there's a link to that in the description of the video below all right every year on Ash Wednesday Christians from a variety of traditions and especially Catholics Gather in their churches to begin the season of Lent and among all the things that we do on Ash Wednesday the central thing is that we have ashes placed on our heads either by sprinkling them on top of our heads or by tracing them in the shape of a cross on our foreheads and in some Services you are going to hear when those uh ashes are traced on your forehead you are going to either hear remember you are dust and to dust you will return or you may hear simply repent and believe the gospel this is a solemn Gathering it it brings us into a journey of 40 days with Jesus a journey to the cross and to the resurrection which ultimately ends with our celebration of Easter but here's the question is it biblical for Christians to use ashes in this way is there anything in the Bible that Associates ashes with repentance and did Jesus ever talk about the use of Ashes as a sign of repentance and what are we really saying when we subscribe to this practice as Catholics now depending on uh the people that you listen to you may hear a variety of responses to this question if you go on Twitter a lot like I do and you listen to the things that non-catholics and often anti-catholic Protestants and evangelicals will say about our practices as Catholics you're likely to hear things like this for instance this Twitter user says lent and Ash Wednesday are not biblical please do the research and r repent it is the worship of other gods which yah hates or perhaps this one watch out so that no one will take you captive by means of philosophy and empty deceit following a human tradition which Accords with the elemental spirits of the world but does not Accord with the Messiah and then of course preceding the comment is Ash Wednesday not biblical and again Ash Wednesday is not biblical we are not supposed to Mark ourselves and finally Ash Wednesday is not even biblical one should research the origins of this tradition well thank you very much I think we'll do just that what are the origins of Christians Believers followers of the god of the Bible placing ashes on their bodies to symbolize and to Mark the beginning of a season of penance of mourning of repentance and of reforming Our Lives to line them up with the ways of God in church history the tradition of Ash Wednesday as we know it began to take shape in the 6th Century it was Pope Gregory I who formalized the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful this was a reminder as uh Christians need to be called to remember their own mortality their need for repentance this act serves as a public acknowledgment of our sins and our commitment to turn back to God and over the centuries the observance became a normative tradition in the western church it served as a solemn reminder to the call to conversion preparation for the celebration of Easter the Council of benevento in 1091 which is is nearly a thousand years ago officially recognized the practice further solidifying its place in our present day lurgical calendar and so today as Catholics all over the world we have brought this practice forward bringing it into our present day preparation for the Easter season during the season of Lent and so we need to dig down into scripture because remember what our Twitter folks told us look into the history and it's not biblical well as we're going to find out today it's very biblical in fact it's one of the most biblical things you can do when you are entering in to a response to God's spirit that you're turning from your sins that you are engaging in Penance and repentance that your intention is to reform your life and to turn your life back over to god so let's look at a few different ways in which ashes are used in the Bible and if you're making a topical index or taking notes uh you you you can say the use of Ashes or even Ash Wednesday as uh the the master theme for this topic and then Roman numeral number one in your topical guide is going to be ashes as a symbol of mortality mortality means you're going to die so our ashes ever used as a symbol of mortality in the Bible now the Bible frequently uses Ashes to symbolize human Frailty mortality the transient nature of life for instance the first verse that we'll look at and you can highlight in your Bible is Genesis 3:19 remember uh when you go to church on Ash Wednesday you may hear this biblical uh text quoted to you as the ashes are put on your forehead it says in Genesis 3:19 in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken you are dust and to dust you shall return and so this verse establishes this connection between humanity and dust or ashes emphasizing human mortality as a consequence of sin if you flash forward to the Book of Job the second uh text in ashes as a symbol of mortality job 30: 19 listen to what it says he has cast me into the meire I Have Become like dust and Ashes here job is talking about a profound sense of human Frailty and suffering that he is experiencing as he goes through his trial of loss and and difficulty and then Flash Forward again to the Book of Ecclesiastes the third and final text in the theme of Ashes or dust as a symbol of mortality Ecclesiastes 3: 20 listen to what it says all go to one place all are from dust and all turn to dust again it used to be a normative thing in a funeral when the grave uh uh was open and the casket would go down into the ground for the priest or Pastor to say ashes to ashes and dust to dust these are words that when I was pastoring I uttered over and over again by the grav sides of those who had died to remind myself and everybody standing there that we're mortal that we came from the dust and we will return to the dust again and so all of this reinforces the theme of mortality linking our human origin and our destiny to dust and Ashes unless unless we rise again to be with Jesus forever otherwise our end is ashes to ashes and dust to dust so first of all we can see ashes and dust as a symbol of mortality no wonder it's said to us in the uh Wednesday Service uh from dust you were created and to dust you shall return all right but there's a second way in which ashes are used in scripture this is Roman numeral number two in your notes or in your topical index under Ash Wednesday or ashes as a symbol of repentance this is ashes as a symbol of repentance and humility ashes are often associated with repentance in the Bible and humility and turning away from sin Let me give you a few verses about this the first is in the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament Jonah 3: 6 remember Jonah is sent to the great city of Nineveh he marches through the streets of the city and says 40 days and God's going to destroy the city he just says God's going to judge you well interestingly the ninevites turn to God from their sins notice what it says in Jonah 3: 6 the tidings reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne removed his robe and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes why the king of Nineveh is using ashes as a sign of repentance a sign of humility a response to Jonah's preaching in other words if if God doesn't get me out of this from Ash I came or from dust I came to it I will return so putting ashes on himself was a way of saying I deserve to be judged I need to turn from my sin I need to humble myself and turn myself back over to God and then again in one of the other Old Testament prophets in the Book of Daniel chapter 9:3 a second verse under the use of Ash ashes as a symbol of repentance and humility we read this Daniel 9:3 then I turned my face to the Lord God seeking him by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and Ashes do you see that Daniel uses ashes as part of his penitential practices while seeking God's mercy and then finally a third verse under the uh um heading of Ashes as a symbol of repentance and humility we come to the Book of Job once again this time in chapter 42: 6 listen to what job says he says therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and Ashes what is job doing here well he's turning away from sin turning away from uh uh anything that would would bring dishonor to God and he expresses that through the imagery of dust and Ashes when he says I Repent in dust and Ashes that means that he puts them on his body he throws them onto himself which is often done uh at this time in the world you would throw the dirt from the ground and throw the ashes on your body to remind yourself that that's where you come from and without the help of God that's where you're going and when you're turning from sin back to God it's like saying this is what I am unless God's unless God helps me I am nothing but dust and Ashes this is a great symbol of repentance and humility before God now third in our uh study of ashes and Ash Wednesday we have ashes as a symbol of mour and lamentation in the Bible ashes are also used by people expressing deep grief mourning something terrible has happened lamentation over loss or a tragedy that has occurred three verses about this first in the Old Testament book of Esther 4: 1 listen to what it says when morai learned all that had been done morai rent his clothes that that means he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and Ashes and went out into the midst of the city wailing with a loud and bitter cry here morai is using Ashes to mourn the impending destruction of the Jewish people and then flash forward to the book of 2 Samuel 13: 19 here's what it says Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe which she wore and she laid her hand on her head and went away crying aloud as she went Tamar in this story has been violated by her own brother and her way of expressing deep sorrow mourning and lamentation was to do the same thing morai does in the Book of Esther to he tore his clothes and he put ashes on himself the same thing is done by Tamar after she is sinned against and violated by a member of her own family she does the same thing she put ashes on her head and she tore the robe that she wore and she cries so again ashes as a symbol of mourning and Lamentations and speaking of Lamentations the book of Lamentations in the Old Testament chapter 3 verse 16 listen to what the Prophet Jeremiah says the weeping prophet in Lamentations 3:16 he says quote he has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes the author of Lamentations here using Ashes to depict the depth of sorrow and despair and by that by the way that word Lamentations and the biblical action of lament is a way of sor growing and saying along with God things are not supposed to be the way they are it is a very biblical action a very biblical disposition to lament about our own sins to lament about the state of things in the world and to use ashes in tandem with our own lamentation let's look at one more uh category of the use of Ashes as a symbol of penance and spiritual Renewal by Jesus himself twice in the New Testament once in the gospel of Matthew and once in the Gospel of Luke the symbolism of Ashes is used by our our lord it's less explicit than what we see in the Old Testament but it's reflected in the call to repentance and humility at the preaching of Jesus notice in Matthew 11 21 Jesus says this woe to you korine woe to you Betha for if the mighty Works done in you had been done entire and siden they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and Ashes Jesus here is referencing the Old Testament Practice of using sackcloth and Ashes as a sign of repentance and affirming the spiritual significance of using sackcloth and Ashes to say I Repent I turn from my sin and of course the Evangelist Luke picks up the very same story that we find here in Matthew 11:21 in the Gospel of Luke 10: 13 so you can cross reference in the margin of your Bible and tell yourself Luke 10:13 the same text here it is woe to you Corzine woe to you Betha for if the mighty Works done in you had been done in tire and siden they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and Ashes again this is the parallel passage to what we read in Matthew's gospel right here in Luke It's Our Lord reiterating what people do when they experience their need for repentance their knowledge that they are being called by God to rep repent they they cover themselves in sackcloth and Ashes well how can we bring all of this together to answer the question is it biblical is it right for for Catholics for Christians to use ashes as a symbol in their own uh uh Penance in their own spiritual renewal and what we can find is that in the Bible in the Old Testament and the new the use of Ashes symbolizes mortality that's Humanity's origin and Destiny tied to dust and Ashes such as we saw in Genesis and Ecclesiastes or to repentance ashes signifying humility turning away from sin such as we saw in Jonah and Daniel in the Book of Job ashes as a symbol of mourning expressing grief and lamentation over our own sin and sins that are done to us in the Book of Esther in 2 Samuel and in Lamentations and then finally in the teaching of Our Lord himself ashes as a call to spiritual renewal and repentance and reconciliation with God such as we read from the mouth of Jesus in The Gospel of Matthew and in the Gospel of Luke the bottom line is this the rich symbolism of using ashes underscores this biblical understanding of human phrase prty our need for repentance and the hope for God's mercy and renewal and that's why I want to end with a beautiful Insight something that I heard a few years ago from father Mike schmidtz when he talks about why we as Catholics are using ashes on Ash Wednesday and what we are saying by doing this and he says we're saying two things first we're saying I'm a sinner I'm a sinner I I I enter into the symbolism of making that very statement by having ashes put on My Head by having said to me the words of scripture from dust you came and to dust you will return or repent and believe the good news so the ashes are my own way of saying I am a sinner but says father Mike they are made Upon Our Heads in the sign of the cross in that way we are affirming that I need and I have a savior Jesus who died for me Jesus who went into the grave Jesus who rose again and Jesus who says follow me follow me and so as Catholic Christians we are entering into this most biblical time of repentance this most biblical time of lamentation of reflection and spiritual renewal following Jesus to the cross and to the grave and to the resurrection and to our Eternal home well that's it for a little special edition a special episode a Lenton focused uh Catholic Bible highlights I'm so glad you joined me for this I hope that you have uh highlighted these texts in your Bible go find somebody to share this with share it with a family member share it with a friend share it with a Protestant or Evangelical Christian who maybe doesn't understand or practice uh Ash Wednesday and show them build a bridge for them with scripture a a bridge to the biblical truth of why we as Catholic you Catholics use ashes in our celebration of the Lenton season don't forget to click like don't forget to subscribe don't forget to leave a comment and don't forget to support the channel and make God bless you as you enter into the beautiful season of renewal the beautiful season of penance and of restoration and preparation the season of Lent we'll see you next time on Catholic Bible highlights bye-bye [Music] [Music]