Ashes to Ashes and Life!

"By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return." Gen 3:19


To the dust you shall return was the sentence. For eating of the tree of knowledge which God had forbidden, Adam's sentence was death. His sentence (and ultimately ours) was that he would return to the dust from which he was formed.

There in the middle of the garden was also the tree of life. Had he eaten of the free gift of the fruit from the tree of life, he would have lived. But, he did not. Adam and Eve neglected the food that was good for them; that God had desired for them to eat, and chose that thing that they were not to have. How often it is that we, too, neglect the free gift of life given to us through the sacrifice of His Son, our Savior, Jesus the Christ! How often we neglect to come to the table that He has prepared for us! There Jesus is! "Come and eat." He says. "This is my body given for you for the forgiveness of sins." Do not neglect this life-giving gift!

In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther wrote that the benefit of receiving the Lord's Sacrament of Holy Communion "...is shown us in these words: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins; namely, that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation."

That is the Good News. Today is Ash Wednesday. This evening we will remember with the imposition of ashes that from dust we have come and to dust our bodies shall return. But, we will also eat at the Lord's Table and remember that in Him there is life and salvation.

God's Peace - Pr. J