Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar, directly following Shrove Tuesday.[1] Occurring 46 days before Easter, it is a moveable feast that can fall as early as February 4 and as late as March 10. According to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan.[2][3] Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this 40-day liturgical period of prayer and fasting or abstinence. Of the 46 days until Easter, six are Sundays. As the Christian sabbath, Sundays are not included in the fasting period and are instead feast days during Lent. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a celebration and reminder of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered from the burning of the palms from the previous years Palm Sunday. Ashes were used in ancient times to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitents way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An ancient example of one expressing ones penitence is found in Job 42:3–6. Job says to God: I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (vv. 5–6, KJV) The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes (Jer 6:26). The prophet Daniel recounted pleading to God this way: I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:3). Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39). Other examples are found in several other books of the Bible including, Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Matthew 11:21, and Luke 10:13, and Hebrews 9:13. Ezekiel 9 also speaks of a linen-clad messenger marking the forehead of the city inhabitants that have sorrow over the sins of the people. All those without the mark are destroyed. It marks the start of a 43-day period which is an allusion to the separation of Jesus in the desert to fast and pray. During this time he was tempted. Matthew 4:1–11, Mark 1:12–13, and Luke 4:1–13.[31] While not specifically instituted in the Bible text, the 40-day period of repentance is also analogous to the 40 days during which Moses repented and fasted in response to the making of the Golden calf.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 09:25:45 +0000
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