Sermon for Ash Wednesday, 2025

“You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With every year, indeed, with every day, you are drawing closer to the realization of this truth. Then, sooner than not, the day will come when that truism shall be spoken over your remains as they are laid into the ground. That’s because, ever since the serpent tempted Eve to take and eat from the tree which God had expressly commanded them not to eat from, and Adam, who was complicit in this eating, outright disobeyed this explicit command of Almighty God, the death ratio has been 1:1. Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so, death spread to all men because all sinned. For sinners, death is inevitable: you are dust, and to dust you shall return. This is most certainly true. And yet, this is most certainly not all. For consider the shape those ashes—which serve as an exclamation point of the reality that you are dust, and to dust you shall return—have been applied, namely, a cross: the Cross of Christ Jesus. He, true God and true man, went to the Cross for you; He became man so that He could lift from your shoulders and heart the burden of sin that results in death. Upon the Cross, Jesus bore all of your sins and paid their penalty in full. Death no longer has the ultimate claim on you; not now, not anymore. You have been set free. By His blood. By His death. By His Cross and Passion.

Readings:

• Old Testament: Jonah 3:1-10

• Epistle: 2 Peter 1:2-11

• Holy Gospel: Matthew 6:-6, 16-21

Sermon: