It may strike you as odd that on Ash Wednesday we read a passage from Jesus’s sermon on the Mount, in which he warns us not to be like the hypocrites who, when they fast, adopt a sad countenance and disfigure their faces so they may appear to be fasting. After all, we have just smeared ashes on our foreheads to mark the beginning of Holy Lent, (a practice dating back to ancient times).
But this would only seem odd if you consider our ceremony of the imposition of ashes to be at odds with Jesus’s sermon – and that the Church, for many hundreds of years, simply didn’t notice the disparity. This is quite impossible of course, and so, if you are a good and humble Orthodox Christian and it strikes you as odd, the only reasonable conclusion you can draw is that you either do not understand Jesus’s sermon or you do not understand the Church’s ceremony.
There are numerous passages in the Scriptures which, if read in an isolated and simplistic manner, would be confusing.
Take this example from the same sermon as our gospel lesson under discussion. Jesus says the following just moments before our passage began in vs. 6:
“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
And yet in the very same sermon, presumably no more than a few minutes earlier, he says this in Ch. 5:
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
The imposition of Ashes on this solemn occasion is not in itself a violation of Christ’s admonition against the hypocrites. It is not a hypocritical display of sadness, so one may “appear” to be fasting. So, why do we read this passage about hypocrisy as we enter Lent, and what does He mean by the admonition to not adopt a sad countenance?
Christ is speaking against hypocrisy. A hypocrite is a liar who adopts a certain outward appearance in order to appear different than he is.
Hypocrites not only lie to those around them, but are usually lying to themselves as well, believing in their own false image. At times, we are all guilty of hypocrisy.
In the case of the fasting hypocrite, he thinks that to fast is to be sad and forlorn because he is denying himself the sustenance of food and bodily comfort. Therefore he puts a sad countenance on display so all can see his holiness.
The hypocrite’s association of sadness with fasting seems reasonable: to deny oneself should make one sad, right? But here is the irony, because this is not what actually happens when someone keeps a true fast. A true fast does not bring one sadness, but joy.
The hypocrite cannot understand this because he is…well…a hypocrite – who has not kept a true fast and therefore does not understand that fasting brings joy. His abstinence is a technicality and not a true fast at all. He associates fasting with sadness when in reality true fasting brings one close to God, which is synonymous with light and joy. This is the spirit in which we enter the season of penitence.
You may say, “Well isn’t fasting associated with repentance for sin and an awareness of our wretchedness, and isn’t there some sadness in this?” Yes of course, but this sadness is not like the sadness of the world; it is a godly sorrow – a joyful sadness – because we know that God forgives and delivers us from our wretchedness. And so our sadness is not really sadness at all, but a journey to Joy.
This, then, is how Mother Church encourages us to engage into this most Holy season of Lent – with joyful sadness, not downcast and forlorn as those who have not seen the Risen Lord. We pray in our collect that we might observe the fast with reverence and godly fear, that we might in peace and quietness fulfill the same.
We also pray in our post-communion prayer that our fast might be acceptable to God and profitable for the healing of our souls. We fast for profit; we do it to get something. Inasmuch as our fast is acceptable as a sacrificial offering to God, we expect to receive a reward for our spiritual efforts.
Some say we shouldn’t obey God to get something in return – that we do not trade in spiritual benefits. But the compulsion to trade is driven by desire, a desire for something we do not have, and this desire is one of the holy attributes God has implanted in man. Obviously the desire of man has been corrupted, and yet, in its origin, it is holy.
And so in this same passage Jesus encourages us to be wise investors and people of commerce, doing good works which will be accounted to us in heaven, and in this particular passage, it is a true and humble fast that will accrue the heavenly treasure that we will enjoy for all eternity.
Our reading ends with Jesus saying, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I have always taken this statement in the most practical way. Whatever you invest yourself in will capture your heart. This includes your money, your thoughts, and especially your time. Jesus is relating this to the discipline of fasting – it doesn’t get much more bodily concrete than that. If you give your body to fasting, true prayerful fasting that is, then your heart will follow and be united to God.