Sitting Among the Ashes

We aren’t out of the prologue to the Book of Job before we read, “Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.” (2:8) Just prior to that comment we are told that Satan has had his way with Job and just after the verse Job’s wife utters the infamous “Curse God and die” advice.

Earlier in the prologue to this intriguing story, we are introduced to Job as “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”  So what’s a guy like that doing “sitting among the ashes?” Unless my sources have misled me, pagans used ashes as signs of grief, signs of recognition that all wasn’t what it was supposed to be.  Apparently a righteous man was comfortable using symbols that were also used broadly among ancient Oriental people as a sign of their own grief, humiliation, and concern for their present circumstances.

Fast forward a couple of millennia later, and we aren’t out of the opening paragraphs of Mark’s account of Jesus before we hear Jesus saying, “”The time has been fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15) I don’t think it is an accident that the first words Mark has Jesus saying in his gospel include the word repent. What could be a more natural thing for any human being to do, when confronted with the presence of Jesus – the kingdom has come near – than to repent?  If I were to paraphrase what Jesus says, in the context of the Job story, could I say something like “What God promised is upon you in ways you can’t imagine, you ought to go sit among the ashes so you can hear and believe the good news”?

People much smarter than I have written extensively about Job, but it seems reasonable to me to think that even though I am a follower of Jesus and even though I try hard “to fear God and turn away from evil,” the idea that, like Job, there are times in life when I to should be “sitting among the ashes” is not too farfetched. The Lord himself says of Job that “there is no one like him on earth.” (1:8) Yet, a few verses down the page and Job is “sitting among the ashes.”

Today is Ash Wednesday, the day in the Christian calendar when more liturgical Christians will attend services all over the world to mark the season of Lent. Lent, of course, is often described as a season leading up to Easter when followers of Jesus are encouraged to take out a piece of potsherd and scrape off the evidence of our sin as we sit among the ashes repenting.

It isn’t unusual, especially if you aren’t from a more liturgical background but pay attention to Ash Wednesday and Lent,  to be reminded that neither Ash Wednesday nor Lent are in the Bible. Seeing ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday a few years ago, an elder in a Christian church said, “Where is that in the Bible?” I quickly replied, “The same place where we learn about church buildings and church boards.” I no doubt needed another “sitting among the ashes” moment!

It just seems a bit odd to me that Job can use the very same symbols – a piece of potsherd and sitting among ashes – as was commonly used by people who clearly aren’t where he was in terms of knowing God, but evangelicals are prone to throw the baby out with the bath water, to make sure we aren’t confused with Catholics, Episcopalians, Anglicans, and other more liturgical followers of Jesus.

An honest look at how non-believers tend to view the church these days might suggest that we would all do well to spend some time “sitting among the ashes.”  Whether or not we are comfortable with the idea of Ash Wednesday and Lent, a season of repentance can’t possibly hurt any of us.