A sermon for Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025. The scriptures are Joel 2:1-2,12-17, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10, Matthew 6:1-6,16-21, and Psalm 103.
One of the reasons I went to General Seminary some years ago was to study with Dr. Elizabeth Koenig. Not only was she a great teacher, one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but she had a great title. She was Professor of Ascetical Theology. In retirement, the title is slightly fancier: Professor Ascetical Theology Emerita. This was before Harry Potter days, but doesn’t ascetical theology” sound like something out of the Hogwarts School? I’ll admit that the idea of studying “ascetical theology” sounded romantic to me. I mean, how cool, to be in some Chelsea establishment and casually say, “O yes, I’m studying ascetical theology.” And yet, to take it seriously, one can’t coast or pretend. One has to dive in and pray.
The word, “ascetical” comes from askesis, a Greek word meaning exercise, discipline, or training. In the spiritual life, ascetical practices are those things that help a person grow in discipline, the sorts of practices we talk about in the Season of Lent: prayer, fasting, almsgiving.
In both the physical and the spiritual life, askesis, or training, can be done for reasons of vanity, to look better to other people. But training and discipline are even more effective when they’re undertaken to strengthen one for the long run—whether that’s literal or refers to a life itself.
People take on spiritual disciplines in the season of lent for all kinds of reasons. Some still carry a twisted theological belief that God likes it when we suffer, and so somehow to get God’s attention, or to make God love us more, we need to rough it, or more, we need to suffer. But the saints who went without food and ended up dying of poor health because of their severe self-discipline did not please God, and only shortened the life they could have lived to glorify God and to God’s work on earth.
God wants us strong and centered. Humility means being right-sized—neither thinking too highly of oneself, but also not thinking too lowly of oneself.
When we give up something for Lent, that is a type of fast. The point is not to win a game, achieve a prize, and gain more love from God. Instead, the goal of giving up something is to purify, and strengthen, to focus, and renew, to be more in tune with the will of God, so that we can more fully help God’s kingdom come.
When something is given up for Lent, it is what scripture calls a “fragrant offering” to God, when it allows us to take up something, as well. Maybe you’re fasting from social media. If so, that will give you time and energy to explore issues for yourself, to seek truth, and to act on the truth you find.
If you fast from too much news, it will be a sad affair if you only do it hide from the world. But if you fast from the news, and in its place enter into conversations and issues for yourself, then you’re living out your faith.
If you give up certain food, drinks, or snacks, take the money you save and give it to someone in need or to a cause that needs support.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is criticizing those who make a public show of their faith but do nothing to be of any use in the world to go along with that faith. Jesus explains how NOT to fast and pray and train spiritually. But in his life, Jesus shows us how to train for the kingdom, to grow spiritually and at the same time grow in love and service to others.
A part of my Lenten discipline this year is reading from a book of sermons by Archbishop Oscar Romero. The archbishop was an outspoken advocate of the poor in El Salvador, and vocal critic of the governmental and societal injustices. A death squad associated with the government (a government support by the United States) killed Romero on March assassinated while celebrating Mass in his cathedral on March 24, 1980. In one place, Archbishop Romero speaks powerfully about the way in which Lent is about more than just an individual spirituality. He says
The church invites us to a modern form of penance, of fasting and prayer – perennial Christian practices, but adapted to the circumstances of each people. Lenten fasting is not the same thing in those lands where people eat well as is a Lent among our third-world peoples, undernourished as they are, living in a perpetual Lent, always fasting. For those who eat well, Lent is a call to austerity, a call to give away in order to share with those in need. But in poor lands, in homes where there is hunger, Lent should be observed in order to give to the sacrifice that is everyday life the meaning of the cross. But it should not be out of a mistaken sense of resignation. God does not want that. Rather, feeling in one’s flesh the consequences of sin and injustice, one is stimulated to work for social justice and a genuine love for the poor. Our Lent should awaken a sense of social justice. [Oscar Arnulfo Romero, from The Violence of Love: The Pastoral Wisdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero (1988).]
Whether we call it “askesis,” discipline, training for the resistance, or just simply walking in the way of Jesus, let us fast for a purpose this season the Holy Spirit leads us in to loving action. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.