Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Ash Wednesday
Text: Ephesians 3:14-19
Sermon Audio
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
O love, how deep, how broad, how high, Beyond all thought and fantasy, That God, the Son of God, should take Our mortal form for mortals’ sake!
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a season in the church year that we call Lent. It is a time of self-reflection as we gaze upon our sins and also a time of spiritual reflection as we gaze upon Christ and all that He has done for us.
To this end, we will be singing the hymn, “O Love How Deep” and using it as an aid in this time of reflection. This hymn was written in the 1400s to help people in the Middle Ages reflect upon Christ and His works, and centuries later we will find it will help us in our spiritual reflection and devotion.
However, I. Self-reflection is a challenge in light of our sin. Despite this good start, we find that our sin clouds our judgment. We cannot truly see how sinful we are because our sinfulness distorts our vision. You don’t know what you don’t know. Like a mirror that has been fogged after a shower, sin clouds our judgment and impedes our ability to see ourselves for who we truly are.
Sin often becomes the water in which we swim, so things such as lies, jealousy, addiction, anger, lust, drunkenness, and despair appear normal. It’s always been this way, and there’s no changing it. Yeah, it burns, but that’s just the way the world works.
However, II. Ash Wednesday leads us to our own mortality. One thing that can help us see reality is that of death. We see death in the news in shootings and tragedies. We see death in the obituary section of the newspaper. We see death when we attend funerals of loved ones.
On a day like Ash Wednesday, we all get a dose of this death as many of us go forward to receive ashes, a sign of repentance, and the pastor or vicar proclaims solemnly, “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” From babies months old to people eighty years or older, you have this mark of the cross on your forehead reminding you of this sign of sin and death.
This reminder of death is a wake up call, and even if we can squint our eyes and ignore our sinfulness, we cannot cheat death. One day, you will die.
Yet in this time of Lent, we also focus on a mystery: the mystery of God’s love that God, the Son of God should take our mortal form for mortal’s sake. Paul writes similarly in Ephesians 3. He prays that we “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
III. The mystery of God’s love is the only antidote to sin and death. We may not know the depths of our sin. We may try to hide death. However, on Ash Wednesday, we are not left without consolation. We have the comfort of God’s love.
But not love in a vague, abstract way. Not love like in the Beatle’s song
“All you need is love” where they just repeat all you need is love without actually defining it. This love is a deep love made manifest in the person of Jesus Christ.
We will examine throughout our sermon series what this love looks like as we walk through the life of Christ. But in short, this is a love that became human for us.
God cannot suffer, but in becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ, He gained the ability to suffer. God cannot sin, but in becoming human, Jesus took on our sins. God cannot die, but in becoming human, Jesus died for you. He didn’t need to do this. He didn’t need to save us, yet He chose all of this out of love.
Because Jesus did this, we have the forgiveness of sins. Because Jesus did this, we have eternal life.
IV. This love is a gift, not an achievement on our part. John writes in his first letter, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The Father loved us first. He sent His Son Jesus to be a propitiation. This is a fancy word that means payment for sins. It means that Jesus paid the punishment that our sins deserved.
This love is a gift which means it’s nothing we earned. You don’t earn a gift, if you did, it wouldn’t be a gift. God loves us by sending His Son Jesus in spite of what we’ve done and who we are, not because of it. God didn’t love you because of your good grades, kind demeanor, or excellent manners. He didn’t love you because you were the strongest, fastest, or prettiest. He loved you because you are His.
One theologian put it this way, “One does not choose a Redeemer for oneself, you understand, nor gives one’s heart to Him. The heart is a rusty old can on a junk heap. A fine birthday gift, indeed! But a wonderful Lord passes by, and has mercy on the wretched tin can, sticks his walking cane through it and rescues it from the junk pile and takes it home with Him. That is how it is.” We did not choose or earn this love, God chose us.
Furthermore, V. God calls us to repent and receive His grace. Paul talks about how He bows His knees before His Father, namely, His Heavenly Father, that everyone reading Ephesians may be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to have Christ dwell in their hearts rooted and grounded in love.
Valentine’s Day was just last Saturday. If a man asks a woman out on a date on Valentine’s Day, the question demands an answer. The answer could be yes. The answer could be no. The answer could be I’m too busy. Sometimes, the answer is, let me think about it, and then the woman ghosts the man and never gets back to him.
God’s love demands a response. In hearing God’s Word, the Holy Spirit is working in your heart to turn from sin and turn toward God. In this season of Lent, we respond to God’s love by loving him back through our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Tonight, by being present here in this place to hear God’s Word, to pray, praise, and give thanks, you are on a date with God. But just as all good relationships don’t just begin and end with one date, my prayer is that this is a continuation of a lifelong relationship or at the very least, the start of one wherein the Lord visits you with His grace and forgiveness to give you peace, hope, and purpose as He walks with you through this life.
VI. This grace is most clearly received in the Sacrament of the Altar. In other words, this deep love of Christ is expressed most clearly in the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion.
Let me first address the elephant in the room. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s the pretty black paraments or the ashes on the forehead, but Faith Lutheran Church often has the most first-time guests on Ash Wednesday. More than Christmas, more than Easter, new people show up for Ash Wednesday. If you’re one such person—whatever the reason you’re here—we’re happy you’re here.
At this church, communion is open to all members of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod who have previously been admitted to the supper because we believe that in the Lord’s Supper we truly receive Christ’s body and blood and that it is a shared confession of our beliefs.
Which means we ask that those who are of a different denomination—including a different Lutheran denomination—we ask you not to join us yet for the Lord’s Supper tonight. We want time to talk to confirm we are of the same beliefs and that we have truly led a repentant life to assure that you receive Christ in this meal to your benefit and not to your detriment. I would love to talk more and get you plugged into a new member class.
O love, how deep, how broad, how high, Beyond all thought and fantasy, That God, the Son of God, should take Our mortal form for mortals’ sake! It is in the Lord’s Supper that the Lord shows us that deep, broad, and high love by taking on flesh and blood in with and under the bread and wine of communion for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. In this meal you receive what was won for you at Calvary and that who rose again on Easter. In this meal your sins are forgiven, and you receive the medicine of immortality.
As we gather on this Ash Wednesday, it is not the end, but the beginning of the journey. Come join us again this Sunday and next Wednesday as we continue that walk with the living Christ.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.