Ash Wednesday
February 18, 2026
Text:
2 Cor. 5:20b-6:10
Preachers are essentially
beggars. That is not a commentary on my
salary. But it is to say, what does a
preacher do, but stand in the pulpit and plead?
Plead with sinners? Plead with
you? Imploring “you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20; ESV)? That is, stop going your own way. Stop doing your own thing, thinking your own
thoughts. Stop justifying yourself. Turn.
Change your mind. Repent. “Return to the Lord, your God,”
why?... “for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love” (Joel 2:13). And
that fact is embodied in the flesh of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Here is what He has done. “For our sake [God] made him,” namely,
our Lord Jesus Christ, “to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor.
5:21). All your rebellion… all your
rejection of God, and His love, and His gracious will for you… all your turning
away and running off, as far as you can, from your heavenly Father… all of it,
every sin, every transgression, and all guilt, and all shame, all of it… the
Lord Jesus took upon Himself, bearing it to the cross. And for you, and upon you, He leaves His
perfect righteousness (His justification), His innocence, His holiness, His
life, His Sonship, His inheritance of the very Kingdom of heaven.
So… have it, beloved. Please, won’t you have it? I implore you to come back to the Father who
loves you, confessing your sins, covered in Jesus, and possessed by His
Spirit. Now is the time. This is the day. The favorable time is always Today. Right now. Don’t miss it. Don’t resist it. Do not reject it. God is giving you Himself, and all His gifts. Freely.
Not because you deserve it, but for the sake of Jesus, who
deserves it, and who suffered and died to make it so. Believe it, and you have it. Repent and believe the Good News (Mark
1:15). Confess, and be absolved. This is the Day of Salvation. God has listened. And God helps (2 Cor. 6:2; Is. 49:8).
God sends His preachers thus to
implore. And look what Paul says about
this Preaching Office. “We put no
obstacle in anyone’s way” (2 Cor. 6:3).
The preacher is to get out of the way, and ever and always and only
point to Christ and His saving Word. But
he is to suffer, this preacher (vv. 4-5). For you.
That you may believe. As Christ
suffered. For you. That you may be saved. The preacher is to bear up, by great
endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in calamities, Paul says. In beatings, imprisonments, and riots (I
thank my God that Pastor Taylor and I have not yet had to suffer those
things, though many of our brothers in Office have so suffered, and do
so suffer, and such is our call, if it comes down to it. And by the way, such is your call, if
it comes down to it, as well). In
labors. In sleepless nights (I’ve had
plenty of those for you). In
hunger. And then, Paul says, also in
faithfulness (vv. 6-7). Purity,
knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit (these are the character traits
a preacher must aspire to have, and he can only have them by the gift of the
Holy Spirit, though, to be sure, he has them in great weakness, and so must
always be repenting and receiving and praying and fostering the gifts). By genuine love… Your pastors love you,
which is why we lose sleep over you, and why we so often, and so deeply, hurt
for you. By truthful speech and the
power of God (pure doctrine, Sacraments rightly administered, and, I think we
can add here, prayer, and a faith that expects God to do mighty things among
you). With the weapons of righteousness
for the right hand and the left (these weapons aren’t guns or swords, but the
whole armor of God… And you are
outfitted with that, too, and you can read about it in Ephesians 6). Then, notice, faithfulness in whatever the
circumstances (vv. 8-10). Even in the
extremes. Honor and dishonor. Slander and praise. Considered imposters, but really, true. Unknown, yet well known (known, at least, to
God, and that is really all that matters).
Dying… remember, the pastor is called to suffer and die… yet behold, we
live! Ah, there’s death and
resurrection, right? The Preaching
Office is a Christological Office.
Punished, but not killed.
Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (I mean, Christ is risen, and He lives,
and reigns, and He’ll raise me, so what sorrow can possibly triumph over
that?). As poor, yet making many
rich. As nothing, yet possessing
everything. Do you see, in that
description, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? That is the point. The preacher is not to preach himself (get
out of the way, preacher). But
Christ. Always Christ. Only Christ.
In his words, in his life, and in his very body. Christ.
Don’t look at me. Look at Christ.
But the preacher begs. He implores.
He pleads. On behalf of
Christ. For some reason unknown to me,
but known, apparently, to the wise men who put together the lectionary, our
Epistle reading starts with the second half of 2 Cor. 5:20. It seems to me that the first half belongs,
though. And, by the way, you probably
know it by heart. Let me read it in its
entirety: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal
through us. We implore you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God.” The
preacher preached on that verse at my ordination all those years ago. So, naturally, I brought it up at his 50th
ordination anniversary. Because that’s
what the Ministry is. Jesus sends the
preacher as His official ambassador, to speak the Words of Jesus, on Jesus’
behalf. And the Words Jesus speaks
through His preachers are Words of pleading: I have come for you. Come, beloved, to Me. Come back.
Come back. Why will you die just
to get away from life with Me? Come to
Me and live. Be forgiven. Be cleansed.
Be healed. Be whole. Let Me take from you all that is deadly, and
dead. Let Me fill you with Myself, and
the things of life!
That is what Lent is all about. Beloved, lay yourself down at the foot of the
cross. Give up your idols, your greed,
and your lust. Give up your
grudges. They don’t belong to you. Die to yourself, and so live in Jesus
Christ. In just a few moments, you will
be marked on the forehead. An ashen
cross. What is that about? The ash of mourning, sorrow, and death. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you
shall return. That is price of running
away from God. But imposed on you in the
shape of a cross. Because, on the cross,
God’s arms are open wide. To call you
back. To bid you come. To gather you to Himself. On the cross, God Himself accomplishes the
reconciliation. His arms are
outstretched to receive you into His embrace.
Because, on the cross, God’s Son becomes your sin, and puts it to death
in His very body. On the cross, Jesus
sheds His blood to cover you and make you whole. On the cross, the Lord transforms death. For now, for those marked by His cross, death
is but the portal to life. “For our
sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.” Preachers
are just beggars. They beg you to
believe that, and receive that. So,
beloved… please… have it. Have it. Have Him.
Here He is, for you. In the Name
of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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