Ash Wednesday

The meaning of a question depends on what you are looking at:

“What kind of love is this?!” If you are looking at the headlines, you might be tempted to ask “what kind of love” for our country makes us view half of its citizens as our mortal enemies?

If you are looking at the internet, clogged as it is with “adult” content, you might be wondering “what kind of love” it is that moves people to seek their own pleasure in the dominating, humiliating, and violence inflicted on someone else. If you are looking at the global economy, you might wonder “what kind of love” of profit, wealth and success moves businesses to take actions that leave entire communities devastated, in pursuit of nothing more than a good report on quarterly profits. In this series of Lenten devotions, we will be asking the question “What kind of love is this?” by looking, not at politics, sexual ethics, or the global economy. Instead, we will be looking at Hymn 542 in the Lutheran Service Book where the question, “What kind of love is this?” serves as the refrain.

This Ash Wednesday, as our Lenten journey begins, we will look in the direction towards which the first stanza points us:

“When I behold Jesus Christ, True God who died for me, I wonder much at His love As He hung on the tree.”

When we turn our eyes toward Jesus Christ, we see a love radically different than anything that this world can offer. The love of God that we behold in the face Jesus Christ is a love that leads us to the forgiveness of sins; it leads us to life everlasting; it leads us, in other words, on a paschal journey towards salvation.

So, sisters and brothers in Christ: as our Lenten pilgrimage begins, “Turn your eyes upon

Jesus; Look full in His wonderful face.” In Jesus, the twisted “love” of this world

becomes strangely dim. By the work of the Holy Spirit, we will walk in the light of his

glory and grace.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, when we behold Jesus Christ, we see what kind of love

you have for us. Fill us with that love. Show us how to share that love by serving the

neighbors we have from you. In this time of prayer, fasting, and works of mercy, May

your Holy Spirit lead us to the promised land of your kingdom, where faith sees its

object, where hope reaches its fulfillment, and where your love is all in all. Amen.

Pastor Robert Boehler, 

Bronx Westchester Zone Pastoral Counselor

St Mark’s Lutheran Church, Yonkers