You Are Dust, and to Dust You Must Return

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let this be the Law for Ash Wednesday: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Those are simple words, but powerful ones. They’re surprisingly difficult for me to say while putting ashes on your foreheads. I can’t help but think of the scores of men, women, and children whose bodies I have committed to the ground with similar words.

These words were first spoken to Adam to describe the curse and the consequences of sin, the first announcement of death. God made them holy to live forever with Him, but they defied His Word and threw their holiness away. As a result, the Lord said to Adam, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It didn’t happen all at once that day, but Adam eventually crumbled away.

You are dust, and to dust you shall return. That’s why hair falls out and skin gets waxy. It’s why arteries clog and valves leak, why eyesight fails and cancers develop. It’s not just your body, but your mind: you might joke about the cobwebs in your memory, but under the curse of sin your memories are turning to dust, too.

That’s the Law. No matter who you are and no matter what you do, remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.

The dust is not the problem: the truth that you’re turning to dust is the problem. Death is the real problem; therefore, religion ought to be about gaining life—not sweeping up the dust while you die. That’s why the Pharisees are so off-track. You’ve heard the phrase “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”? The Pharisees are worried about sweeping up the dust, so much so that they don’t look to Christ to stop the decay. That’s why Jesus warns against their practices in our Gospel lesson.

Do you want to make religion all about giving to the needy? The Pharisees made a big show of giving alms to the poor because it’s a good thing to do; and many make Christianity all about that, and only about that, today. By all means, give to those in need. Show your generosity all you want. Do it because you feel you should, or do it because you love to help, or do it to set a good example to others. But no matter how sincere and giving you are, you are still dust, and to dust you shall return. The reward for your giving is the gratitude of others, because your work of giving can’t save you. You are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Do you want to make religion all about prayer? The Pharisees made a big deal about praying, too, and prayer is a good thing. Some might have done it just for show, but others prayed all the time because they saw good and piety in prayer. But if religion is all about your prayer and meditation, then it’s all about your work: your prayers don’t make God love you. The admiration of others for your prayer life might make you feel spiritual, but that’s all the reward you get. You are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Do you want to make religion all about fasting? Do you want to demonstrate your piety and your penitence by self-denial? The Pharisees did at times, and sometimes Christians make religion all about not dancing, not drinking, not doing all sorts of things in order to “live the Christian life.”

Now, fasting is a good discipline, and one that’s nearly lost among us fat and happy Christians of America. But if religion is about fasting, then it’s about your work of self-deprivation. You might get the respect of those who are impressed with your self-control, but that’s all the reward you get. You are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Now, many will tell you that Christianity is all about “living the Christian life,” about living in a way that’s noticeably different than who you were before. And if Christianity is all about how you live, then it only makes sense to make your practice as public an example as possible. But Jesus warns against all this: you can live as good a life as possible and still be nothing but dust and ashes at the end. The Law is inescapable. Do all the sweeping you want, but you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Let this be the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, from our epistle: “For our sake [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God made Jesus—who knew no sin—to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. There is your hope. There is your life. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father from eternity, was born of Mary so that He might have flesh and blood just like sinners, just like you. He needed flesh and blood like you to take your place. He was perfect and holy. He knew no sin. He wasn’t under the curse of sin. He wasn’t subject to death.

But He died. He died because God made Him to be sin. The Father piled all the sin and guilt of the world on His Son at the cross and said, “Damn You.” Because He made His Son to be sin—to be guilty of all sin, He makes you to be righteous. In Christ, you are now the righteousness of God.

If you are the righteousness of God, you have eternal life. Though He died, Jesus didn’t return to dust. He rose again. He’ll raise you too. In the meantime, He joins you to His death and makes you righteousness with the words, “I baptize you.” He gives you His incorruptible, alive-forever body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. He speaks life into you and declares that death has no claim on you anymore.

Christianity is all about what He has done, not about how you live. But because you live in Him, you end up living as a Christian. You pray and give and fast as it is given to you to do: not because you have to, but because the Lord speaks and gives to you. If it’s in secret or in the streets, it really doesn’t matter because it’s just what you do because you’re set free from sin to do it. You don’t look to it for rewards or salvation: there’s no salvation to be found in your works, and rewards from these are only temporary.

You have much better treasure, treasure that your Father in heaven gives you for the sake of His Son. And the treasure is this: though you are frail children of dust for now, you are going to live forever as the righteous children of God.

Because you are forgiven for all of your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen