WEBVTT
00:00.330 --> 00:01.310
You may be seated.
00:04.930 --> 00:07.150
In Jesus name. Amen.
00:08.290 --> 00:11.786
One of our family's favorite vacation spots is to go to Colonial
00:11.818 --> 00:14.218
Williamsburg in Virginia.
00:14.314 --> 00:16.890
Curious how many of you have been to Colonial Williamsburg.
00:17.050 --> 00:18.366
Quite a number of you.
00:18.548 --> 00:21.774
Our family loves history, and so those of you that have been there
00:21.892 --> 00:25.742
know that there are costumed reenactors who bring the history to life
00:25.796 --> 00:31.270
and draw you into the story leading up to the American Revolution.
00:31.690 --> 00:37.270
And our family enjoys all of the sights and sounds and experiences of
00:37.420 --> 00:38.850
Colonial Williamsburg.
00:38.930 --> 00:43.686
And there's one particularly unique experience at Colonial
00:43.718 --> 00:45.962
Williamsburg that those who've been there maybe remember.
00:46.016 --> 00:51.850
If I recall correctly, it's just outside the courthouse on the main
00:51.920 --> 00:52.940
village, Green.
00:53.630 --> 00:58.190
That's where you find the stocks and the pillory.
00:58.690 --> 01:02.334
Now, we tend to confuse these two and just say everything is the
01:02.372 --> 01:05.534
stocks, but actually the stocks are where you sit down and only your
01:05.572 --> 01:06.346
feet are constrained.
01:06.378 --> 01:10.546
The pillory is the T shaped wooden apparatus with the hole where you
01:10.568 --> 01:14.114
put your head in and the holes where you put your hands in and you
01:14.152 --> 01:16.482
stand or you kneel there in the pillory.
01:16.546 --> 01:23.190
And nowadays, the pillory is kind of a fun photo op location.
01:23.850 --> 01:28.550
Parents like to put their kids in the pillar.
01:30.090 --> 01:33.354
Be honest parents how many at one point haven't wanted to put our kids
01:33.552 --> 01:34.730
in the pillar?
01:35.070 --> 01:39.386
Kids then get to put their parents in the pillory, and and then it
01:39.408 --> 01:42.170
becomes a photo off where you have a couple of options.
01:42.240 --> 01:47.342
You could have a big grin on your face to show, see, I can do this.
01:47.396 --> 01:51.342
Or the other option is you make the worst, most painful face you can
01:51.476 --> 01:53.450
as you're in the pillory.
01:53.610 --> 01:57.326
But that's what the pillory is nowadays at Colonial Williamsburg
01:57.358 --> 01:59.810
it's just a fun spot to take photo.
02:00.870 --> 02:04.580
Of course, that's not what it was intended to be.
02:05.850 --> 02:10.120
The pillory was intended to be a place of punishment, a very public
02:10.490 --> 02:13.510
punishment for wrongdoing.
02:14.490 --> 02:21.450
And when you were sentenced to the pillory, people would come by and
02:21.520 --> 02:22.586
mock you.
02:22.768 --> 02:24.570
They would jeer at you.
02:24.720 --> 02:28.762
Oftentimes there would be a placard place nearby saying, what your
02:28.816 --> 02:30.998
crime or what your wrongdoing was
02:31.104 --> 02:34.014
so they could mock you for that.
02:34.212 --> 02:41.182
And the crowds would gather at this very public place and mock and
02:41.236 --> 02:43.630
scorn and jeer.
02:44.290 --> 02:47.086
The punishment would usually last for a few hours, and they'd be
02:47.108 --> 02:48.960
released to go home.
02:49.730 --> 02:57.334
But this pillory was a very public and outward display of something
02:57.372 --> 02:58.694
that had been done wrong.
02:58.892 --> 02:59.846
And so here we are
02:59.868 --> 02:59.970
gathered
03:00.250 --> 03:04.142
today on Ash Wednesday. On a day where there's a very public and
03:04.196 --> 03:13.486
outward display of wrongdoing. Many of us have ashes marked on our
03:13.508 --> 03:19.594
forehead in the shape of a croos to remind us of that judgment spoken
03:19.642 --> 03:19.806
to
03:19.828 --> 03:24.030
our first parents, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they sinned
03:24.810 --> 03:32.200
and they were told, dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
03:33.930 --> 03:37.430
Ashes remind us that we are mortal.
03:39.070 --> 03:41.446
The soul that sins will die.
03:41.638 --> 03:42.970
We have sinned.
03:43.390 --> 03:46.090
We will die.
03:46.990 --> 03:53.006
Ashes have been a sign of penitence and sorrow for sin, a reminder of
03:53.028 --> 03:56.480
mortality since ancient times.
03:58.290 --> 04:04.778
This outward combination of penitence is somewhat challenging and
04:04.804 --> 04:07.538
confusing when it's paired with our gospel reading for today from
04:07.624 --> 04:09.106
Matthew, chapter six.
04:09.288 --> 04:13.233
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew, chapter six and when you fast, do
04:13.272 --> 04:17.245
not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they just figure their faces
04:17.278 --> 04:19.166
that their fasting may be seen by others.
04:19.288 --> 04:21.522
Truly, I say to you, they've received their reward.
04:21.586 --> 04:25.654
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your
04:25.692 --> 04:28.714
fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in
04:28.752 --> 04:33.580
secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
04:35.070 --> 04:43.933
So here we are with smudges of ash on our forehead, and Jesus says, Go
04:43.972 --> 04:44.880
wash your face.
04:46.690 --> 04:52.480
So is outward repentance wrong?
04:53.590 --> 04:57.170
Are outward signs of penitence hypocritical?
04:59.110 --> 04:59.860
No.
05:00.230 --> 05:05.140
It depends on the intention behind the outward sign.
05:06.630 --> 05:10.145
If the outward sign, such as having crosses of ash on our forehead
05:10.178 --> 05:13.909
today is drawn to draw attention to ourself, to say, look at me.
05:13.980 --> 05:17.400
Look how good, how high as I am, then yes, it's wrong.
05:19.470 --> 05:25.798
But that is the exact opposite of why we should have crosses of ash
05:25.894 --> 05:28.140
marked on our forehead today.
05:29.310 --> 05:30.794
Why should we receive ashes?
05:30.842 --> 05:38.080
Not to show how good we are, but in fact to show how sinful we are.
05:38.450 --> 05:43.870
We have sinned and we deserve death.
05:45.010 --> 05:52.238
Ashes are not to bring public pride to our holiness, but to be a
05:52.244 --> 05:54.510
public statement of our sin.
05:55.690 --> 05:59.539
So the ashes on our forehead are something like a public penance, not
06:00.170 --> 06:03.790
unlike the pillory at Colonial Williamsburg.
06:04.770 --> 06:11.486
So think of the ashes on our forehead of being in the Pillory at
06:11.508 --> 06:12.590
Williamsburg.
06:13.730 --> 06:18.414
As we're there in the Pillory, someone comes by and says that he would
06:18.452 --> 06:22.110
take our place at the Pillory.
06:23.330 --> 06:26.870
And this man puts his head through the hole in the wood.
06:27.850 --> 06:32.360
He puts his hands through the holes in the wood on the side, and the
06:32.730 --> 06:36.870
lock is placed on the side of the Pillory.
06:37.630 --> 06:43.482
But then, as we watch, the Pillory changes and the holes in the side
06:43.536 --> 06:50.954
of the wood holding the man's hands in become holes in the man's
06:51.002 --> 06:51.600
hands.
06:53.170 --> 06:57.758
And this man is not held in place anymore by the lock on the side of
06:57.764 --> 06:58.026
the wood.
06:58.058 --> 07:04.530
He's held in place by nails through his hands and feet.
07:06.790 --> 07:13.602
And we look up and the Pillory has expanded, suspending this man
07:13.656 --> 07:15.010
between heaven and earth.
07:16.090 --> 07:21.094
And there we see that it's gone from us in the Pillory making public
07:21.132 --> 07:28.250
penitence for our sins, to Jesus on the cross, taking our place, dying
07:28.670 --> 07:29.740
for us.
07:30.750 --> 07:32.890
We look Jesus on the cross.
07:34.110 --> 07:38.170
We also see that he's being Pilloried.
07:39.230 --> 07:41.998
People are mocking him.
07:42.164 --> 07:45.646
They're sneering and jeering at Him.
07:45.828 --> 07:50.478
A placard is placed over His head stating His crime, but it may as
07:50.484 --> 07:52.670
well state our crime.
07:53.350 --> 07:58.254
The punishment, like the pillaries in Colonial Williamsburg, lasted
07:58.302 --> 07:59.522
for several hours.
07:59.576 --> 08:02.770
But at the end of that time, Jesus wasn't released.
08:03.110 --> 08:06.840
He was dead in our place.
08:08.650 --> 08:15.382
And that is why we have a cross on our foreheads today, because
08:15.436 --> 08:22.940
because of our sin, jesus took our place on the cross for us.
08:24.030 --> 08:29.100
The Cross of Ash says, we have no goodness of our own to brag about.
08:29.870 --> 08:35.326
We have done nothing deserving of any reward. In our reading for today
08:35.347 --> 08:40.813
from Matthew, chapter six, Jesus lists various good activities giving
08:40.852 --> 08:44.990
to the poor, praying, fasting.
08:45.650 --> 08:47.069
These are certainly good things.
08:47.140 --> 08:50.960
Jesus, in fact, says, when you are doing these things, do them.
08:52.930 --> 08:55.830
But we don't do them to draw attention to ourselves.
08:57.770 --> 08:59.860
We don't do them to show how good
09:00.000 --> 09:01.134
we are.
09:01.252 --> 09:05.118
No matter how much we give to the poor, no matter how much we fast, no
09:05.124 --> 09:09.280
matter how much we pray, it's still not good enough.
09:11.570 --> 09:15.550
So we don't do any outward sign to point to our goodness.
09:16.690 --> 09:23.166
Instead, the cross of ash on our forehead draws attention not to our
09:23.188 --> 09:25.830
goodness, but to our our sin.
09:26.810 --> 09:31.990
But it also points us to our Savior.
09:32.970 --> 09:36.994
Because we're not saved by any actions, outward actions, inward
09:37.042 --> 09:43.338
actions that we do. We're saved by what Jesus Christ has done for us
09:43.504 --> 09:46.650
in a very outward, very public action.
09:47.390 --> 09:55.678
As he went to the cross and was pillaried and crucified and died for
09:55.844 --> 10:02.430
us. The ash on our forehead points us to Christ on the cross.
10:04.069 --> 10:07.886
It also points us to our death.
10:08.078 --> 10:14.900
Remember that dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
10:16.490 --> 10:26.280
But also remember that after you return to dust, you will also return
10:27.130 --> 10:28.120
to life.
10:28.890 --> 10:31.670
In Jesus name. Amen.
10:32.410 --> 10:34.786
The peace of God that passes all understanding.
10:34.818 --> 10:38.662
Keep your hearts and minds in true faith through Christ Jesus our
10:38.716 --> 10:39.362
Lord.
10:39.506 --> 10:39.962
Amen.