Marked for Christ

Last night as I was watching the news I saw many people with ash upon their foreheads. On Ash Wednesday Catholics and others involved in liturgical tradition are marked with ash. It is a declaration of their faith and participation in the Lenten season. Traditionally Baptists and other members of the Radical Reformation do not participate in these traditions and cite Matthew 6:16-18 as their reason to refuse wearing ash. As a Baptist, I think we have the right interpretation, but too often we make no external sign of fasting because we are not fasting at all.

One of the positive aspects of the mark of ash is identifying with the body of Christ. That mark proclaims that you belong to Jesus. Many people take that mark as merely ritual, and it does not have daily significance for them. Rather than being marked once a year for Christ, we should wear our mark daily. Paul spoke of his marks in Galatians 6:17: From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus (ESV). Paul was not speaking of ashes on his forehead but of the physical scars he had received because of serving Christ. Paul lived daily to demonstrate Christ in his life, and that resulted in real wounds. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ still receive physical marks if they demonstrate they are true Christ followers.

Many of us, though, are fortunate that we will never face physical persecution for our beliefs. But we still need to wear the mark of Christ daily. We need to live a life that demonstrates in word and deed our submission to Jesus. We need to live obediently to the commands of Christ and let our light shine in a dark world. People should know that we are Christians, not by the t-shirts and jewelry that we wear, but by the love that we show for one another (John 13:35).