Ash Wednesday (2026)

Gen 3

Ashes of Paradise

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we are gathered here tonight and are reminded of the curse that was laid upon humanity in the garden. This is a difficult account to hear for what does it tell us about mankind? Well we had everything. When God created the world he made it all in 6 days and at the end declared that it was very good. Which means when we talk about mankind and our original state, we were without sin, without flaw, blemish or any imperfection, but now, sin has infected us both body and soul.

What exactly is this paradise? Why was its loss so heart wrenching for Adam and Eve? Why is it so painful still to this day? We first need to understand what Paradise meant for them, and to know what they lost. How many of us have suffered loss? How many of us have laid to rest a friend, a family member, a child or even a spouse? Death didn’t exist in the garden, it was not in the land for the wages of sin is death, the reason that death comes is because of Adam’s sin. As though death weren’t sharp enough, the ways in which it comes.

A car accident or heart attack can take someone so suddenly that our life, our soul, experiences whiplash in that moment. The peace that we didn’t even realize we knew, or relied upon and was found in that person is torn away from us and destroyed. But is that better than a slow death, where we watch the person we love torn apart by cancers, sepsis, chronic diseases that eat away and steal who they once were, and we were left with a shell of the person we loved laying on bed emaciated.

This is what happens if we are the one watching, but to be the one going through it, to either not get to say good bye and assure those we love that it’ll be ok, or to watch as our loved ones grieve around us as we draw closer to death. This is just death. We haven’t talked about famines when parents can’t feed their children, or the plagues that mean if you cannot even hold the hand of one you love.

These are just the natural disasters, we haven’t talked about the violence that men commit upon each other in war, by criminal actions, or the trauma that parents inflict upon each other or upon their children through divorce or abuse, and that children inflict upon each other as well. While we can distance ourselves from the responsibilities of natural disasters, we are guilty of sinning against one another, if not physically, then verbally. For who here has never insulted their neighbor, who has never acted against someone seeking revenge for some wrong they had committed against us? The problem isn’t just in the world it’s in us as well.

Adam and Eve knew none of this. They lived in Paradise, there were no problems, no cancers, no germs, no famine, no disease, no wars, no death, no divorce, no crime, no revenge, no sin. God had created everything to be good, and gave it to mankind as a gift. He gave one command, do not eat of the true of the knowledge of good and evil. Then we sinned, Adam and Eve doubted and disobeyed God’s Word and brought death to the human race and to the whole creation. We are watching as everything that God had created good is being given over to death and returning not just to ashes, but to nothing.

We recognize the problem for even thought we try to claim this is normal or natural, doesn’t fit with the realization that something’s very wrong, this isn’t as the world should be, it should be better, it’s wrong that people die, it’s wrong when a parents get divorced, its wrong when people abuse one another, and it’s wrong when someone we love dies and our world has to go through that shock and re-orientation. But if this world was all we knew, then where does this sense of wrong come from? How do we know that it is other than it ought to be, for if the only thing we have is this world, then what are we judging the world by to say that its wrong that we see this decay?

Here we are tonight, with ashes upon our foreheads not just for show, but to recognize the terrible effect of sin and the weight that rests upon all of us. That we are dust and to dust we shall return. For we bear in our flesh the effects of sin, and we know that the fate of mankind will be our fate as well. They aren’t just to show off to our neighbors, but they are a reminder to us of who we are and the danger that all men face. But tonight, we will do something else as well, that will remind us of the hope that is found in Christ. We will wash these ashes off our heads because in spite of all the darkness that surrounds us, we have hope.

For God didn’t abandon Adam and Eve nor their children in the garden, but gave the first promise of a savior who would crush the serpents head. Why? First Because God is Love, and Loves His creation and all that is good, and doesn’t desire our death. Second, because He knew that Adam and Eve would not be able to fix this problem nor are we, we are trapped in that cycle of sin and death, and we lack the ability to reassemble ashes into something that is good. So God promised to send into this World the very same person through whom all things had been created and declared good in the first place, Jesus Christ our Lord. How does one appease the wrath of God against sin? How does one atone for the limitless wickedness of sinful men? It required the life blood of the Son of God Himself that He might be able to declare us clean.

So when we wash away these ashes tonight, remember that God has not abandoned nor forgotten about you. He has not left you in the ashes and the dust of paradise, but He washed you clean, by the water and the word, and gave you the spirit of sonship that you might be restored to Him. Think on your baptism when the sign of the Cross was made upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed, that is one purchased, by Christ and who promised you something better than ashes.

This is why we can mock death, and even though we shed tears, and we see a world given over to turmoil, we don’t lose heart in the face of this. For we know that this world is not everything that God has promised or given us. The one who made all things has promised to make all things new. So when he comes in power and might on that final day, the Day of the Lord, and that eternal sabbath is established, that we will know what Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden, but ours will never pass away.

Right now, we are where Adam and Eve ended up because of their sin, kicked out of the garden, in the wilderness and enduring an exodus, but this place is not our home, we look to what Christ creates. There are days that are going to be hard, and its going to be a challenge, but the Father in heaven did not abandon nor forget Christ in the dust of death, but restored Him to life. This is our hope as we live in a world that is filled with trouble.

So my brothers and sisters in Christ, tonight when you wash off the ashes, remember the promise and the hope that we have in this world. Adam and Eve may have Lost Paradise for mankind, but Jesus made Paradise new and give us a place in it. We can share this hope with those who draw near to death, we can share it with those who are suffering, and when they wonder does God even care? Point them to Jesus there upon the cross to find the hope of salvation.