[The following is a manuscript of my meditation delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Wednesday afternoon, the 18th of February, 2026 - Ash Wednesday. A recording of our service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel:
As we enter into the Lenten Season, we are challenged to use this period for self-examination and introspection, to see if we are living as God would have us live. It’s a great time to dig deeper into our Bibles, studying the Gospels, listening to Jesus, witnessing what He did while He walked among us. And we can read the letters His closest friends and followers wrote to help the early church. For by watching Jesus and studying the letters, through the eyes and the words of those who walked alongside Him, we can see how we, too, should live and act. Perhaps most importantly, we can use this time and this study to honestly determine if we truly and fully believe in and put complete trust in Jesus, using our level of obedience as a key indicator.
This afternoon, we’ll step back to the time just after Jesus sent His 12 disciples out in pairs to spread the Gospel. He then visited some nearby cities to teach and preach to the people. At one town, two disciples of His kinsman John the Baptist, who was at that time in prison, came to question if Jesus really was the long awaited Messiah. After sending them away to repeat to John all they had seen and heard, Jesus turned back to the crowd and told about the kingdom of God. But John’s doubt may have generated a bit of consternation in Jesus, for He included some very stern warnings in His words.
Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle Matthew recorded for us in his Gospel account, in chapter 11 verses 20 through 24 and chapter 12 verses 38 through 42, and I’ll be reading from the New King James version of our Holy Bible this afternoon…
11:20 Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.”
--Matthew 11:20-24;12:38-42 (NKJV)
Let us pray… Father God, one of the most useful features of our Bible is that it provides us with a view into the life of Jesus. You inspired four of His apostles to leave records of His life, some very detailed, allowing us to witness important events of His ministry. Thank You for so wonderful a gift. Father, please help us follow the examples Jesus set for us. Help us remember all that He told us, including the warnings, so that we don’t perish in sin. Please stop us when we begin to wander off into the wilderness, tempted by the devil to disobey You. Forgive us those moments when our faith waivers and we wish for a sign that Jesus is with us. Forgive us when we deny Your Son by our actions and reactions that mimic the world rather than show us as separate from the world. Please strengthen us in our efforts to share the Gospel message and protect us from the wrath of non-believers if we step on a few toes along the way. This we pray in the name of Jesus, Your Christ and our Lord. Amen.
Each year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. Lent is a 40-day season (not counting the six Sundays) marked by repentance, fasting, reflection, and ultimately celebration. The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him.
Lent asks believers to set aside a time each year for similar fasting, marking an intentional season of focus on Christ’s life, His ministry, His sacrifice, and His resurrection. And, of course, the best way to focus on Jesus’ life and ministry is to read and study our Bible. So let’s look back at what led up to the event in our scripture reading.
After His baptism in the River Jordan by kinsman John, Jesus began His ministry on earth. He would have been around 30 years old at the time. First He called twelve men to be His disciples. Together they traveled from village to village, city to city, with Jesus turning water into wine, healing people of all manner of illnesses and infirmities, even raising the dead back to life.
Through these miraculous acts, many came to believe that He truly was the Messiah, including a Samaritan woman He spoke with at a well. And yet the religious leaders didn't believe, couldn’t believe, wouldn’t believe, refused to believe. Testing Him, they demanded more proof, more miracles.
They stirred up the populace of city after city, turning the people against Jesus. It got to the point that the leaders and those under their thumb refused to acknowledge and believe what they saw with their own eyes. “We want to see a sign from You. Show us a sign.”
And then Jesus discloses one of those beautiful aspects of our Bible. He uses an event in what is now our Old Testament as an example of what is described in our New Testament. He reminds the scribes and the Pharisees of what happened to Jonah and with the people of Nineveh. And by mentioning the time Jonah spent in the giant fish’s belly He foretells His own fate.
The point is that the people of Nineveh didn’t really need a sign to repent. All they needed was to hear Jonah preach, and I’m sure his speech, his enthusiasm, and his effectiveness were heavily influenced by his time in that fish, which was his own sign from God.
As for the queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, she traveled all that way just to hear Solomon words of wisdom. And yet, here is One far greater than Solomon, standing there among them, but they still refused to believe.
I mentioned that during the earlier days of His ministry, Jesus called twelve men to be His disciples. One of those men was the author of our scripture reading this morning: Matthew, also called Levi.
It happened that one day Jesus passed by the tax office where Matthew was working, collecting taxes from the people. Tax collectors were particularly despised by the Jewish people because they considered them sinners, traitors, working for the Romans. Many of them were actual sinners, taking more than was required by Rome and keeping the difference for themselves, although we have no evidence that Matthew was dishonest in any way.
As Jesus passed by, He stopped and called Matthew to join His group and follow Him. Matthew immediately left his office and his duties to follow Jesus, a pattern set by Andrew and Simon, James and John. That evening, Jesus and the disciples all gathered at Matthew’s house to dine together. Matthew tells us what happens next, as recorded in the 9th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 10 through 13…
10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
--Matthew 9:10-13 (NKJV)
Why all the signs? Why all the teaching and healing? Why all the traveling from town to town on foot just to cure and preach? Because Jesus came to call us sinners to repentance, and He needed to get our attention first. And while all the religious leaders may have thought themselves righteous, they also were sinners. Jesus tried to call them, too, but they just would not hear, or hearing, they would not listen. They refused to believe, even with all the signs.
So I have to ask, how much more proof do we need before we will truly believe, before we will listen, before we will answer the call? What are we waiting for before we take up our cross and fully follow Jesus?
We say we believe, we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, but do our actions follow our words? If we fully, whole-heartedly accepted Jesus as our Lord and Master, if we did as Matthew and committed ourselves to following Him, then we would obey His commands.
There’s really only two, and they actually join together into one. We would love all others, just as we love ourselves, just as Jesus loves us. And how does Jesus love us? Unconditionally, sacrificially, selflessly, giving love while expecting nothing in return.
And the second part of that command is that we go into the world making disciples for Christ. We are to go out to where the people are, not just sit here and wait for them to come to us. We are to tell them all about Jesus, about the things He did and taught, about what He means to us. This would be our way of loving others, even those who would reject us, despise us, work against us, just like they did to Jesus.
We’ve seen the signs, and not just those recorded for us in our Bible. We’ve seen the hand of God, we’ve seen the effects of Jesus on a human life. We’ve seen all we need to see so let’s stop waiting for some big miraculous sign. Let us repent, turn from our sinful ways and turn fully to God. Let us spend more time in prayer, in studying our Bible, and in introspection. And let’s get to work for Jesus. In the glorious name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, You sent Your Son Jesus to redeem us of our sin, to save us from ourselves. He gave everything for us, asking only that we follow Him and love one another. Thank You, Father, for loving us this much. Please help us avoid straying off the path of righteousness, through this Lenten season and all the days ahead. May we never forget or take for granted the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Please help us share the Good News, the Gospel message, everywhere we go so that non-believers might also be saved. In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Family, as we begin our journey into the season of Lent, the cross looms in sight just ahead, a stark reminder that we have been forgiven and shown mercy by God, even though we’ve done nothing, nor can we ever do anything, to deserve it. Our Father commands that we be forgiving and merciful, too, in our dealings with others.
God made a covenant with us and signed it with the blood of His own Son. We acknowledge our end of that covenant by our baptism and our service to our Lord Jesus. Part of that service is to repent, to turn from our sin, for Jesus called us to repentance while announcing that the kingdom of God is at hand.
To help us resist the temptation to sin, we can spend more time with God, both in prayer and by studying His word. We can also strengthen each other in our gathering together to work, play, and fellowship. Let’s use this time to better serve and obey our Lord. In the name of our Redeemer, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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