The Journey of Recovery - Ash Wednesday
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
February 18, 2026
Let’s remember who Jesus is talking to today. Jesus is
talking to the crowds that he healed of every disease and struggle who have now
followed him to a place where he sits down to teach them. These are people who
have known adversity, delay, and life’s pain. Like us. Rather than heal them
and then just shuffle them off with “goodbye and good luck,” he sits down to
lead them into strength and hope for the future that is just a glimmer today.
It’s not unlike if you have been injured or had surgery and now you are on the
other side of that, but you are now on the journey of recovery. It’s not unlike
the people of Israel who were freed from captivity but received God’s law so
that they could learn and grow in how to handle freedom. After blessing the
people and telling them to be salt and light, Jesus now goes deeper, asking
them to consider how to live out relationships now, and how to keep living in
this way. He has talked to them about how they handle anger, what harm looks
like, how to avoid unfaithfulness, breaking promises, retaliating against each
other. All aspects of what loving looks like for both those we easily love back
and those we definitely don’t. Don’t just love those who love you.
All of that is the backdrop to where Jesus heads with us
today in a gospel that we today say focuses upon the disciplines of Lent-
prayer, giving to God and others and fasting. The first thing to notice in this
passage is Jesus is very clear to each person hearing these words- don’t make
this be about you. This life is for you, but it is not about you. Jesus repeats
as he speaks of prayer, giving and fasting, step away from all the rest of the
world and sit with God “in secret.” All by yourself. Just you and God. If we
are looking outward, we are not looking to God. And Lent is a time when we are
called to step away and sit with God with what we would rather avoid.
Some of us are old enough to remember when churches often
focused upon who were the “Big Givers” as though giving to God’s mission was
transactional. Or maybe you were led to believe that only the pros say the
prayers and that the rest of us just don’t really know how. As much as we step
away from what “I” do, God wants us to step away from the other dominant
thought which is what “I can’t” do. If we step away, we can wrestle with
whatever in our lives feels like we have to show others. Why DO I do what I do?
Who am I without those things? If you get turned off by the performative things
we all sometimes see in the world, me too.
If on the other hand, you get overwhelmed by thinking
people must see us “perform,” also me too. The second thing in the gospel I
notice is that word “whenever.” Jesus speaks about whenever you pray or give or
fast. And this assumes that we regularly do this. Remember Jesus is speaking to
those who had just been healed who may not have been able to go to the
synagogue to pray or may not have had the resources to fast or give because
their illness and struggles had cut them off, or they were just getting by.
Some of us have known these times. And others of us may feel so overwhelmed by
the demands of the rest of life that we get weary and distracted until
“Whenever” becomes more like “when?” “Ever?”
Again, we are encouraged to step away and sit with God.
Do not assume the worst of yourselves or others. Jesus reveals a God of healing
and grace, a loving parent who would far rather have us come and say, “I just
don’t know what to say.” Which, by the way, is a prayer. Maybe you need to say,
“Lord, I just lose sight of it all.” Or “Some days I’ve got nothing left to
give.” Sit with God in the sighs and the whys. Sometimes God may ask “is it can
not or will not?”
Maybe see that the idea of fasting is taking a break from
things that you can set down that overwhelm and captivate you. Or things that
lure you into ignoring others and just being self-indulgent. In truth we all
know, myself included, that not everything we swear we need and cannot part
from really is that vital. And for those seasons where it really is so very
heavy, sit with God whose Spirit sighs with you and says, “I know and you are
not alone.” Maybe this is the step in recovery you need.
All these things create a clean heart and renew our
spirit. The journey into Lent is taking on a discipline to listen to what will
heal and restore us. If you have never thought about it, see it as the journey
of recovery that it is.
This is exactly the place where the God who loves us is
seeking to meet us and lead us in a journey of restoration and ultimately at
Easter, the joy of resurrection.
For today, Jesus saying “Beware” is a way of saying “I’m
looking out for you because I love you.” God knows this world can be full of
mess and injury and hurt and confusion. In those times the hardest first step is
to step away. We can lament and reflect believing God wants us to know hope.
True hope takes honesty. And we cannot reach where Jesus
is leading by seeking the detours and distractions. Remember Jesus embodies
God’s desire to seek us and heal us and love us and then equip us to live.
Between the dust from which we came and the dust to which we return is life. Remember
too that we are not asked to hurry up and move on, or paper over the shock of
this world. God wants us to do more than numb pains or dispense shallow
platitudes to each other. Jesus wants us to sit with him so he can offer a
durable and trustworthy faith that makes room for our messy stories, broken
hearts and scarred bodies. Ashes and loss and disruption will still exist, but
the journey of healing and recovery God desires is to move us into joy. [1] Again and again. And so, with this good news, let us journey together into
God’s shalom, wholeness and freedom, by claiming this time as a season of
recovery and hope so that this life ripples out to those around us longing for
a Savior too. And the journey starts now. Amen.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2026 All rights reserved. May
not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
[1] Dr. Michael J. Chan, Church Anew
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
(Jesus said:) 1 “Beware of practicing
your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have
no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So whenever you give
alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues
and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you,
they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father
who sees in secret will reward you. 5 “And when-ever you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the
synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly
I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your
room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your
Father who sees in secret will reward you. 16 “And when-ever you fast,
do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show
others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their
reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your
head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not
by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you.19 “Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves
break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break
in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.”
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