The Church’s scriptures for Ash Wednesday seem to present to us a perplexing contradiction. Consider that the Old Testament prophet Joel insists that the Lord’s people present their faith publicly: “Blow a trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the people, notify the congregation. ” Further, the Apostle Paul testifies that we are “ambassadors for Christ”—that is, public representatives to the culture concerning the identity of the Lord. Contrast both these texts with the words of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel, which seem to indicate that public presentations of the faith are unseemly and what is required for authenticity in our expressions of religious devotion is that they remain private and unseen.
