The Mark of The Christ

The Mark of the Christ
Amidst all the talk of my sin and the imposition of the black, ash cross upon my forehead, I could barely hold in the tears. I wasn't really broken over my sin like I thought I should be. I kept trying to replay all the sins I had committed over the last few days, especially the bigger ones, so that I could make myself feel as bad as I thought I was supposed to. It just didn't work. Instead of wearing the cross like a sort of scarlett letter announcing my sin, for me, the cross on my forehead was a mark of Christ's love for me. As the Israelites marked their doorposts so that the angel of death would pass over their houses, the ash cross was, for me, a sign that I have been spared. God's mercy overwhelmed any feeling of guilt that I thought I should have been experiencing.
We see a different view of Jesus with each of the seasons of the Christian year. In epiphany, the season we have just left, I believe we climbed the mountain to see the heights of Christ's love, the Light of the World that has come down into darkness. In Lent, we climb down from that mountain into the valley to witness the depths of that same love. Today, Ash Wednesday, our foreheads are marked with the depths of Christ's love for us.