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 Did
you ever wear a starchy feed- sack shirt? (I mean a real one,
not the store- bought kind you see now-a- days.) Scratchy,
ain’t they? Can’t you just imagine one made out of tow -
sack? (Grass-sack, for some of us.) Well, wearing sackcloth had
a special meaning at one time.
King
Ahab, stirred by Jezebel, was an evil man. But when Elijah told
him the dogs would eat Jezebel, he “rent his clothes, and put
sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and
went softly.” And God said, “because he humbleth himself
before me” judgement upon his house will be postponed. (1 Kng.
21:27-29)
When
Mordicai wished to mourn the plight of the Jews, he “put on
sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city,
and cried with a bitter cry.” (Esth. 4: 1-f)
Then,
in Nineveh, when the people heard the prophet foretell their
doom they “proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth;” and
Jesus said “they repented at the preaching of Jonas.” (Matt.
12:41)
Humility
(of self-censure), mourning, submissiveness, and the like are
graphically represented in this early wearing of “sackcloth
and ashes.” It said clearly, “I am nothing — my former
robes of purple (Isa. 37:1) were but tents of pride — I need
help.” Little wonder such conduct was associated with repentance
— and Christ could say of Tyre and Sidon, “they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matt. 11:21)
Abject humility, while not “repentance,” is certainly an
essential ingredient. We wonder if the whole of
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“sackcloth and ashes” should not
also be included?
It
is not the symbol itself to which we refer. We suspect many
would wear the sack, who had not yet put on the things for which
it stood. But when we see the casual way in which repentance is
treated — a sort of academic pause between faith and baptism
— there is little resemblance to the spirit of “sackcloth
and ashes.” The substance should far surpass the shadow —
must do so if it is real. Do you see such “fruits meet for
repentance” today? (Note Matt. 4:8)
Years
ago a young lady came forward, wanting to be baptized. I said
something about the joy she must feel in knowing that her sins
could be washed away; and she looked at me in astonishment. “Sins??”
She seemed shocked that I would suggest such a thing. That is
“sackcloth and ashes”? A backsliding saint is encouraged to
“make correction”. His situation is an embarrassing one, and
makes for a “sticky situation” among friends, so he “comes
back to the church,” or he “makes acknowledgement” to
the church This is “sackcloth and ashes” before the
Lord?? Are we kidding ourselves?
Our
inability to see and judge the heart of man should
provoke charity; and I am aware that external signs and symbols
may be most hypocritical. This article is completely
misunderstood if you think I am calling for “demonstrations”
of repentance. But I challenge you to consider the lesson
contained in the ancient “sackcloth and ashes” and apply it
to your life.
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