Peter Espeut | Nineveh and Jamaica: time for action

As I drove home from church last Wednesday, three people I encountered asked me what happened to my forehead. “Where did you put your head?” asked the lady gas pump attendant with the pretty smile. “Were you working on a car?” joked Charlie. They did not make the link that it was Ash Wednesday, and that I had ashes on my forehead.

Of course, they had no clue what Ash Wednesday was all about, but they were happy for the public holiday.

Earlier, I had used ashes to trace a cross on the forehead of each of the congregants of St Anne’s Catholic Church in Hannah Town/Denham Town in Western Kingston, saying the words: “Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return”. Along with fasting and penance, ashes have long been associated with mourning and lamenting and repentance and penitence (Job sat in an ash-heap to consider his lamentable position). Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, observed by the older Christian churches.

A Gleaner headline last Monday reported a recent sermon by the prime minister, preaching on 1 Timothy 2:1-4: “Holness: Use Lenten season to pray for Jamaica” ( The Gleaner of February 12). PM Holness made the appeal during a prayer session last Monday with members of the Cabinet and the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches at the Office of the Prime Minister.

I could not help but think of the prophet Jonah, sent by God to warn the pagan people of Nineveh that if they did not repent of their wicked ways, their city would be overcome.

“‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown’. The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust” (Jonah 3:4-6).

Donning unfashionable sackcloth (‘crocus bag’, which itches the skin) and ashes has long been the outward sign of admission of sin, and resolution to repent and sin no more.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Jesus in Matthew 11:21).

QUICKER TO REPENT

Jesus declares that the pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon will be quicker to repent than the Jewish towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida! Even pagan Nineveh listened to the prophet sent by Yahweh. But will the Christian nations listen and repent at all?!

After his Baptism, Jesus spent forty days in the desert fasting and praying. He was tempted by the evil one with the same temptations that entice modern-day humans: pleasure, possessions and power. Giving in to these temptations are both personal and national failings. Sex crimes, using others for personal pleasure and advantage, eating disorders, drunkedness, drug abuse, greed, covetousness, larceny, pollution, deforestation, fraud, ballot-stuffing, vote-buying, political corruption, favouritism, victimisation are all the result of selfish personal and political choices against balance and the common good. Failure to admit these failings will lead to personal and national tragedy. A change of personal and nation direction is required.

And that is what Ash Wednesday and Lent are all about: an annual catharsis, repurposing and renewal.

On both the personal and national level, firm self-discipline is required. For Christians these are summarised by fasting, almsgiving and prayer (see Matthew 6:1-8).

The passions of the body can sometimes overcome common sense. Some of us cannot control our bodily urges. Fasting is a deliberate denial of food and drink to the body in the face of the persistent urges of hunger and thirst. Faithfulness in marriage does the same thing. The ability to deny satisfaction of these strong passions is what self-discipline is all about.

MANY CULTURES

Many cultures know this very well. Muslims observe Ramadan, which is all about fasting between sunrise and sunset for a whole month. Jews often proclaim a fast (See Joel 2:12-18). The followers of Alexander Bedward were urged to fast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Christianity is an action religion, calling for intense fasting during the season of Lent, usually on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Many of us have an inordinate attachment to material things. It used to be “the Volvo, the video and the visa”. Today it may well be the smartphone, the Clarks and the Gucci. Whatever, they represent the love of money. Contrary to popular sentiment, our characters are defined, not by what we have but by who we are, and what we stand for. The only way to demonstrate that we love people more than money is to give away some of our possessions – until it hurts. This is called almsgiving.

And when we give we are not to let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.

The natural tendency is to hoard possessions, and to self-aggrandise at any cost, sometimes stealing from our workplaces, from the general public, and from the natural environment. Almsgiving is denial of our in-built gravaliciousness. If we habitually forget, attention to Lenten discipline will remind us.

Sometimes we think we are in control, and we don’t need God; we are drunk with the power we think we have. Secularism – and indeed anti-religious sentiment – is growing in Jamaica and elsewhere, as we in our hubris believe that science and technology can do all things. Genuine prayer – not a wanty-wanty beggy-beggy litany of self-interested requests – puts us in our place as being totally dependent upon God. Prayer is an important daily activity, but is an essential Lenten discipline to restore the right relationship with the boss. That is why I appreciate the exhortation by PM Holness earlier this week.

Each of us needs Lent. And so does Jamaica. There are many Jonahs calling upon Jamaicans to change direction, calling upon the Jamaican state to rededicate itself to serve the common good, rather than special interests.

We all need to become more accustomed to ashes on our bodies, and with self-discipline and self-sacrifice, as we seek to transform or young nation into the place of choice to live, work, do business, and raise families.

A holy and fruitful Lent to all of you!

Peter Espeut is a development scientist and Roman Catholic deacon. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com