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“Is there an NT equivalent for sackcloth and ashes? If so, how should we practice it?”

The expression “sackcloth and ashes” occurs in only three Old Testament passages in precisely that form. In another two places both words appear in the same context separately. Both words are common in the OT, and both were well-known signs of public mourning. The mourner would wear the sackcloth and sit (or sometimes roll) in the ashes, and/or sprinkle them on his head.

Fun? Not really. But in ancient times, if you were in distress and wanted your neighbors to know it, that’s the way you told them. Sackcloth and ashes.

Something Seriously Wrong

Both the circumstances and the reasons might differ. Amnon had raped Tamar, so she put ashes on her head, tore her garment and went out crying. The king of Nineveh wore sackcloth and sat in ashes to demonstrate his repentance. David ordered Joab and his men to rend their clothes, gird themselves with sackcloth and mourn the murdered Abner. Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the city when Haman published his genocidal plot against the Jews.

An innocent victim of a terrible crime, a guilty sinner, mourners of the dead and a man under the sentence of death; different reasons, but all showing their grief to the world and to God. Notice that two of these mourners were not in Israel. One was a foreign king. Sackcloth and ashes communicated to Assyrians, Medes and Persians as clearly and unequivocally as it communicated to Israelites. It was universal, and it said, “Something is seriously wrong here.”

Tradition, Not Command

The fact that the practice was common across the world of its day tells us something else: wearing sackcloth and ashes was traditional. It did not originate with the Law of Moses. In fact, God did not command it at all. It was simply something people did. Everyone copied everyone else or worse, tried to outdo them. We might say David, Mordecai or Job set us an example by grieving as they did, but they also set us an example with no real Divine authority.

The closest we might come to a command is Isaiah, who prophesied of a day in which the Lord God would call for weeping, mourning and sackcloth. Numerous prophets say similar things to Israel and Judah. For example, Jeremiah framed his prophecies as commands to “gird yourselves with sackcloth and wallow in ashes”, but these were more descriptive than prescriptive. It was not national repentance but the culture of the day that ensured his predictions came true. There’s no doubt many Jews donned sackcloth and covered themselves with ashes without experiencing any real repentance at all.

Mass Virtue Signaling

Today, we would call most of this virtue signaling. It was just a lot of cultural noise. This is Isaiah’s complaint toward the end of the book, and it’s why I don’t believe even the prophetic commands to don sackcloth and ashes were intended to be taken merely literally. God was always looking for something more. So Isaiah writes:

“Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?”

Acceptable to the Lord? Not at all. These questions are rhetorical, and the intended answer is “No.” Faux repentance gave the Lord no pleasure. Here’s what he was actually looking for:

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Indeed. The Lord knows the heart. He was not interested in the sort of performance art that any unhappy Gentile nation might engage in. He was interested in actions that proved the grief of his people was real. He wanted to see them stop their evil practices and start doing good. That’s mourning that matters.

So then, not only was sackcloth and ashes not commanded by Moses, but God found it quite unsatisfactory. Public mourning did nothing for the sinner but magnify his sin.

Real Mourning

Now, that’s not to say real mourning has no value. “Blessed are those who mourn,” said the Lord Jesus, “for they shall be comforted.” However, he insisted his Jewish disciples mourn and fast in a very different way from their pagan neighbors:

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

In other words, get rid of the sackcloth and ashes. It serves no purpose. Your Father knows when your heart is in the right place. He doesn’t need the visual cues, and you will simply be tempted to show off.

You May Not Grieve as Others

Paul takes up this theme with the Thessalonians concerning their own dead loved ones. He writes, “that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope”. No matter the reason, Christian mourning is different from Jewish mourning or pagan mourning. Jews mourned because the future of the dead was unclear to them. God had yet to fully reveal what he had in mind for the believer. Gentiles mourned in the complete absence of knowledge about what comes after we go into the ground. But Christians had direct revelation from God of a future in the Father’s house for eternity. What’s to wear sackcloth and ashes over? Sure, we weep with those who weep, but we do not fall apart with those who fall apart or despair with those who despair. Our mourning is different.

Even mourning over sin is different for Christians. Paul tells the Corinthians, “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” The Christian sins, confesses to God, is forgiven and moves on, hopefully not to continue in the same path. He does not agonize or beat himself up in hope of getting forgiveness; he receives it from his Father just for the asking because he has a beloved intercessor in the person of Jesus Christ who asks on his behalf, and the assurance that God will never cast him away.

So, no, there is no New Testament equivalent for sackcloth and ashes. We have a better way.