Ash Wednesday is considered the threshold into which we enter the season of Lent. The focus of Ash Wednesday and Lent appears to be the call to individual followers of Jesus to “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and mourning.”

Look down from heaven and take notice, from your holy, majestic palace! Where are your zeal[a] and power? Do not hold back your tender compassion![b]

63 Who is this who comes from Edom,[a] dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah?[b] Who[c] is this one wearing royal attire,[d] who marches confidently[e] because of his great strength? “It is I, the one who announces vindication, and who is able to deliver!”[f]

8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

62 For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines brightly[a] and her deliverance burns like a torch.

61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen[a] me.[b] He has commissioned[c] me to encourage[d] the poor, to help[e] the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners,

60 “Arise! Shine! For your light arrives! The splendor[a] of the Lord shines on you! 2 For, look, darkness covers the earth and deep darkness covers[b] the nations, but the Lord shines on you; his splendor[c] appears over you.

16 He sees there is no advocate;[a] he is shocked[b] that no one intervenes. So he takes matters into his own hands;[c] his desire for justice drives him on.[d] 17 He wears his desire for justice[e] like body armor,[f]