Yesterday was “Fat Tuesday,” “Mardi Gras” in French, referring to the last day the faithful are allowed to eat richer foods before the beginning of the observance of Lent the following day. It’s disturbing to me that Mardi Gras gets so much more press as it plummets ever deeper into debauchery, while Lent is almost completely forgotten. Don’t get me wrong. Christians should be the happiest, most celebrative people on earth. They know where all their material and spiritual blessings have come from and should be moved on occasion to raise up a joyous storm of praise to their good God and feast on his material blessings in his name. Carnival, which means “farewell to meat” has come to mean “hello to the flesh”—very tragic for our culture.
Lent literally means “lengthening,” referring to spring time, when the light of each succeeding day lengthens. For many pre-modern cultures this period is called “the hungry gap.” It was the time when last year’s harvest was about to give out and planting for the new harvest was about to begin. Its purpose among professing Christians is to prepare for the celebration of the key events in history upon which our faith depends—the crucifixion and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Lent directs us how to prepare.
The first day of Lent, called Ash Wednesday, is traditionally the time to begin a period of personal examination, confession of sin, and a deep turning of the heart toward all God has done for us in his Son. Dust and ashes are the biblical symbols for true sorrow for sin and the desire to repent, to turn from sin to God’s mercy and restoration (See Jonah 3:6 as a great example).
The Lenten season extends this period 40 days, not counting Sundays. The number forty has many Biblical references all of which deal with testing:
Ø God made it rain for forty days and forty nights in the days of Noah as His mode of judgment upon the entire world (Genesis 7:4);
Ø Moses spent forty days in the very presence of God on Mount Sinai receiving his holy law, (Exodus 24:18);
Ø discouraged and shaken to the core Elijah spent forty days and nights on his way to Mount Horeb, where God met him in a whisper and assured him of his saving power (1 Kings 19);
Ø Israel wondered forty years traveling to the Land God promised to Abraham, while God tested them to find out what was in their hearts (Numbers 14:33);
Ø Jonah, after being tested himself preached in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days in which to repent (Jonah 3:4 ).
The most biblically memorable period of testing is the time that Jesus, after God his Father affirmed him as his only begotten Son baptized him with the Holy Spirit, he retreated into the wilderness, where He fasted for forty days. There the devil met Him and tempted Him, trying to get him to doubt his identity and derail him from his mission. (Matthew 4:1-2, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-2). Jesus overcame all three of Satan's temptations by citing Scripture. Thus, having defeated the adversary, he begins his earthly ministry which he completed on the cross. His finished work for our redemption was confirmed by God raising him from the dead. And for forty more days he “proved” to a significant number of eye witnesses that his risen body could walk, talk, eat, drink and be touched.
Our Savior assumed that his followers would pray and fast "when the bridegroom shall be taken from them" (Matthew 9:15). So the tradition of giving up something for Lent has its roots in the Gospels.
But the purpose of the fast is not intended to lead us only to depravation, but to fullness. We fast in anticipation of greater spiritual intimacy with the Lord Jesus as we repent of all that is preventing that sense of his nearness and impeding greater spiritual fruit. Those who fast well describe the benefits as a banquet feast. The psalmist exclaims, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound (Psalm 4:7 ).
So you see Lent is more that giving up candy or coffee till Easter. It is the opportunity to seek the Lord, to pull our hearts away from the secondary that we’ve made primary, and pull us into the Life that is truly Life, secured for us by that cross and that empty tomb.
May your Lenten season transport you to deeper riches in Christ, that you may bear fruit that lasts into eternity.
Pastor Tim
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