Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
Ash Wednesday occurs 40 days (not counting Sundays) before Easter and is traditionally meant to be a time of reflection and repentance leading up to Easter. It’s called Ash Wednesday because of the primarily liturgical tradition of putting ashes on people’s foreheads in the shape of the cross during services on that day. The ashes are meant to symbolize repentance, an echo of the tradition of throwing ashes over your head to show humility and sadness because of sin. When the ashes are put on the forehead, the minister says, “Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”, or “Repent, and believe the Gospel.”
That’s the start of Lent. And Lent is about remembering. And reflection. And repentance. It’s meant to be a time to focus for 40 days on the nature of the gospel, namely that Jesus was crucified for our sins. And we are meant to approach that reality which Easter marks with a spirit of humility. Traditionally, you’re supposed to “give something up” for Lent. It’s a fast for 40 days.
So why do this? Seems like a pretty outdated practice. And let’s be honest – we don’t like to fast from anything for any amount of time. So here’s a few reasons why I believe we should participate in Lent (and maybe fasting as a whole):
1. Lent reveals sin that we didn’t know was there. This is the case with all fasting. Let’s say you fast from food for a couple of days. You’re going to find yourself irritable and impatient. Let’s be clear, though – you’re not irritable because you’re hungry. The hunger has just brought to the surface these latent tendencies inside of you. So through fasting and Lent, you become aware of hidden sin lurking way, down deep.
2. Lent keeps the cross at the forefront of our minds. When you choose to go without something meaningful to you, you’re going to have alot of moments when you wish you could have it, whether it’s chocolate, meat, television, sex, or whatever else. Each and every one of those moments, you have an opportunity to think about the cross. It’s a steady and reliable reminder of the gospel and a way to ensure that we preach the gospel to ourselves every day.
3. Lent helps us be appropriately emotional about the gospel. A few years ago, I gave up meat for Lent. And every single time I saw someone eating a hamburger, I was sad. And then on Easter, when we had an 8 pound ham, I came down at 5:30 on Easter morning and ate with joy. As silly as that is, it helped me gain a small bit of sadness leading up to Good Friday and then a small measure of the great celebration of Easter Sunday.
4. Lent reminds us how reliant we are on God. You wouldn’t think that giving up sugar or caffeine for 40 days would be hard, right? But there are those moments when you’ve just got to have a Snickers. Or a coke. And in those moments, you have an opportunity to trust the Lord for the ability to say, “Wait.” It’s another way to move us (though in admittedly small ways) to remembering that we are completely reliant on God. After all, we can’t even stop drinking Mountain Dew for a season on our own.
So today is day 1. Let’s approach Easter and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus together. Mindfully.
Yes! This is the first time I’ll be honoring and participating in Lent. I’m eager to embark on this journey.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve still been a little confused on why some of the practices are in place so your post really challenged me and helped clear up some misconceptions. Thanks!
My first Lent, as well. Thanks for the post.
This is my first time as well. No Facebook or Twitter until Easter.
The gospel is saying that, what man cannot do in order to be accepted with God, this God Himself has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ. To be acceptable to God we must present to God a life of perfect and unceasing obedience to his will. The gospel declares that Jesus has done this for us. For God to be righteous he must deal with our sin. This also he has done for us in Jesus. The holy law of God was lived out perfectly for us by Christ, and its penalty was paid perfectly for us by Christ. The living and dying of Christ for us, and this alone is the basis of our acceptance with God.
Thank you guys for commenting – Hope this is a great time of reflection for you.
“A Voice Crying Out” – Thanks for this word about the gospel; great truth like this is always welcome here. I hope you don’t take my participation in Lent as a belief in anything contrary to what you’ve written. I don’t believe Lent has to be about proving ourselves to be righteous; in fact, I think it’s just the opposite – an acknowledgment of our abject need of what you’ve written about above.
I grew up in a faith that did not observe Lent, therefore, I didn’t really understand it for a very long time. This is the best explanation I have ever read. Point #4 is the one that is most meaningful to me. So…I will be observing Lent this year and trusting God to help me be faithful. Thank you for an informative and encouraging post.
I love Lent for the four reasons you listed. You explained it much better than I did when a sarcastic friend was gently mocking me for observing Lent and said, “How will not drinking Cokes bring you closer to God?”
When I give up carbonation, there is nothing like the joy I feel when I pop open that can on Easter morning. Your #3 speaks to my heart.
Wonderful post. Thanks.
My church did not observe Lent, but I had Catholic friends in high school who came to school w/ black ash crosses on their foreheads, so I had some exposure to Ash Wednesday. When I was in college in Pittsburgh, PA a Nun taught the lab of my biology class. It was a spring term and she had the ash cross on her forehead. I told her I was from a different faith tradition and asked her what Ash Wednesday meant. She told me it was Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent and Catholics went to church and during the service the priest put the ash cross on participants forehead. So I asked her, “what does this mean?” and she said, “I just told you, it’s Ash Wednesday!”
Your explanation was what I was looking for then (31 years ago).
I am amazed at how many folks on various blog sites have expressed how they are observing Lent for the first time. For me it’s my second year. I think many of us have discovered that “tradition” is not necessarily bad but can actually be a very real help to us as we seek to have our minds and lives ordered by the reality of the Gospel.
Michael,
I do not know you and I do not want to come across as mean spirited or unkind but I believe that what you are doing is not right. Please read the following from John MacArthur on Lent (you can find this and the entire transcript on the Grace to You site. Titled “Bible Questions and Answers, Part 12”.
“Lent. You know where lent came from? There’s no lent in the Bible, none. It never appears in the Bible. It had nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ. But in ancient paganism, in the instructions of Baal and Ashteroth and the deities of the ancients, it was believed that Tammuz, or Baal, he goes by a lot of different names, Cupid, many names, but that Tammuz or Baal was killed by a wild boar. And when he was killed by a wild boar, his mother Semiramis, the high priestess of Babylonian paganism, mourned for him and cried for him for 40 days and at the end of those 40 days, he was risen from the dead. So the whole concept of the 40-day mourning and going without and fasting has absolutely nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ but was an imposition on Christianity from pagan mystery religions of Babylon.”
Not only does Lent appear to be unbiblical but it has been my experience that my Catholic friends use this time as a sort of a great catholic Christian showmanship event. There is no meaning behind it whatsoever. They only do it because they think they are supposed to do it. They give up something (chewing gum, drinking Coke, etc) and as soon as the 40 days are over they immediately go back to exactly what they were doing before. In the mean time, they love to tell everyone that it’s Lent and they are giving up such and such and it is so hard, etc. I know this because I just experienced it yesterday in a meeting at my work as my co-workers talked about it and what they intended to do. It’s actually very heartbreaking.
Please carefully consider the message you are sending out. Unless of course I am mistaken and you are actually Catholic and then I guess you can do whatever you want.
I know people will disagree with me about this and that is fine; however, since you have put your post out there for everyone to read and comment then that is what I am doing. I would have preferred to send you a private message but I was not able to find a way to do that.
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George,
You would be hard pressed to find many rituals or celebrations of the church year that don’t have pagan roots.
The thing about Christianity is that we worship and adore a God who is very interested in redeeming the profane and sinful and making them sacred and holy.
Do you put up a Christmas tree or do any thing with Easter eggs? Those are common “Christian” traditions that have much more to do with pagan rituals and beliefs than anything in Scripture.
Just because something isn’t in Scripture doesn’t mean that God can’t or won’t use it for His glory. Many people find Lent to be a holy, reflective, and God-honoring season of the year. I see no reason to stop someone who is seeking to draw closer to God through Lent just because pagans centuries ago used the same time for other reasons.
And, for the record, I have never fasted anything for Lent, though I might one day.
Hi
I really enjoyed your piece about Lent. Life is such a scramble to day, that slowing down and thinking and praying about the part of our life which needs healing is a powerful thing. To set one’s mind to do that every day whether putting something in- or taking something out (ie giving up); it is a time of focussing on Jesus and what He has done for us; and what He is asing of us.
Peace be with you
Actually, the 40 days is a reflection of the 40 days that Christ was tempted in the desert after his baptism.
Almost anything that is good can be taken too far, or done in a bad way. So I don’t think the fact that some people brag about their fasts is a reason not to observe Lent. I would argue that the bragging that is unbiblical, not the fasting, because the instructions about fasting are to do it quietly, between yourself and God. Not that you have to keep it a secret, but that you shouldn’t be dramatic about it, either.
As a Lutheran Christian, thank you. Also I have heard the so called “pagan” beginning speech from other Protestants who act like I have horns coming out of my head!! the word Trinity does not appear either in the Bible however, but does that meam the Trinity does not exist? No! not at all. Oh well……
[…] and Resurrection of Jesus by D.A. Carson. I enjoyed it immensely, especially during this period of Lent. This relatively short book has five chapters, each one eyeing the scandal of the last days of […]
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