Why Lent?

Lent never seemed relavant to me. I thought of it as a Catholic thing where you gave something up for some set time period before Easter. It seemed like a not-so-fun ritual. I didn’t really know much about it.

A few years ago, I was thinking how rushed Easter is for us. The youth group does an Easter sunrise service. As youth leaders, we practice with the kids for 5-6 weeks before. We have an all-day practice the day before Easter. We are up early on Easter to be ready. After the service, we make and serve the congregation breakfast. Then when the main Easter service is going on, we clean up. We go home. We host Easter dinner, and suddenly Easter has come and gone.

At Christmas, I’ve been reading Advent devotionals through December for several years. It has helped me to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and prepare my heart. Why couldn’t I do that for Easter? I saw a devotional by A.W. Tozer called From the Grave: A 40-Day Lent Devotional (https://amzn.to/3bdUbJP)*. I like Tozer, so I decided to try it. The next year I saw that Laura Beeston who wrote The Names of Jesus Advent had one for Easter. I got that too. Today I am looking forward to starting Paul David Tripp’s Journey to the Cross: A 40-Day Lenten Devotional (https://amzn.to/37oeT8K)*. Taking the forty days leading up to Easter to reflect on why Jesus came and what He did has not only helped me prepare for Easter but has also reminded me of my need for the Gospel every day.

But why Lent? For those like me who thought Lent was just for Catholics, it actually is understood to have been a time of preparation and fasting before Easter dating back to apostolic times. It was formalized by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE making it a practice long before there was even such a thing as Catholics and Protestants.

Why forty days? It represents Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness when He fasted and then was tempted by Satan. It begins on Ash Wednesday (today), a time for repentance and prayer. At both Protestant and Catholic services or mass, the pastor or priest may use ash to make a cross on a person’s forehead representing that we came from dust and to dust we will return. Now, some of the math people may have added up the days and come up with forty-six from Ash Wednesday to the day before Easter. They would be correct. Sundays are not included. They are viewed as “little Easters” to focus on rejoicing in Jesus’ resurrection and victory over sin and death.

The idea of giving something up stems from Jesus fasting in the wilderness. Just as it was a time for Jesus to pray and fellowship with God, people give something up or fast in order to commit that time to prayer. Although Lent is not mentioned in Scripture, those principles of concentrated time with God and even fasting are throughout Scripture. The concept of idols including idols of the heart are repeatedly condemned. Lent is a time to check our hearts for those idols or anything we are placing ahead of God.

I have not given something up per say in the last few years during Lent, but I have tried to spend more time confessing my sin and meditating on Jesus coming, suffering, dying and rising again for my sin and to rejoice. I don’t want Easter to be a rushed day filled with activities (even good ones) and no real reflection on my own sin and what Jesus sacrificed for you and me. I want to let those Gospel truths saturate my heart and become part of my everyday not just the forty days of Lent. I encourage you to take more time reflecting this year too whether that is for the forty days or not, whether it involves giving something up or not. We have received the best news ever, the best gift ever. Can you take extra time between now and Easter to mourn your sin that required Jesus to come, suffer and die? Let your thanksgiving overflow all the more because you see the greatness of your sin and the brokenness in this world.

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