We could look to the time of Lent as traditional activities representing the death of Christ plus His resurrection, and return. This year, the 2018 Lenten Season began on February 14th – Valentines' day. For Lent that day is called Ash Wednesday and people, worldwide, gave up certain foods or habits to improve their health or demonstrate self-restraint to grow closer to God.
Lent, for many people, is a serious, earnestly religious observance. In the Christian liturgical calendar, Lent always begins on Ash Wednesday and ends some six weeks later just before Easter Sunday. The purpose of Lenten rituals are to prepare believers for a sincere celebration of Easter by initially placing the mark of Christ on their foreheads, then entering into a season of prayer, penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, and forms of self-denial exhibited by forgoing certain pleasures of foods, treats or alcoholic spirits.
Lent can seem mystifyingly strange to Christians and to the non-Christian. Some consider Lent as a time when all kinds of weird religious “stuff” happens while few understand or can explain the New Testament basis for Lent. Unless you are Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, or Roman Catholic, Lent may be as much as an enigma to you as it is to the unsaved. The unschooled might consider all aspects of Lent nullified like some fanatical pagan rituals done way back in the Middle Ages?
In truth, Lent can be said to be representative of Jesus' sojourn in the wilderness where He fasted to be nearer to God. Fasting or giving something up during Lent is a Catholic custom but Protestants and non-believers also take part. Catholics, represent 61%, of the religious groups most likely to observe Lent, according to LifeWay’s survey. Protestants and those with evangelical beliefs observe Lent at 20 and 28 percent respectively. In general, 43% of those attending church at least once a month observe Lent.
It is certainly true that fasting is a biblical discipline that can be defended from both the Old and the New Testament books. Jesus himself was questioned about fasting. Matthew chapter 9, verses 14 and 15 tells us: Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Matthew chapter 6, verses 16 to 18, lets us know that fasting should not be a public declaration. Fasting is something to be done in private – without a lot of fanfare or boasting. Fasting is to be seen only by God. “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Some claim the Ash Wednesday's practice of marking one's forehead with soot has biblical support as evidenced by many Old Testament Books. Granted, putting ashes on one's head was a common Old Testament embodiment and symbolic of being 'one with Christ'. By having the sign of the cross made with ashes on their foreheads, some Catholics, long with a lessor number of Protestants, mourn Christ's suffering on the cross and, somehow, equate this to their own sins.
But is that smudged marking necessary or even a correct practice to do today? You can decide yourself after hearing all the facts. Yes, most Catholics still mark their forehead on Ash Wednesday. Yes, it is often a rudimentary smudge resembling a cross – and not the Mark of the Beast as some atheists try to argue. However, do you think these Old Testament sanctioned markings are in keeping with the very words, directly spoken, from the lips of Jesus? No, I see no New Testament verse directing us to mark ourselves as such, or have any priest mark us up with soot or any other element. I would caution anyone against that particular practice of the Lenten season.
Abstinence from certain foods is also a Biblically based discipline. In Daniel 10:2-3 we read, "In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks." Catholics (and others) practice fasting and abstinence as a commemoration of Christ. On all Lenten Fridays, they are not to consume any meat except they are allowed to eat is fish. This seems more like rules rather than willing, independent, decisions of expressing faith. What say, you?
Lent is seen as a time of preparation for Easter. Fasting as a form of spiritual discipline – a practice that dates back to the early church. Lent traditionally lasts for 40 days (excluding Sundays), a time frame established by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. Fasting may be reminiscent of Moses who spent 40 days without food or water on Mount Sinai before he received the Law (Exodus 24:18 and 34:28).
Another 40 day fasting happened to Elijah as found in 1st Kings 19:8: Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel[a] touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel[b] of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
Both those fasts and Jesus’ fast were miraculous events, because no man can go 40 days without food or water, especially if they were physically active and traveling on foot. Modern-day Lent's 40 day period is calculated without including Sundays. If they were counted it would be 46 days.
This duration of Lent reflects how long Jesus fasted and suffered. This was right after his Baptism as he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. There, as we all know, Satan tried to tempt Jesus but each time, with Biblical adroitness, Jesus refused to fall prey to temptation. Moreover, as we will learn, he even turned Satan's deliberate and contrived misuse of the Bible into teaching sessions, not to benefit Satan, for our enlightenment.
Satan first tempted the hunger of Christ. Matthew 4:3-4, “And the tempter came and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' 4 But Jesus answered quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
Satan also wanted to trick Jesus into testing God's abilities. Luke 4:9-12, “and he led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "if you are the son of god, throw yourself down from here; 10 for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you,' 11 and, 'on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " 12 and Jesus answered and said to him, "it is said, 'you shall not put the lord your god to the test.' " Satan referenced Psalm 91:11-12 and Jesus replied with Deuteronomy 6:16.
Satan tempted with unmatched wealth and power. Matthew 4:8-10, Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all the wonderful things in them. 9 The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Get away from me, Satan! The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God. Serve only him!’” There, Jesus most likely referred back to Deuteronomy 6:13: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Some say that Jesus deliberately to engaged Satan in this conflict, but far more believe that He went there to commune with the Father so that He would be clear regarding His earthly calling.
No doubt Satan, on that momentous Palm Sunday week, was contemplating the funeral of Jesus but would soon discover that Jesus didn't deal in funerals, he dealt with resurrection(s). As Jesus entered into Jerusalem men, women and children, with an air of excitement, cast their clothes and branches before Christ. With outcries of adoration, praise, and joy, the thunderous “Hosannas! and “Hallelujahs” lifted the very fronds of the palm trees. But even those doting crowds did not have a full understanding of why Jesus was riding, humbly, on a young borrowed donkey or what earth-shaking outcomes would result.
We find that the events of that week with his death, burial, and resurrection were the glorious culmination of his days on earth prior to His ascension to Heaven. Hebrews 9:24-28 (ERV) will amplify that message: Christ went into the Most Holy Place. But it was not the man-made one, which is only a copy of the real one. He went into heaven, and he is there now before God to help us.
25 The high priest enters the Most Holy Place once every year. He takes with him blood to offer. But he does not offer his own blood like Christ did. Christ went into heaven, but not to offer himself many times like the high priest offers blood again and again. 26 If Christ had offered himself many times, he would have needed to suffer many times since the time the world was made. But he came to offer himself only once. And that once is enough for all time. He came at a time when the world is nearing an end. He came to take away all sin by offering himself as a sacrifice.
27 Everyone must die once. Then they are judged. 28 So Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And he will come a second time, but not to offer himself for sin. He will come the second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him..
The cross continues to be a reminder and focus of Jesus' earthly mission. From his birth to the time of his death, most 1st Century people failed to understand the purpose of Jesus. Many still misunderstand! At the very beginning, Herod feared that Jesus had arrived for the purpose of replacing him as king. The result was a massacre of infant boys across the land. Because Herod refused to see the grace of God that was embodied in Jesus, tremendous suffering and agony resulted.
Even in today's world many fear that Jesus will take over in their lives. It is difficult to understand this, but they have, wittingly or unwittingly, aligned themselves with Lucifer. They resent the idea that they must, in humility, submit themselves to Jesus. When Christians attempt to witness and to impact this unsaved society, these modern sinners strike out with words and violence against the true Word of Christ.
I'm reminded of a story, of many years ago. An Asian teacher was given a powerful microscope by an evangelical missionary. The teacher was fascinated. By increasing powers of magnification, that instrument soon showed amazing beauty and detail on typical, everyday specimens. He thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the wondrous things normally too small to be seen – until one day he examined multiple grains of rice, the most common food source. Much to his consternation, tiny organisms were discovered writhing and wiggling all over the grains. He could not stand to look at the horde of crawling creatures. The thought of these flyspeck-size vermin cooked into his food was upsetting to say the least. What could he do? Finally, he decided his dilemma could be only be concluded one way: Rather than altogether giving up rice, it was more simplistic to destroy the microscope. Which he did – problem solved!
As foolish as that may sound, it's a representative action of a method people of today employ; they deny the true problem and refuse to see the true solution. These are the people who view Jesus (and what they mistake as hard to live-by rules) as an impediment to their earthly greed and sinful lusts. Unfortunately, many fail to understand that his reason to be on this earth was to be the sacrificial Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Without God's grace, the blood of Christ, and your faith there is nothing left but Satan's eternity of pain and hopelessness.
As Jesus public ministry grew ever outward, He demonstrated kindness and compassion by healing some with physical needs. He befriended and instructing even those whose minds were hardened around the Mosaic Laws. The Pharisees and religious saw Jesus through the green-eyed monster of envy plus fearfulness and rejection. Once again, mankind, failed to see the grace of God embodied in Jesus Christ.
Instead of enjoying the forgiveness and empowerment of the Son of God they chose to be in bondage under the old laws. Many false religions nowadays offer the same dismal choices. Some “gospel” preached from pulpits today is not sacred inspiration at all. Paul warned of Satan’s deception through deceiving or misguided teachers and false gospel in Galatians 1:6-10. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
In spite of Paul spoken wisdom, others clamored after Jesus, seeing the extraordinary miracles that he did, many did not realize the greatness of his teaching. These types were willing to go along with him as long as they benefited. As long as there was no demands made to change their lifestyle. Some of them were comfortably involved with their lives. Others thronged full tilt into the new era of Christ's teachings with great initial enthusiasm but soon lost the reverent fever, became complacent and fell back into old habits. The church of Laodicea comes to mind as do more than a handful of today's churches.
So, if we choose to change by way of initiating brand-new good habits or shedding old bad habits during lent, are those practices that Protestants should do? What are your thoughts?
If more Protestant Churches emphasized the Godly facets of Lent, would that not be good? Would we be more fervent with our worship of Jesus? Would we be reminded more often of His sacrifice? Do we invite him to be the king of our lives? Do we gladly give him priority in our decisions and pattern our behavior in accord with His principles? If not, are we any better than the Pharisees and nay-Sayers we previously considered?
Are we like those who feigned an insincere interest in Christ in order better their own self-interests? Are we like the Pharisees who would have welcomed Jesus if he had just not interfered with their religion. Are we like the self-seekers who gladly enjoyed the benefits of Christ as long as they didn't have to proclaim him as their spiritual Messiah or as the Son of God who deserved to rule completely over their lives?
Our answers to those questions reveal the extent of our understanding of how much and how frequently we should appreciate Christ's suffering sacrifice for our sin. Jesus gave his all for us! Therefore, I feel, it would be gracious of us to fast, abstain, and/or change some old habits. Even today, if we take an honest appraisal, our abundance goes well beyond our actual needs. Not that we need verification of this but lets read what Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians (Chapter 4). Paul stated, "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." God's supply of grace is all we need.
His brutal beatings, death, burial, and resurrection initiated and opened our only path to salvation. It is because Jesus came here on earth that you and I have good standing before God. That good standing is kept secure by the intercessions of Jesus. The season of Lent could be used as a good reminder of all this.
The Protestant's challenge of Lent is to learn to focus more on less. We should try to shed as must strife of worldly things as possible. With all our labor and time-saving devices – why are we overly flooded by our modern culture? How much of our time is consumed with this tsunami of unimportant information streaming and screaming from televisions, radios, tweets, Facebook, or Twitter. Even our cellphones and email providers spam pesky, interrupting messages. Because of these ever increasingly complexities, Lent may be a good time to focus more on our Lord.
In pure Christian terms, is this really why we should consider changing bad habits or giving up disjunctive things for Lent? Catholics have approached this far better than most. However, Christians are exploring the benefits of Lent as well. Giving up some of the more mundane things, that are regular parts of our lives, allows time for more religious focus. For the “Practicing Christian” more time should be spent in worship and God-loving reflection of the prices paid for our salvation. So any devotional time spent during Lent could result in more peaceful simplicity.
Most Protestant's reject Lenten practices as being too “Catholic” or, as said before, just too weird. Is it possible that more fasting, prayer, or acts of charity might move us to more righteousness? Not only more thoughts of loving God but also more consideration towards loving our neighbors and enemies?
Sometimes it can be amazing to see people trying every possible way to exercise or preserve their body while avoiding or not seeking the Holy Trinity. Unlike conditions of decay all humans suffer, Jesus will usher us into eternity with a glorified, immortal body. The trying conditions and ailments we now endure will be replaced with more joy and happiness than we can imagine.
Jesus endured his suffering on earth so we could relish the love of God and forgiveness of sin in our lives. His confronting the cross was the confirmation of salvation offered. The reappearance and the ensuing battles of Jesus and angels will be the culmination of God's plan. While we await that completion, a little spare time spent observing and practicing our self-determined Lent sacrifices are surely small considerations that could be freely offered.
For our future joy was set before Him in his torment and undeserved death at the cross. But God and the Holy Spirit, in their infinite wisdom, saw the happy endings that would result from Christ's agonies at Calvary.
I believe there is a clear case for stating Lent is not providentially mandatory. The public practice of marking your forehead on Ash Wednesday was specifically addressed as a negative by Jesus. What foods and treats we wish to forfeit may have more effect on our heath, or perchance our waistlines, than any consequence of salvation.
On the other hand, forgoing bad habits and developing good habits would also be commendable. Prayers and private times spent coming closer to our Lord that we might practice during the Lenten season should be accomplished privately, not publicly. These Christian reflections can be refreshing and enduring acts of submissive worship.
So my final words on this subject are that the rules, regulations, and rituals of Lent are not Christian yokes or even traditional Jewish acts of servitude that must be borne by Protestants. Any and all acts of our inadequately frail love and worship directed towards the Holy trinity should come from our hearts. Never delegated to a mere forty days of Lent nor lessor number of days surrounding Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Lent's rituals are not a Protestant's yoke to bear. However, a few genuine kernels of Lent are righteous, like thinking more about God, praising Him more, repenting, and refreshing our spiritual batteries. Those Christian founded goals should be considered, practiced, and acted upon every single day of our lives. Not just when the Lenten season springs anew.
We share in the loving arms of Jesus that surrounds us every day.
Through His all-embracing, all-protective yoke, God's grace and mercy flows.
