Ivan Kramskoy.
Le Christ au Désert. 1872.
Lent is one of two great seasons of preparation and penance, the other being Advent, which leads up to Christmas. Consisting of 40 days, excluding Sundays, Lent was traditionally a season of preparation for new converts who were to be baptised on Easter Sunday. The number of days comes from gospel accounts of Jesus’ 40 days of testing in the wilderness. Lent is generally a time for all Christians to strengthen their faith, with emphasis on prayer, fasting, acts of penance and mercy. The season begins with Ash Wednesday and concludes with the Holy Week Celebrations on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.
WHY DO CHRISTIANS OBSERVE LENT?
If the Christian calendar is an instrument for faith formation, what ought to be formed in us during Lent? Romans 6:3 says: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?” As a preparation for baptism and renewal of baptism we are called to live as those who are being baptised in Christ’s death, that being raised with him “we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).
And being raised with Christ we are to set our minds on “things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). Thus, Lent is a season to emphasise our spiritual practices, especially laying aside “every weight and the sin that clings so closely,” that we might “run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).
Lent reminds us of Jesus’ 40 days of testing in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11). Sermons may often reflect on the manner in which he was tempted to be the wrong kind of Messiah. He resisted the temptation to feed hungry stomachs without also feeding the spirit from every Word that proceeds from God. He resisted the temptation to push for miraculous acts that turned Almighty God into a mere magician, but do not conform to God’s purpose.
He stood against the kind of abuse of power that in the end promotes evil and injustice. As followers of Christ we recall not only that Jesus withstood the fiery darts of the devil, but we also are called to resist evil in whatever forms it may take (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Lent also reminds us of Jesus’ own journey to Jerusalem where a cross awaited him. In the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) we hear Jesus telling his disciples that all who follow him must also take up their cross and follow him.
Lent is a time to reflect upon and shoulder our own crosses, those particular challenges God gives us to bear the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
