Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, a Holy Day that kicks off the 40 day Lenten season. Sadly, the evangelical church in America has tended to overlook both Ash Wednesday and Lent in their celebration of the church year. Christmas and Easter always seem to draw the most attention from the evangelical community, and with good reason. On those days we celebrate the birth and re-birth of Christ. We remember Jesus’ birth to Mary on Christmas and we remember his victory over death when he emerged triumphant from the tomb on that first Easter.

However, the reality is that the Christian faith is not a twice-a-year celebration, but a 365 day journey, year after year. As Christians, what we do between Christmas and Easter is vitally important to our spiritual welfare. The Lenten season is a significant chunk, forty days worth, of that yearly journey. It is during this time that the Christian community has long called its people back to God.

We’re not quite sure when the practice of Lent actually started, but we do know that the practice of Lent is subscribed in the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, a non-canonical work probably compiled around 350 (though the original sources are likely much older). Regardless of when the practice of Lent started, however, we know that the early church soon adopted the Lenten season as a significant season of the church year. Reflecting Jesus’ forty days spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, early believers used Lent as a time of refocusing on their relationship with God. Christians and catechumens (that is novitiates of the faith) would spend the forty days fasting, praying and carrying out acts of charity.

On Easter Sunday, the Christians and catechumens would gather at a river or lake and have a giant baptism service. Each catechumen would be stripped of his or her clothes and enter the water naked (yes, they held separate services for each gender). Symbolically buried with Christ, the catechumens would be raised from the dead and come ashore. There, fellow Christians would clothe them in a white robe and give them milk and honey to eat. The robe symbolized their new purity in Christ, whilst the food symbolized the promised land–eternity in Heaven. After the baptism service, the catechumens would join the Christians in worship, culminating in their first participation of the communion feast.

Through the centuries following, the act of prayer, penance, and charitable acts has continued to be the cornerstone of the Christian Church’s observance of Lent. Today, many people give up something for Lent–usually something that is blocking their relationship with Christ. For example, a teenage boy might give up video games. Then, during that time when he would ordinarily be playing video games, the boy would spend time in prayer and meditation. With the extra hours of free time, the boy might volunteer at the local homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Such is but one contemporary example of how the Lenten season continues to be lived out today.

Now, you are probably saying, "thanks for the history lesson, but so what?" Let us now turn to scripture to look at three passages that will inform us how to live and worship during this Lenten season.

Before we jump to Jesus’ time in the desert, I’d like to first turn to the familiar story of Noah. In Genesis 6:5-8, we learn that humanity thought only of evil, carrying out a multitude of wicked acts. The people had forgotten the Lord who had created them and who desired a relationship with them. Putting their own sinful desires first, humanity had turned its back on God. As a result, God was grieved over his creation and determined to destroy it, save for Noah and his family–who had found favor in the eyes of the Lord due to his righteousness. Later on, we discover that after Noah, his family and all the animals had boarded the ark, it rained for 40 days and nights. During these forty days all who had not repented and turned to the Lord perished because of their sin.

Fast forward to Numbers 14. Poised to enter the Promised Land, the Hebrew people had just sent out twelve spies to scout out the territory and its occupants. Of the twelve, only two (Caleb and Joshua) were confident that the Hebrews could conquer the land. Despite God’s promise to deliver Canaan to them, the other ten spies were afraid of the "giants" who occupied the land. Again, we have a group of people who forgot to put God first in their lives and slipped into sinful behavior. So, what does God do? This time, he doesn’t send a flood, but he does punish the Hebrews by forcing them to wander in the desert for another forty years. During this time, all those who were of adult age would die, leaving only their children (along with Caleb and Joshua) to enter into Canaan. Ironically, after hearing of this punishment, the Hebrews tried to make up for their earlier unbelief by invading the land, only to be beat back.

Again, we have a picture of people who got so caught up in the secondary things of life. Like the people of Noah’s age, the Hebrews wanted to be the ones in charge, the ones calling the shots. While they may not have been engaged in debauchery like Noah’s neighbors, the Hebrews still sinned by not putting God first in their lives. As a result, God gave them forty years in the desert to refocus their attention on God. After all, though Canaan was God’s blessing to the Hebrew people, they needed to remember that a relationship with God is the ultimate blessing.

Now, let us turn to Luke 4, where Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for forty days of fasting. During this time he is tempted by the devil three times. First, the devil tempts Jesus to abuse his power by turning stones into bread. Second, the devil tempts Jesus with the offer to rule over the entire earth, if he would only bow down to him. Third, the devil tempts Jesus to abuse his power by jumping off the temple mount, only to be saved from a certain death by angels coming to the rescue. In each case, Jesus rebuked the devil by quoting scripture and resisted the temptations.

As I read over this passage in preparation for this sermon, I discovered a common thread among all three: each temptation draws Jesus (and by extension, us) away from communion with God. First, we face the temptation of provision. Who among us would not want the ability to ensure that all our wants and needs are met? Surely we wouldn’t desire our children to go hungry for lack of bread, right? Second. We face the temptation of power. Who among us wouldn’t like to be king or queen for a day? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to rule over all of the earth. I know that if I were in charge I could certainly straighten out this sorry world of ours! Third, we face the temptation of protection. Again, who among us doesn’t wish that we could have a band of angels to keep us safe from harm? Indeed, when we pray, don’t we often as God to protect us from evil? Don’t we ask the Lord to remove pain and suffering from our lives?

The reality is this: the desire for provision, power and protection is not evil. All three desires can be good. However, when we as believers focus on these three desires and put them first in our lives, we end up living in spiritual poverty. You see, we’ve put secondary concerns in front of that which should be our primary concern: developing a deeper relationship with the Triune God.. If we focus on provision, power and protection we will never know peace. History has shown us that faithful Christians have often hungered for provision, have often been powerless in the face of oppressive governments, have often faced great persecution and attacks from the evil one. Yet the Christian faith has survived in the face of all this because believers remained focused on God. In the midst of their physical poverty, their relationship with the Trinity has strengthened them and enabled them to live spiritually rich lives.

Conclusion: If we make a relationship with the Triune God our primary focus in life, we will be able to live in peace even though we may live in physical poverty. Keep first things first, and the secondary things of life will fall into their proper place. Remember, life with Christ is eternal, life on earth is temporary! Where then should the investment of your heart be?

May God richly bless you during this Lenten season. It is my prayer that in these next forty days you will once again draw near to the Triune God.

Grace and Peace,
Peter