What We Gain from Observing Lent - a podcast by Jonathan Michael Jones

As we approach Ash Wednesday, my aim
today is to discuss what the church might gain from observing the season of
lent. Lent is not solely Catholic as many would assume, for there are many
Protestant traditions who observe the season. It is also not insincere simply
because it is tradition as others might assume. I have spoken often of the fact
that sincerity has little to do with ritual or spontaneity. Sincerity, rather,
is connected to the heart. Perhaps, this is to what Jesus refers when he says,
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Matt
15:8 ESV) This should surely highlight the corporate nature of spirituality;
yet, it also points to a deeper matter than what is on the surface. Lent could
certainly be surface-level for some people; for others, however, Lent could
(and should for everyone in reality) be a sincere observance.

            Lent
is the 40-day season leading to Easter. The season is considered 40 days if Sundays are not
included. Lent then begins Ash Wednesday and ends the Saturday of the Paschal
Triduum just before Easter Sunday. Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday in Western
culture) is often lumped in with Lent but is actually just before Lent begins.[1]
Its beginnings are born of a 2^nd-century reflection during a 2-day
fast leading to Easter; by the 3^rd-century, fasting was expanded
through Holy Week; and by the 4^th-century, Rome developed a practice
of a 3-week fast, which expanded throughout the empire and eventually became an
observance of an entire season beginning the sixth Sunday before Easter.

            The biblical background is diverse
including the 40-day flood, Moses on Mt. Sinai, the spies in Cana, the
Israelites in the desert for 40 years, most apparently Jesus in the desert for
40 days, and even his walking the earth for 40 days after his resurrection.
There exists a variety of themes during Lent which are vital to the Christian
life, e.g. reflection, a refocusing of one’s relationship with God, dependence
on God, a reminder of humanity’s mortality, and selflessness.

Knowing this information, I suggest that Lent is, in no way, a
meaningless ritual, especially if one’s observances are sincere. If the
observance of Lent is meaningless ritual, why then is the observance of
Christmas or Easter not the same? Derived from this knowledge then, I have four
predominant imperatives which we gain from observing Lent.

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