Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season
of Lent. It is a time of prayer,
fasting, reflection, and repentance. We
are called to consider the past year, our service to the Church, and the
testimony (and perhaps the strength) of our faith. Like Advent which precedes Christmas, Lent
does not allow us to simply count down the days until Easter. That is, the practices and the life of a disciple
cannot be defined by a limited number of days as if we can end them when we
tire of these practices.
Lent commands our attention and demands more from us
than we are often willing to give. And
because we often give so little to the opportunity presented, we derive very
little spiritual satisfaction from it.
It is just a season, a spot on the Christian calendar – all because we
are willfully short-sighted. We know
Messiah is already risen – so the Holy Day of Easter seems … redundant. In actual practice, it is just a “thing” we
do only once a year.
The Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s Gospel is important for us as we prepare for the Season
because Jesus is not merely recommending things we ought to do. Rather He
presumes the practices already to be a significant part of the life of the
faithful; that is, if we are actually “faith-filled”. Fasting and prayer are not strictly New
Testament ideas.
“When
you are praying”, our Lord says (6:7).
Not “if”. As John Wesley, Methodism’s
founder, once observed, if Jesus as The Word Made Flesh, The Almighty Himself
Incarnate, speaks, His words have the force of “commandment”, as sure and as certain
as “You shall not kill”. As when Jesus,
during the Last Supper, “commanded” His disciples to “do this and remember Me”,
the words spoken by our Lord not only assess our commitment to Him but they
also challenge us to reach beyond ourselves.
As one preacher once said, “Get over yourself; it ain’t about you!”
And “when
you fast” (6:16). That is, “when” we
deny ourselves one thing for something greater.
This is the BIG ONE because we have likely spent the last 2000 years
trying to figure out exactly how much
we need to give up – and for how long.
Many give up sweets or chocolate or tobacco or TV – but ONLY for the
40-day period and ONLY for as long as it is not too uncomfortable. The commitment to something greater is
lacking because we also give up these innocuous things strictly for
self-improvement rather than spiritual enlightenment or fulfillment.
Still, these can be a good start, but simply giving
something up only for a finite period misses the point of the season devoted to
genuine spiritual reflection. Is
chocolate getting in the way of our devotion to our Lord as it may get in the
way of us seeing our toes? Are sweets
preventing us from spending more time in The Word? Does TV prevent us from attending
worship? Does tobacco deny our needed time
in fellowship with other Christians? Do
these things – or any other thing – inhibit our life as disciples in any way?
These are the questions we must ask ourselves, for
this is what the season of Lent to be entirely about. It is not simply a “test” to see if we are
willing to give up a “thing”; it is a practice and a discipline that calls us
into something much greater. We will
never know what “greater” thing there can be, however, if we never take part.
Divine Mercy (as “grace”) has come to be a marketable
product that can be packaged and sold with clever advertising that promises
something for nothing. It pleases the
senses in the false promise that we do not have to do anything or give up
anything for spiritual gain.
Mercy that cleanses, however, Mercy that purifies
often by “fire”, Mercy that is never comfortable but is always comforting is
not so easy – and not at all marketable.
For, you see, we cannot package “mercy”. It can never be “new and improved” although
genuine Mercy from the very heart of our Holy Father will seem new to us if we
are willing to draw so near, if we are willing to get rid of the excess baggage
we’ve taken on for the sake of “personal comfort” or in trying to live the
“good life” or to claim our share of the so-called “American Dream” which has
become, for too many, a nightmare when trying to “keep up with the Jones’”.
Lent is hard.
Pure and simple, if Lent is practiced for all it can actually do for the
Holy Church, regardless of denomination, if we are mindful of our genuine need
for Christ and our own part in the Life of the Church which is the Body of
Christ, Lent will be the single, most difficult thing we will ever do. And here’s the real challenge to it: it will
not end on Easter!
So Jesus is not merely commanding us in such a way as to see whether or not we are serious
as disciples. Rather these means of grace are offered to us as
Gifts; sacramental moments when we are truly and fully touched from Above and
from deep within.
Like a parent who knows what is best for our children,
Our Lord is seeing to our well-being by requiring of us to “take a nap”, to “go
into your room and shut the door” from the noise of a world that draws us away
from – rather than toward – our very Source of Life. And like a child who must eat vegetables
instead of sweets, a child who must be denied some things that will do more
harm than good, we are those very children whose well-being is sought after.
Regardless of your denominational tradition, let the
season of Lent be for you all it is intended to be. Do not be misled by those who insist such
practices are no longer necessary or are “made up” by the Church as “works”. Rather the Church as the Body of Christ takes
up the very practices our Savior took up for Himself and for those who dare to
follow Him to the Resurrection!
Prepare to be blessed, dear friends, but do not
believe it will “just happen” in a void.
Know that it will be given to those who prove their trustworthiness,
their faithfulness, those who truly love The Lord our God. Amen.
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