Why Lent?

 

The season of Lent is often described as a forty-day journey into the wilderness. Far from being a mere liturgical formality or a hollow religious tradition, it is a purposeful season of preparation and repentance. It is a time when the believer intentionally slows down to behold the weight of the cross and the gravity of the Gospel. To truly understand Lent is to recognize a fundamental spiritual truth: the joy of the empty tomb is only as deep as our realization of why that tomb was necessary in the first place.

At the core of the Lenten season lies the cry of the prophets: a persistent, divine call to return to the Lord. In the Old Testament, repentance was frequently marked by outward signs—sackcloth and ashes—intended to reflect an inward breaking. However, the Word of God makes it clear that the external ritual is secondary to the internal reality.

In Joel 2:12-13, the Lord declares:

"Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate..."

This passage highlights that the objective of Lent is "rending the heart." It is a season for laying down our pride, our distractions, and our false sense of self-sufficiency. We are met with the sobering reminder of Genesis 3:19, "dust you are, and to dust you shall return." This humbling acknowledgment of our mortality and our fallen state is not meant to breed despair, but to prepare the soil of our hearts to receive the Savior.

While the Old Testament establishes the need for repentance, the New Testament calls the believer to a radical, daily self-denial. Lent serves as a concentrated period where we practice the "death to self" that Jesus described as the fundamental requirement for discipleship.

 In Luke 9:23, Jesus instructs:

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

As we engage in fasting or abstain from certain comforts during these forty days, we must remember that we are not earning divine favor or "buying" righteousness. Instead, we are clearing the spiritual clutter of our lives to more fully embrace the Savior who laid down His life for us. In the spirit of John the Baptist, we seek to decrease so that He may increase. This season allows us to marvel anew at the profound reality that the sinless Lamb of God took the path of suffering so that we might have eternal life.

Lent is often characterized by a "bright sadness." It is a season of pain because it forces us to confront our own inherent brokenness and the agonizing price Christ paid for our redemption. Yet, it is simultaneously beautiful because it is within that very brokenness that we discover the absolute sufficiency of His grace.

As we follow the footsteps of Jesus toward the cross, we encounter Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood under the weight of the world’s sin. Here, we realize that our redemption was not cheap; it was infinitely costly. The journey through the wilderness is necessary because it strips us of the prideful illusion that we can save ourselves, casting us entirely upon the mercy of God.

In our modern, fast-paced culture, we have a natural inclination to prefer the celebration over the sacrifice. We often wish to "fast-forward" past the somber reflections of the wilderness and the dark silence of Good Friday to jump straight to the "Alleluias" of Easter Sunday. However, biblical faith grows in the endurance of the journey. If we skip the desert, we miss the manna.

As Romans 5:3-5 reminds us, "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." By walking the long, intentional road of Lent, our love for Christ is deepened and tempered. When the sun rises on Easter morning, our Hallelujahs ring louder and truer because we have spent forty days realizing just how desperately we needed the Resurrection.

Lent is the intentional path to the cross. It is a season to heed the exhortation of Hebrews 12:1 to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us." As we journey through the pain and the beauty of these forty days, we discover that our faith is not merely a final destination, but a transformative walk with the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Through the wilderness, we find our way home.

-Pastor Patti