3 Surprising Lessons of Lent
What do you think about when you hear the word Lent?
The world bombards us with questions: “What are you doing for Lent?” “What are you giving up for Lent this year?” “How long do you think you can go without Starbucks [or fast food, or sugar, or whatever they think might be a typical Lenten sacrifice]?”
Our responses become the heartbeat of Lent. And before we know it, this holy season turns into nothing more than “I’m taking something on” or “I’m giving something up.”
If that’s our Lenten focus, let’s face it: we often try to take on or let go of whatever will be the most painless. All we have to do is get through the season and return to our alleluias in Easter, when we can eat and drink whatever we want. No wonder Lent has given rise to so many caricatures.
I would like to propose a different way of thinking about Lent. Let’s take a look at three surprising lessons that will help us change our focus.
1. Lent is an expression of gratitude.
The Book of Deuteronomy is one of the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible. It contains God’s instruction to the people of Israel. At the beginning of Lent, we read from Deuteronomy 26 about Moses telling the people to remember the good things God has done for them. As an act of thanksgiving, Moses encourages them to gather up the bounty of their lives to present before the priest.
The remembrance of God’s blessings involves the recitation of their story. God took Abraham out of a particular district, moved him, and eventually settled him in the land of Egypt. From there, he and his progeny became a huge nation and a threat to the Egyptians. The nation fell under the thumb of the Egyptians in slavery. But eventually, God, with a “mighty hand and an outstretched arm” performed real miracles to set the people of Israel free and bring them into the Promised Land (Deut. 26:8).
This carries over to what Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans. What has God done? Paul tells us that the Lord is generous because he gives freely (Rom. 10:12). He created the world and filled it with beauty; he has raised us up and made us in his own image. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to bring forgiveness and mercy to the brokenness of our lives. In Christ’s death and resurrection, he opens up the way to eternal life. All these actions happen because God loves us. Out of his love, he promises us the companionship of his presence.
As we experience Lent, let’s first remember with gratitude what God has done.
2. Lent is a time to realize we cannot gain God’s favor by doing good things.
What is the entryway to inheriting all that God has given us?
Paul tells us, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). It sounds simple. So simple even a child could do it. But here’s the dilemma: If we think we need to be good in order to receive God’s promises, we can never measure up.
The entryway into relationship with God can never be based on me qualifying myself because I’m a good person. Yes, I may do good things, but there’s also a lot of sin and brokenness in my life. From scripture, we know that each of us is a mixture of good and evil, sin and righteousness, cruelty and blessing. If we doubt any of this, we need only to look at the thoughts of our hearts, those things we never tell anyone. We find sin and brokenness not only out in the world but deep inside ourselves.
If we try to gain God’s favor by doing good actions, we move backward. During Lent, if we try to give up something and think we can earn something from God in return, we are, in effect, trying to earn some sort of divine merit badge.
The bottom line is that we need God to take the initiative and bring us what we don’t deserve. God is not interested in you giving up something this Lent to earn more points with him. What matters to him is the fact that he loves you, cares for you deeply, and wants to bring you into his presence.
This is the second lesson of Lent: to understand that we can never earn our inheritance based on our goodness.
3. Lent is a commitment to yield the authority of my life to Jesus.
In Lent, we no longer pretend. We stand and confess that we are broken sinners in desperate need of help from God. The church comes alongside and says, “We’re all in this together.” Is it easy? Of course not.
Our world is full of hurt and desperation. Not only do we deal with issues of human sin, but we also live with real evil in our lives. Genuine demonic power exists, and we need all the help we can get, help that can come only from God.
It is deeply counter-cultural to make a commitment to Christ. It is hard to yield to him and say yes to allowing him to use you as he sees fit. But the great love he has shown us draws us closer to him and allows him to use us to make a difference in the lives of others who need gentleness, care, and compassion.
To confess “Jesus is Lord” means we are subservient to him, we come under his authority, we are not in charge of our lives anymore, and we ask him to call the shots. We rely on what God did in Jesus to bring us the very things we need: mercy, forgiveness, his companionship, and the promise of eternal life.
This is the third lesson of Lent: to commit our lives to Christ and come closer to Him.
Reality Check
The world expects us to give up chocolate for Lent and still act like sinners. Certainly, we can make sacrifices, but as we’ve seen, Lent is so much more. Whatever you’ve chosen to take on or let go of this Lent, remember your purpose is expressing thankfulness and drawing nearer to God. Prove the world wrong and say yes to Christ. See what he might do in your life and those of others.
That’s the wonderful reality of Lent. That’s why we’re able to take a season like this and think about what we can do as an offering of gratitude for what God has done for us. How can each of us take the step through that act of thanksgiving that draws us closer to God?
(This post is an adaptation of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on Sunday, February 14, 2016 at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Sebastian, Florida.)