The Bible Explains Lent
Perhaps you can recall the customary complaints regarding the length of our Christmas celebrations. Often Christmas decorations and Christmas wares are visible in stores shortly after Halloween or before. It is common to hear folk ask irritably why it is necessary to begin Christmas celebration so soon? “It makes the celebration too long,” is a familiar refrain.
Have you noticed you seldom hear that complaint about our preparation for Easter? Preparation for Easter? Yes. The Christian calendar has set aside forty days of the year to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. Those forty days are called Lent.
Ideally, these days are to be a time of penitence and recommitment. How better could we prepare than to view our sinful selves and ask God to make us more like His son Jesus who sacrificed His all for us? The plan for this time of year is to deny ourselves for Him and focus on His redemptive love. You may think, “Shouldn’t we do that always?” Yes, but this is a time when the total Christian community is asked to focus on the heart of the gospel. It is something like looking through a telescope. You can see that object with your naked eye, but the telescope brings it close. We Christians are aware of the resurrection always; but ordinarily we share that awareness with many other blessings from the Lord. The Easter celebration is a call to focus on Him who conquered all things, even death.
Our preparation to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection takes many forms from the simple to the sublime. After hearing the pastor preach about the resurrection, a child was questioning his mother. She became bewildered trying to explain death and resurrection. Exasperated by his continued questions whose answers were beyond the understanding of both, she said, “I tell you what we will do. Tomorrow we will go by the bookstore and get some books to explain it. Okay?”
Unwilling to be put off, her son offered a profound bit of wisdom. He asked, “Couldn’t we just read the Bible?” What a novel suggestion! To prepare your heart to celebrate Easter, read the passion stories found in the gospels. The Resurrection story is repeated four times in the final chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
