A lesson for Lent
Photograph by Yannick Pulver via Unsplash
Dr. Marvin A. McMickle
For most Christians, the calendar of religious events runs from Christmas to Easter, from one big, joyous celebration to another. No self-respecting Christian would miss the Christmas season with its flashing lights, wrapped packages, Nativity scenes, and holiday songs and snacks, all being enjoyed while celebrating the birth of Jesus. Likewise, most Christians value Easter even more than Christmas as the center of their faith and the bedrock of their theology. They rejoice in the white lilies, the pageants, the dyed egg, and the powerful music that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
I am aware of a group of Christians known as CMEs. That is not a reference to the African American denomination formed in Tennessee in 1870 for the worship needs of freed slaves whose presence in churches with white membership was offensive. Rather, these CMEs are Christians who only attend church on Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Easter. For them, it is as if nothing else happens during the calendar deserving of their time or attention.
There is something, however, that deserves the time and attention of every Christian, and that is the observance of Lent. Taken from the Old English word lencten, meaning spring, Lent is a period of forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, not counting Sundays. Lent looks both backward and forward. The backward look is a reminder of the forty years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert of Sinai after their Exodus from slavery in Egypt. It is also a look back at the forty days Jesus spent in the Judean desert after his baptism by John the Baptist. Neither of those events have any celebratory component to them. Rather, they were times of spiritual testing and formation. They were times of self-denial and self-examination. They were times of fasting, prayer, and relying on God for survival and deliverance.
The forward look of Lent is where we are as Christians today. We are invited into a season of self-denial, self-examination, and spiritual renewal. Instead of special feasts, we are called to a time of fasting. Instead of focusing on what God has done for us with the birth and resurrection of Jesus, we are called to consider what we as followers of Jesus have or have not been doing in his name and in his service. We are not called to spend forty years in the Sinai desert or forty days in the Judean desert. But we are called upon to give up the time we normally spend on some favorite activity, and devote that time to some form of spiritual formation or service to others in the name of Jesus. We are called to engage in self-examination. We should take to heart the words of Socrates who famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
To maximize the Lent season, it helps to have a path or a guide to lead us along the journey. I would suggest two such guides, Psalm 51 and Psalm 139. Both passages focus on King David’s response to being exposed by the prophet Nathan about David’s sins involving Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah the Hittite. In these two passages, a monarch who is normally accountable to no one is standing before God and confessing his sins. A king who committed adultery with another man’s wife and then had that man killed in a military maneuver to cover up his sins must now stand before God and acknowledge what he has done. This did not happen voluntarily. David only did this because he was confronted by Nathan, who told David that God was fully aware of what David had done!
Lent is a cry for mercy on the one hand, and an invitation to be searched by the sovereign God on the other hand. We need these practices if we are to truly become mature followers of Jesus.
In Psalm 51, David begins with an appeal to God that clearly suggests that David knows what he did was wrong. “Have mercy on me, O God…according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:1-2 NIV). Notice that David sets forth a three-part process for his own spiritual renewal. First, he says, “blot out my transgressions.” The idea of blotting something out suggests an outward action on a small area of concentration. We might seek to blot out a spot on a piece of clothing, or a wet spot on a kitchen counter, or a word on a piece of paper that we now want to eliminate. It does not take much effort to blot something out. Then David says, “wash away all my iniquities.” Washing suggests something larger and more forceful than a simple blotting. It takes more time, and it covers a larger area.
Finally, David says, “cleanse me from my sins.” This Hebrew word suggests something harder and deeper than any external blotting or washing.[1] Instead, it suggests being cleansed from the inside out as if the evil residing within us is thrown up or vomited out. It is the equivalent of using a purgative to force out of one’s body something that is causing pain or discomfort, or that could result in death or disease if not removed. In fact, David specifically refers to being cleansed through purging in verse 7 where he says in the King James Version, “Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”
Lent is our chance to invite God to do these three things in our lives: blot out our transgressions, wash away our iniquities, and cleanse us from our sins. That is a long way from Joy to the World or Christ the Lord is Risen Today! Lent is not about celebrations. It is about confessions and the hard work required that can result in a spiritual conversion.
Now we turn to Psalm 139 where the examination is done by God and not by us. David begins this Psalm by acknowledging what God has already done: “You have searched me and you know me.” David ends this Psalm with an invitation for God to continue doing the work of searching him when he says, “Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24 NIV). This is a good Lent practice for all of us as well, to invite God to do the examination of our hearts and of our thoughts.
I have been through many kinds of exams and searches in my life. I have had several CT scans and MRIs that examined various parts of my body. I have gone through airport security where TSA agents examine me and my luggage for any prohibited items. I have had exams at school where my knowledge and my memory were tested. However, none of those exams begins to compare with what is at stake in Psalm 139 where God searches the innermost parts of our souls, our hearts, and even our thoughts. This is what Lent is about. This is what Lent is for. A cry for mercy on the one hand, and an invitation to be searched by the sovereign God on the other hand. We need these practices if we are to truly become mature followers of Jesus.
Marvin McMickle is pastor emeritus at Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, professor emeritus at Ashland Theological Seminary, OH, and retired president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, NY.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
[1] Spiros Zodhiates, Hebrew-Greek Study Bible, World Bible Publishers: Iowa Falls, Iowa, 1988, p. 38.
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