‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?” [Isaiah 58:3-5 (NLT)]
Every evening, a man went to the local pub and ordered three beers. When asked why three, he explained that he ordered the two extra beers in honor of his two dear brothers who lived far away. One evening, when the man ordered only two beers, the bartender assumed the worst and extended sympathy for the loss of a brother. Correcting the bartender, the man said his brothers were both fit as fiddles and the beers were for them. “It’s me that’s not drinking tonight,” he explained. “You see, I’ve given up beer for Lent!”
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a period of forty days (not counting Sundays) that commemorate Jesus’ forty days of fasting and temptation in the desert. Originally, Lent was a time of fasting, penitence, and reflection in preparation for an Easter baptism. Today, many people continue to observe this tradition with some sort of fast or spiritual discipline before Easter. While they tend to “give up” something in the way of food, entertainment, or pleasure, the most common fasts usually have to do with desserts, alcohol, chocolate, social media, television, or coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin’. Since Lent’s observation isn’t founded in Scripture, the choice to observe this season in some way is a personal one.
What we must never do is err in thinking that God will love us more for our Lenten sacrifice or that giving up something like gum, candy, beer, eating out, or YouTube has any bearing on our salvation. Jesus took care of our salvation on the cross and God’s love could never be greater than it is right now. No amount of sacrifice can earn God’s free gift of grace.
If we do choose to give up something for Lent, we make a mistake if we focus only on our sacrifice. After all, fasting from carbs or alcohol without prayer and Scripture are nothing more than a diet or “dry January.” Rather than focusing on ourselves, Lent is a time to focus on Christ and the sacrifice He made to give us the gift of salvation.
Although Jesus fasted, He never commanded us to do so. His words on fasting tend to focus on people’s hypocrisy when fasting—they often fasted to impress people with their holiness rather than grow closer to God. Self-sacrifice is not to be done ostentatiously but humbly, quietly, and privately. Regardless of how we choose to observe Lent, unlike the man at the bar, it should be done sincerely. God sees into our hearts and knows when we’re repentant and genuinely seeking Him or just going through the motions!
The purpose of Lent is not to force on us a few formal obligations, but to ‘soften’ our heart so it may open itself to the realities of the spirit, to experience the hidden ‘thirst and hunger’ for communion with God. [Alexander Schmemann]
Devotions of the Heart 