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Getting Ready For Easter

 


Ash Wednesday is on the Twenty-Second of this month, which means that many brothers and sisters in Christ are gearing up for the holiest season. I have written against Ash Wednesday and Lent due to that neither are in Scripture and they make the season of celebrating what Jesus did on the cross and in the tomb become a somber penitential experience for believers rather than a celebration of His love for us and our reconciliation to God. I mean why would you remember Christ’s great sacrifice and triumph by punishing yourself with abstinences? I mean if you personally want to fast during Holy Week, that is fine, but do not impose it on the church as a whole. 


Those who celebrate Lent point to the verse about Jesus saying fastings will come after He Ascends to Heaven, 

“And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” (Luke 5:33-35).

While this certainly supports fasting, it doesn’t indicate a season of fasting like Lent. Our Lord knew we would fast, He even said, “But this kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:21). But did He intend for us to celebrate His great redeeming and reconciliatory work during Holy Week to be marked with obligatory fasting up to Easter Sunday? I doubt it, since Jesus rubbed against other laws like food laws, “Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes),” (Mark 7:19), He rubbed against the Sabbatarian laws, “Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath, So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”” (Mark 2:27-28), He rubbed against repetitious prayer,  “And praying, do not use vain repetitions like the pagans, for they think that in their many words they will be heard,” (Matthew 6:7), and He refused to make celibacy obligatory, “The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it,” (Matthew 19:10-12); so then why would He make fasting mandated as a rule? 


I am not against Fasting, because Jesus says its useful (Matthew 17:21). I am not against any person wanting to celebrate Lent, and give up something to focus on their spiritual life. What I am against is making  Lent obligatory and making those who wish to give up nothing for Lent feel like they are committing sacrilege. The apostle tells us not to judge anyone over any festival, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17). This includes Lent! Celebrate it or not, but do not judge people whither they celebrate it or not.  Amen. 


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