Chapter 10.15
Lent
Ash
Wednesday – Palm Sunday – Spy Wednesday
Maundy
Thursday - Good Friday – Holy Saturday
Easter
Sunday – Prayer – Fasting – Giving – 40 days
First
Word
Lent is the annual solemn religious
observance and
commemoration of Holy Week, marking the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. It observes the tradition and
events in the Bible beginning with the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ on Good Friday, His death, burial and culminates in the joyful celebration on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection.
It is observed by Anglicans, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and
other Christian
denominations lasting
for a period of approximately 40
days leading
up to Easter Sunday.
Lent is a season that starts with Grief and ends with rejoicing and
celebrating.
Lent is when we make a small sacrifice of our own to recall the incomparable
sacrifice that Christ made on the cross so that we might experience the miracle
of the resurrection.
Terminology
Exploring LENT we need to understand the meaning of a number of other
terms:
Easter: The culmination of the Passion Week of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period
of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Lent: Comes from the
Latin term Quadragesima; a translation of the original Greek;
meaning the “fortieth” day before Easter.
Ash Wednesday: First
day of Lent; it gets its name
from the practice of placing ashes on the forehead
as a celebration and reminder of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning
and repentance before God.
Palm Sunday: The sixth Sunday
of Lent;
marks the beginning of the HOLY WEEK.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as
their King;[1] one week later they would
crucify Him. He would be dead, buried
and resurrected.[2]
Spy Wednesday or Holy Wednesday; the day Judas spied on Jesus in the Garden
Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday; commemoration of the Last
Supper of Christ.[3]
Good Friday: Jesus’ crucifixion and burial.[4]
Holy Saturday: Commemorates the full
day that the body of Jesus lay in the tomb.
Easter Sunday: The day of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Duration
Lent is traditionally
described as lasting “approximately” forty days, in commemoration of
the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert enduring the
temptations of Satan while fasting before He begin his public ministry.[5]
Lent runs from Ash
Wednesday through Maundy Thursday until Easter, some 40 days with breaks in fasting on
Sundays. In most Western traditions Sundays are not
counted as a part of Lent since Sundays are always the weekly
anniversary of the Resurrection and are exempt from fasting or the abstinence
of eating meat; thus the period from Ash Wednesday until
Easter consists
of 40
days when the Sundays are excluded.
Different Denominations calculate the 40 days differently; some
fast by just giving up meat, poultry and dairy products, eating only “vegan”
or just vegetables. Some just
eat less than a full meal while others eat nothing during the daylight
hours. Many fast during the Passion Week while others fast for only three days.
I must confess that I had certainly heard of LENT, but never actually knew
what it was or even observed it; I thought it was
just something that Catholics did.
Purpose
The purpose of Lent is
the spiritual preparation of the believer through 40 days of prayer, repentance
for sins, self-denial and giving of time and money. Many Christians will commit
to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of
this remembrance.
The book “Why Do Catholics Do
That” says that fasting keeps the Devil at bay sighting the scripture on fasting to cast out
demons. (My personal BS believes this
scripture is talking about FAITH being built up by fasting, not about more authority over demons)
His book goes to say that “it reminds us for
the need for acts of penances to serve as punishment for sins and acts of
charity to make up for them.
Basically, the idea is to do good things to
BALANCE OUT all of the
bad, as well as avoiding more bad things”. (My personal BS believes we all fall short of God’s standard,
but are justified by His grace, so there is just NO WAY to “balance out” sin on our own.)
Mark 9:22-29 – Faith is the Subject – Not demon
authority
22 "It has
often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything,
take pity on us and help us."
23 "If
you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
(Faith)
26 And the
spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead;
insomuch that many said, He is dead.
28 And when he
was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could not we cast him out?
29 And he said
unto them, THIS KIND (of Faith) can come forth by nothing, but by prayer
and fasting.
KJV
Activities
There are
traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and
festivities, and by other acts of penance. It is the giving up of something that might be considered a vice and
adding something that brings you closer to god such as giving of money and time
to others.
The three
traditional practices that bring you closer to God are:
1)
PRAYER -
humility towards God. [6]
2)
FASTING - denial
towards self. [7]
3)
GIVING - blessing
towards others. [8]
Veiling of crosses and other religious objects with a VIOLET COLOR of fabric. The Catholic Church says violet is the Church’s color of
mourning and the color of penance.
I always thought it was the color of
the robe that they put on Jesus; a symbol of Royalty.[9]
SUNRISE SERVICES: It is custom
for some churches to hold sunrise services which include open air celebrations
in some places.
The Stations of the Cross are often
observed as a devotional commemoration of Christ carrying the
Cross and of his execution; this is called The Via Dolorosa; “The way of the Cross”. This devotional practice representing the
gospel story is commemorated by walking through the Traditional FOURTEEN “Stations” or events of remembrance as fixed
in the 18th century.
See the Word Study; the
Way of the Cross; Via Delarosa, Book 2.8
Benefits of Prayer, Fasting and
Giving:
you will find
joy in the Lord…
God will hear
and answer your prayers…
For an “over the top”
definition; read Isaiah 58:8-14 below.
Isaiah 58:8-14 –
The benefits of fasting
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will
quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the
LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry
for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the
hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night
will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched
land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up
the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer
of Streets with Dwellings.
13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the
Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a
delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going
your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you
to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your
father Jacob." THE MOUTH OF
THE LORD HAS SPOKEN.
NIV
LENT is when we make a small sacrifice of our own
to recall the incomparable sacrifice that Christ made on the
cross
so that we might experience the miracle of the resurrection.
[1] Mark 11:7– Jesus riding on a donkey as their King; people
spread their cloaks while others spread branches
[2] Matthew 21:9 – Palm Sunday; Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the Lord
[3] 1 Corenthians 10:16 – Maundy Thursday; Communion
with Christ.
[4] Luke 23:20-21 – Good Friday; "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
[5] Matthew 4:1-3 - Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
and fasted for 40 days
[6] Romans 3:23-24 – All have
sinned and fall short; we can’t balance out our sins
with good, we need a Savior
[7] Isaiah 58:6-7 – Fasting and Giving to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke of oppression
[8] Zechariah 7:5-10 –
Administer true justice and Show mercy and compassion
to one another
[9] Matthew 27:27-29 – They
stripped him and put on a SCARLET ROBE
For the pagan origins of Lent, read Book 10.14
“Easter”
For
the pagan origins of Lent, read Book 10.14
Easter
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