Ash Wednesday: An Introduction to Lent and Truth

Jesus said: If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31-32

Jesus tells us that truth is not relative but is found in his word. His disciples abide in his word, know the truth, and are freed by the truth. Therefore, knowing the truth is critical to Christian faith and life.

Lent begins Ash Wednesday and runs until Palm Sunday when Holy Week begins, culminating on Easter Day. It is traditionally a season of preparation for believers based upon the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness after his baptism and before his public ministry. Matthew recounts this event in 4:1-11:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Before the Protestant Reformation, most Christians observed spiritual disciplines of prayer, self-denial, fasting, and giving during Lent. The forty-day period seems to have come down to us from discussions at the Council in Nicea in A.D. 325, the same Council that gave us the Nicene Creed. After the time of the Reformation, most Protestant churches do not observe Lent, but we Anglicans do, however, changing our liturgy to reflect this season and calling our people to practice these spiritual disciplines. At Ash Wednesday services, the Celebrant declares to the congregation: I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.

When Jesus went into the wilderness, he was symbolically reenacting the forty–year period of Israel’s wanderings. But whereas Israel failed to trust God and keep his commandments, Jesus, when tempted by the devil, proved himself the true Israel by remaining faithful to his Father. Satan tried to deceive Jesus by misusing Holy Scripture, but each time Jesus corrected Satan by quoting the Word of God from Deuteronomy. Because Jesus knew the truth of God, he overcame the devil, whom he calls “the father of lies” in John’s Gospel.

Like Jesus, we need to know the truth of God’s Word. Even though Jesus defeated him on the cross, Satan is still trying to deceive us, as he did Adam and Eve, that we might doubt divine truth. John tells us that he wrote his gospel so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31).

Lent is a period in which we are reminded to turn away from ourselves, look to Jesus, believe in him, and have life in his name. Jesus means God saves us (from our sins). There is only one hope for us, and that hope is Jesus, who says of himself “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

During Lent I will look at the theme of truth and include daily readings from the Gospel of John (English Standard Version). I will also suggest the following spiritual disciplines:

·         Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship: Every weekday during Lent there will be an opportunity to examine sin in your life, repent of your sins in prayer, and spend some time in worship.

·     Fasting and self-denial: On Fridays, I will focus on fasting and self-denial. These are spiritual practices (disciplines) we use because God commends them to his people in Scripture and because that is what Jesus did in the wilderness.

·         Study: Every weekday we will read a section of John’s gospel to explore the deep truths about God, because Jesus told Satan, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, that Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:

Before you pray, take some time to reflect on your sins. Perhaps there is one in particular about which you are concerned. Tell the Lord you are sorry, ask him to help you stop this sin, and then pray a prayer like the following:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may receive from you, the God of mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Study: John 1:1-18, The Word Became Flesh

 ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 ⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

 ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹²But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

 ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") ¹⁶And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Reflection Questions:

1)  John 1:9 describes Jesus as the “true light.” Why is Jesus the “true light”?

2)  If truth come through Jesus (verse 17), what is that truth?