The Real Meaning of Lent :: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
The Gospel reading from Matthew chapter 6 is the traditional Ash Wednesday reading about alms and fasting and prayer ... a lesson from the sermon on the mount in which Jesus warns us not to make a show of our piety “as the hypocrites do.”
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them (v.1). ... When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you (v.2) ... When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites do for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others (v.16).
These are particularly good warnings for us today as we begin the season of Lent because we are tempted to do all of that this season more than in any other as we receive the signs of our repentance on our foreheads + ... as we vow to return to the Lord, our God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Joel 2:13).
3. Most of us are conditioned to think that Lent is the season we set aside to examine ourselves, to reassess where we stand with God.
Lent is, indeed, a good time to repent of our lack of attention to the things of God and our over-attention to our selfish lives. It is a good time to confess our sins ... those we commit by doing things we shouldn’t do and those we commit by not doing things we should do. We do in fact need to “own up” ... to “get right with God” ... and to “turn again to the truth.”
Lent is a time to do that.
But how? How do we own up ... get right ... turn again?
The problem is, sin is much more than our sin. Our sin is not just our failures to be holy because he is holy. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Sin affects everything we are ... everything we think, dream, and hope. Sin is like a poison.
We are so corrupted by the original sin of the man and the woman in the garden, even our repentance is corrupt. And ever since that day in the garden, we have continued and will continue to place ourselves at the center of our universe. Because of our preference for godlessness, we have stacked up crime after crime against God. We do what we do because we are what we are.
And sin leaves us in a world of trouble, dying in sin, apart from God.
If we are ever going to have the hope of knowing God, let alone have a relationship with God, something will have to be done about who we are and what we have done.
That is a real purpose of Lent.
2. The purpose for Lent is to peer into and hear God’s good and perfect law that reflects who he is and what we are not.
That is what Jesus is calling us to do today.
Let’s make this clear: Jesus is not telling you to give up on fasting and wearing ashes. Fasting is good for you. Wearing ashes and sackcloth is good for you. At least they are when they help you recognize who you are and who your savior is. You are darkness and dust. He is light and life.
But remember, your piety is seldom pure. As Jesus says in Matthew 6, Truly I say to you those who disfigure their faces so they may be seen by others have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret (v.4).
What he is telling us to do is to remember what repentance really is.
Repentance is not simply turning toward God. Repentance has two parts: first that we confess our sins, and second that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness of our sins. The first requires contrition, that is sorrow for our sins, and the second requires faith, faith that what God has done for us in Christ actually gives us the forgiveness of sins.
When we confess, we acknowledge our sins, all of them, all that we know, all that we don’t know. We admit that our sins are killing us. And there is nothing you can do about your sin. Dust you are and to dust you shall return.
But the good news, the gospel, is all of your sins are indeed forgiven on account of Christ. By peering into the perfect Law of God, what we find is Jesus, who lived for you, died for you, rose from the dead for you, ascended into heaven for you where he is preparing a place for you when he comes again in glory.
In Christ, we see the fulfillment of repentance. Jesus was turned to God every moment of his life. He obeyed every jot and tittle of the Law. Yet he was punished for your sin. Even as God poured out his wrath for your sin upon Christ on the cross, he turned to God, seeking forgiveness for you. He was beaten for you. He was crucified for you. He died for you. Your sin was then buried and silenced.
But God is faithful and just and he does forgive you, in Christ. God raised you to eternal life through the resurrection of Christ.
That’s why the disciples returned to their baptism and the Lord’s Supper every time they gathered. You died in your baptism but God raised you to eternal life and washed you clean so you could return to him. Then he comes to you here during the service of the sacrament to give you his life-giving body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. In those means, we can now see God.
1. This is the real purpose of Lent. Here, we recognize Christ is our righteousness.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us thank God tonight that the Good News of the Gospel returns to us again today. That while we are yet in our sin, God loves us, turns to us in Jesus. That’s the real meaning of Lent.
Jesus, who knew no sin, became your sin. He turned toward us and took our sin from us. That’s the real meaning of Lent.
Jesus then turned to our cross to suffer for you and die for you. That is the real meaning of Lent. Jesus is always turning to you for you. That is the real meaning of Lent. Finally, he takes your guilt and shame so you can look into the tomb and receive resurrection joy.
As Peter wrote, God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:3-4).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus is coming to you ... again tonight ... in the feast of forgiveness that he prepared for you, that he will serve to you.