The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River is one of the most beautiful scenes in the New Testament, a pastoral scene where God himself descends to Jesus in the form of a dove, where God’s voice can be heard assenting to Jesus’ ministry from the heavens. What comes immediately after this beautiful scene? What comes next for our newly ordained Jesus? Why, an all expenses paid trip to the desert for forty days of fasting and temptation!
Each year, Christians remember that forty day period of sacrifice and preparation by observing the season of Lent, which begins roughly forty days before Easter. During that time, Christians will fast or do certain things in greater moderation and spiritual discipline to identify with Jesus’ sojourn in the desert. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of this Lenten season. As we remember the fasting and preparation of our Savior in the desert, we also mourn for him as we prepare with him during this season for his greater sacrifice on the cross just weeks away. We impose ashes on our foreheads as an outward witness of our repentance. We remove ourselves from the privacy of our prayer closets in order to acknowledge not only the sacrifice of a risen Savior, but also our earnest desire to be forgiven for our participation in the sin that drove him to that cross. It is no matter that we were not born when his sacrifice was completed, for he came and died for all sin, and that means he died for you and me just as surely as he did for those who came before us.
The prophet Isaiah reminds us of the meaning of true worship. It has little to do with ritual and everything to do with restoration. Look at the goals set out by Isaiah in the context of fasting: He calls for loosing the chains of injustice, setting free the oppressed, sharing food with the hungry, providing the poor wanderer with shelter, clothing the naked, not turning away from our own flesh and blood. Worship is more than ritual, fasting more than form. The formal trappings of humility impress little if offered during a timeout from a family argument or a respite from quarreling. Our church attendance is suspect if we drive by our neighbor without ever inviting him to God’s house. This did no good in the time of Isaiah and does no good today.
If our fasting is to be acceptable to our Lord, we must act our testimony and not just ritualize it. If our prayers are to be listened to by our heavenly Father, they must arrive on the wings of our witness. If our worship is separated from our daily life, it is not worship and we are not righteous. The glory of the Lord here and now is seen in the eyes and acts of his disciples. Disciples are followers and so Christians are disciples. This is our act of righteousness. This is our true worship; that we act as God’s people. When we do so, the prophet Isaiah tells us that our light will rise in the darkness, our nights will become as noondays, our frames strengthened…for our Lord will guide us always. It is for this reason that we gather as God’s people in this season of Lent. Let the oil which bonds the ashes of repentance to our foreheads be a healing balm for us. Let the sign of the cross of Christ become a beacon of our true character, so much so that no cross will need be painted upon us for that allegiance to be seen. May we present ourselves anew as living sacrifices to our Savior. May we, in this season, remember, repent, and restore.
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