This week began the season of Lent. This is the traditional season which starts 40 days before Easter of Christian fasting, mourning, and preparation for the Easter celebration. The traditional practice of fasting coincides with Jesus’s 40 day fast at the beginning of his ministry. This is a time where Christians consider their sin and repent.
Growing up in my faith tradition, we didn’t celebrate Lent. It wasn’t until later in my life that I ever heard the word and even then, I thought we were talking about the trap in the clothes dryer that needed cleaning out in between laundry loads. Seriously, I had no idea! As I have grown in Christ, I find it helpful to consider this season. I think I have missed out on what other mainline or liturgical church traditions have kept as part of their practice. It turns out, repentance is a deeply important formative spiritual practice.
Matthew 4:17 quotes Jesus: From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Acts 3:19 says: Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out…
Grieving over the sinfulness of our sin and its affront to a Holy God is a practice throughout Scripture. People were called to take their sin seriously. It was a serious matter to God.
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” -Genesis 9:8-17
Did you catch that how many times God uses the word “covenant?” Eight times. Eight times God refers to his promise to humanity of, not destruction for sin, but of life! Also, eight times God refers to people, living creatures, and all life on earth. God’s promise to human frailty is astounding to me. He promises over and again to look on our sinful flesh and promises that he will deal with our sin differently than he had with the flood.
God’s faithful promise was realized when he aimed all his destructive power at Jesus. He poured out justice for our sin as a flood of pain, blood, and death on his Son. It was Jesus’s flesh that was pierced and crushed for us. God put a symbol in the sky to remind us of his rescue plan. His Son left heaven and came to live among our flesh. Heaven turned its back when Jesus hung on the cross. And one day, the sky will open for the culmination of all that God promises his people. God indeed kept his covenant to all who live on the earth. Jesus took the place we deserved.
This season, we should consider our sin. It is heavy and it hurts the heart of God. We should incorporate into our practices regular times of repentance and confession. This practice humbly reminds us of the seriousness of our rebellious hearts and the great promise of our good Heavenly Father to rescue us.
Repentantly,
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor