The History and Purpose of Lent and Ash Wednesday
Lent officially begins on Ash Wednesday. Historically, Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting, signified by marking a cross of ashes on the forehead of the worshipper. Thus begins six weeks of penitence as we plod toward the redemption of Easter.
My gut reaction to this practice of Lent and Ash Wednesday is revulsion. Remember, I didn’t grow up with this tradition.
I am, however, intimately familiar with a tradition that insists on wearing gloomy faces and dark colours to symbolize the seriousness of our faith—not just at Lent (actually, Lent had nothing to do with it) but all. the. time.
Weddings are performed in black (the bride too!) because weddings are serious, sombre affairs that are not to be taken lightly.
At my grandma’s funeral, the preacher insisted that she had lived a righteous life because she had suffered greatly. She had lost two children and her husband. She had lived in poverty for much of her life and struggled to feed thirteen mouths. The idea is this—the more you suffer, the holier you are and the more likely you are to enter heaven. But of course, you can’t really know if you’ll enter heaven; only God knows, and so the faithful sufferer is left not knowing whether her faithfulness will be enough for God’s stern judgment. (Please note the tongue-in-cheek tone.)
This is the tradition that I grew up in. Thankfully, my parents left this church when I was five years old, but the traditional Sommerfelder Mennonite beliefs left their mark.
Therefore, a large part of me rebels against the dour tradition of Lent. You certainly won’t see me refusing to smile or enjoy pleasures like coffee and books for the next six weeks.
As with all traditions, Lent has become something that it wasn’t intended to be.
A Brief History of Lent and Ash Wednesday
Lent was first implemented as a period of fasting in 325 AD by the First Council of Nicea. In its early years, Lent was meant as a 40-day preparation period for those who wished to be baptized on Easter—an initiation or probationary period of sorts that tested the new believer’s genuineness of faith. In 601 AD, by order of Pope Gregory I, it evolved into a six-week (46 days) fasting period that included marking the foreheads of believers in the shape of the cross on the Day of Ashes (Ash Wednesday).
As with most things in the Middle Ages, the tradition of Lent became a strict legalistic ritual enforced by the Catholic church’s watchmen. A person could only eat bread and vegetables for the entire duration of Lent and unauthorized vegetables were confiscated. Today, only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are maintained as strict fast days by the Catholic church, and Christians who choose to participate in Lent do so by abstaining from entertainment, sweets, alcohol, or otherwise focusing on a life of simplicity and self-control. Many Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists continue to practice Ash Wednesday and Lent, but most Evangelical traditions do not.
There’s your crash course in the history of Lent. Today, it looks far different than it did one hundred, five hundred, or a thousand years ago.
What’s the purpose of Lent today?
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). I don’t understand these words to mean that we must walk about with heads hanging for our entire lives as my Mennonite elders believe, or that we must deprive ourselves of every earthly pleasure as our Catholic forefathers insisted.
Too often, Lent is used simply as an excuse to exhibit self-control for six weeks and kick some old habit like overeating or social media doom-scrolling. It’s more of an exercise in what I can do rather than focusing on what Jesus did. In some ways, Lent also overemphasizes the ‘end’ of our Christian faith as the death of Jesus… when instead, the ‘end’ of our faith is glorious life in the resurrection of Christ!
Ash Wednesday and Lent are not practices found in the Bible, so many Evangelical traditions do not observe them. There are precedents for mourning, though. The Psalms are full of it (c.f. Ps. 13, 22, 51, 139:22-23). The prophets lamented the wickedness of Israel and Judah (Jer. 14:14-22, Lam. 1:1-4). Jesus himself mourned over Jerusalem’s rebellion against the goodness of God (Luke 19:41-44).
I do think that Lent provides us an opportunity to check in with ourselves, our churches, and our communities. If we lean into it, Lent can provide us with the space to slow down and listen to what the Spirit is saying to us about the state of our hearts and relationships. To grieve the brokenness in our lives and the world. To repent, that is, to turn back to the heart of God.
In the Gospel of Luke, most of the book is dedicated to Jesus’ walk toward Jerusalem. The journey is one of discipleship; the disciples watch Jesus perform miracles, listen to his many parables about the kingdom of God, and observe how he interacts with the many people along the way.
I believe Lent is an opportunity to be more intentional about walking with Jesus. I don’t believe that we need to abstain from goodies, alcohol, or entertainment legalistically; however, if these things inhibit our relationship with Jesus, then maybe we need to practice letting them go for a season so that we can better learn from our Master and Friend. Maybe we need to mourn the sin that has crept into our lives and repent.
The point is always relationship with Jesus. This is the objective of any spiritual practice. If fasting from food or other things deepens your walk with Jesus and he invites you to do so, then do it. Yet, Jesus’ commands around fasting also include secrecy. Your fasting is between you and him; it is not to declare your piety to everyone else. He says in the Sermon on the Mount,
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matt. 6:16-18).
So fast. Or don’t. Whatever you do, pursue Jesus. Walk with him. Examine your life and cut out what doesn’t look like him. Mourn the wickedness in your life and the world. Learn from the Master as he walks toward death and life. Rejoice with him in banquets with strangers and foreigners. Celebrate the life that you have with him, the life that he offers the world.
This is the purpose and intent of Lent—to be with Jesus as we walk through life with all the mourning and celebration that it entails, to turn our faces toward the singular earth-shattering moment of his death and resurrection, and to rest in the wholeness and healing that only Jesus offers.
Of course, this is always the prerogative of the believer. But Church calendar traditions provide that extra little prompt to engage with Scripture and God in a way that we might otherwise be tempted to ignore. It’s not a forced set of rules or legalism; it’s always about relationship.
How is Jesus inviting you to walk with him in this season of Lent?
