The forty weekdays of Lent are based on the forty days of
Jesus’ temptation. If what I wrote above is not scripture, why do we persist in
practicing Lent as if it were?
Can we move beyond “What are you giving up for Lent?” Is it
possible for us to imagine the practice of Lent not as an interruption of our
lives but as a means the Spirit can use to transform us? Can our Lenten
practice be both a fast and a feast?
I think it can. To that end, I offer this suggestion for
your Lenten practice in 2013.
Take up your Bible. Read all four Gospels. Spend ten days on
each Gospel. Read them beginning to end in big chunks. As you read, pray that
the Spirit will help you understand what Jesus learned in the wilderness. Ask
the Spirit to show you how his life exhibited what he learned and to transform
your life to be more like him.
Give up whatever you must to do this. The point is not what
you are fasting from, but what you are feasting on. Feast on the Word. Fast
from anything and everything that keeps you from this feast.
During Lent this year, eat the Word. Drink the Word. Be
transformed by the Word. And then, at Easter, when we’ve journeyed all the way from
the wilderness through the cross with Jesus, let us all be resurrected to a new
life that lives the Word by the power of the same Spirit that led us into the
wilderness at the beginning—to a fast and a feast.
