Lent Isn't Just About Fasting
It is true. Lent is a time in the life of the Church where we intentionally press into the call to reckon with our sin and repent. It is a time we press into the brokenness of our lives and the world we live in. It is a time when we fast as we long for the Bridegroom of the Church to return.
But, historically, Lent was set aside not merely for fasting but also for penance. Many times we get nervous about such a word that was co-opted and freighted with an understanding that is not altogether healthy. Penance was simply a way to physically represent the spiritual, inner reality of repentance. Like Zacchaeus who happily promised to give back what he had wrongfully taken (Luke 19.8), there is a beauty to a repentance that actually means something.
What do I mean? Well, repentance is not simply feeling bad for what you’ve done. That is Contrition. Repentance is not merely saying “I’m sorry.” That is Confession. Repentance is the full spectrum of the process of turning from our sin and living differently. Too many times we can stop midway in the process and never feel the weight of making amends in our turning from and turning toward. In other words, we wrongly believe that feeling sorry and saying sorry are the sum and substance of repentance.
Biblical repentance is a changed life. Literally it is a changing of the mind (from the Greek metanoia). But this does not mean it is merely cognitive. Consider Zacchaeus again. Jesus’ response to him was not, “Now Zacchaeus, you don’t need to do that. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in me alone.” Rather, he says to Zacchaeus’ actions: “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
God did not die so that we would simply believe with our minds, but he bled and died so that we might experience an abundant life in space and time and in the world to come…in our own flesh and blood. As such, our repentance is not intended to be mere mental assent. It is a changed life. When we grasp the wonder and power of the reality that we have been forgiven much, we will give much of ourselves.
During this lenten season, don’t be satisfied with a spirituality devoid of a physicality. As you fast, consider how you might make amends in the here and now. Consider how your doing without provides resources for you to do something miraculous with what you have.