The Lenten season begins

Today marks the commencement of the Lenten season with Ash Wednesday being observed in the Catholic Church and numerous other traditional Christian sects.

This period, lasting six and a half weeks, is a time when the Church commemorates the forty days Jesus devoted to fasting, praying, and preparing for his ministry in the desert.

The Church dedicates these forty days to fasting, praying, and almsgiving in anticipation of Easter the most significant event of the Christian liturgical calendar.

The Lenten season is a designated time for reflecting on Jesus Christ – his suffering, his sacrifice, his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

From the inception of the faith, Christians have practiced fasting as a discipline to enhance their intimacy with God. They believe that through fasting, they worship God by seeking Him more earnestly than worldly pleasures.

Christians believe that by denying their carnal desires, their hunger for God intensifies, and they experience His presence. (James 4:8; Luke 14:18-20; Mark 4:19).

The term Ash Wednesday originates from the ash applied to believers’ foreheads as Lent begins.

This practice is prevalent across much of Christianity but is primarily celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists.

The use of ash dates back to ancient times and was used to express mourning. This practice is common in the Old Testament where individuals would sprinkle themselves with ash as a sign of sorrow for sins and faults.

For instance, the prophet Jeremiah calls for repentance in this manner: “O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes” (Jeremiah 6:26).

The prophet Daniel implored God to save Israel with sackcloth and ashes as a symbol of Israel’s repentance: “I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3).

Perhaps the most famous instance of repentance in the Old Testament also involves ashes. When the prophet Jonah finally obeyed God’s command and preached in the great city of Nineveh, his preaching was remarkably effective. Word of his message reached the king of Nineveh. “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes” (Jonah 3:6).

In the New Testament, Jesus also refers to the use of sackcloth and ashes as symbols of repentance: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes” (Mathew 11:21, Luke 10:13).

Ash Wednesday started appearing in Christian writings around the 8th century. In those early days, the ash was sprinkled on the penitent person’s head, unlike today, where it is anointed on the forehead.

Ash Wednesday, like the season of Lent, is not mentioned in Scripture and is not commanded by God. Christians are free to either observe or not observe it. It should be clear that the imposition of ashes, like similar external practices, is meaningless, even hypocritical, unless there is a corresponding inner repentance and change of behavior. This is made clear in Isaiah 58:5-7 when God said:

“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

However, the Church advocates for the observance of Ash Wednesday and Lent as a significant opportunity for repentance and spiritual renewal.