Lent teaches the love costs

Last Wednesday, March 2, which was actually Ash Wednesday, my wife entered a grocery store after attending worship. She wore a cross of ashes on her forehead, and when the clerk at the store saw her ashes he asked, “May I ask, what are you giving up for Lent?”

We are now in the church season of Lent. Traditional, liturgical Christians around the world observe Lent as the 6 ½ weeks before Easter when we focus on the trials, we focus on the opposition, and we focus on the suffering and the death of our Lord Jesus. Lent is a time when Christians hear a special call to repentance for our sin and our rebellion against God, sin which caused Jesus’ trials and sufferings and death.

Many Christians begin the season of Lent with an act of penitence, or repentance, through the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. Ashes are a traditional sign of repentance, showing sorrow for our sin and a desire to change our lives. (For example, consider Daniel 9:1-19, especially verse 3.) Often, many Christians follow the imposition of ashes with a time of self-denial, or fasting. I have friends who give up chocolate, or alcohol, or TV during Lent. Some, rather than giving something up, instead add a spiritual discipline.

However, focusing only on our repentance, and focusing only on our acts of self-denial, can give a mistaken impression about the reason for Lent. The Lenten observances of Christians are not supposed to point to what we do for God. Lenten living should help us understand even more what God has done for us. Lent is about God’s love for us in Jesus. And, God’s love for us costs!

While reading my home devotions one day last week, the assigned Gospel reading included John 13:34. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Have you ever wondered why Jesus calls this a “new commandment?” The ‘old commandment states, “. . . love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” This was God’s command through Moses to the people of Israel in Leviticus 19:18. When Jesus is asked in Mark 12 about the greatest commandment, He restates this Old Testament command. “29 ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:29-31)

God’s people had known the ‘old commandment.’ But, in the upper room, on the night he was betrayed, Jesus adds something new. We are not just to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We love others the way that Jesus loves us. Please, consider the depths of Jesus’ love for us. Consider how Christians now have a higher calling.

Paul shared with the Christians in Rome. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 8:8) What Jesus gave up for us was His life! Jesus intentionally took on the difficult job of dying for sinners. When we practice self-denial during Lent, we begin learning the depths of Jesus’ love for us.

The Apostle, John, writes in his first epistle, “10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:10-11) Jesus sacrificed His life and died for us because He loves us. You see, LOVE COSTS! Fasting and self-denial teach spiritual discipline. But, again, Lent is not about our discipline, it is about God’s sacrificial love for us in Jesus and how much it cost.

Remember, John does not just teach about Jesus’ love for us. He calls us to respond. “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Therefore, let me make a suggestion about your Lenten observance. Perhaps along with, or perhaps instead of, giving up something for Lent, why not learn about Jesus’ love by seeking to follow His example? Find someone to whom you can show sacrificial love. Do you know someone who at this time especially needs your kindness, your patience, your forebearance, your forgiveness? Perhaps you know someone it is difficult to love. Maybe you know someone needing forgiveness, or someone who needs someone to listen, or someone who is facing a great trial (such as the Ukrainians). Jesus paid His life to love us. A good way to observe Lent is to learn God’s love for us by loving others.

The young man in the grocery store asked Kathy, “May I ask, what are you giving up for Lent?” In many ways, choices about Lenten observance are personal. Kathy indicated to me that rather than giving up something for this season, she is seeking to add to her life in ways to grow her faith.

How are you observing Lent? Is there time for you to choose to show sacrificial love to someone in the name of Jesus? If you do choose this kind of sacrifice, your faith will grow in understanding God’s gracious love for you.