I am writing today on Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024. A day that other Christian denominations observe as the beginning of the Lenten Season. The season commemorates the forty days of the temptation of Christ in the desert, by observing a fast for the forty days leading up to Easter. (Sundays are excluded and not counted as fasting days.) When we lived in the Middle East our pastor called the season “the Period of Descent.” The idea is that it marks a period of reflection and repentance, fasting, and prayer. It is a time of waiting on the Lord.
Forty is a symbolic number in both the Old and New Testaments. It is symbolic because the number connects several stories. Noah waited on the ark for forty days after the flood. God led Moses and the people of Israel through the wilderness for forty years -- one year for every ten years they were in slavery in Egypt. Elijah fasted as he traveled forty days to reach Mount Horeb and was ministered to by angels. Jesus’ own forty days of temptation in the wilderness was a reenactment of both Moses’ and Elijah’s fasts. Just as the nation of Israel was tempted in the desert, Jesus was tempted in like manner. Where Israel failed each trial, Jesus triumphed.
Jesus taught the type of fast that his followers should practice. He wanted to distinguish between the false fast of the religious actors, which was outward and showy, and a true fast which allowed for a time of prayer, confession, and humility.
16 “Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” -- Matthew 6:16-18, CSB
The reformers had different ideas about fasting and lent, but they did not abolish it. For Luther the practice was to be continued: “Lent, Palm Sunday, and Holy Week shall be retained, not to force anyone to fast, but to preserve the Passion history and the Gospels appointed for that season.” (Luther, “German Mass”) Calvin thought the whole of the Christian life should be about temperance and restraint. He wanted to guard the practice of fasting against “superstition, notions of merit, and hypocrisy.” Calvin proposed three right motivations for fasting: “to subdue the flesh,” to be better prepared for prayer, and to place oneself in the proper posture of confession and repentance. (Calvin, “Institutes”)
How can we bring back an ancient practice that is both Biblical and beneficial? Is there a way to do this both individually and corporately, while guarding against public displays and hypocrisy?
Here are some items that we should be in prayer about this season:
Pray for the next director of the Nashville Baptist Association. We pray for wisdom and discernment for our board.
Pray for the churches. We have some who a seeking pastors and a few who are seeking new places of worship.
Pray for our pastors.
Pray for our nation, especially during an election year.
Pray for repentance, humility, and patient endurance.
I will be at the NBA office in East Nashville every Friday from noon to 1pm from now until Easter, if you would like to pray and fast together. If you want to send in prayer requests by phone or email, I will handle them discretely.
Fast and pray – Easter is coming!
Brett Boesch
Connections Strategist
225-288-9491
bboesch@nashvillebaptists.com