From today’s reading...
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry.”
Luke 4:1-2
The other day a wise, enlightened Biblical scholar replied to one of my posts about Lent, “I’m giving up Lent. It’s not in the Bible anyway. Another facet of man-made religion.”
What do you call it when one man comes up with his own interpretation of the Bible and makes up his own practices and traditions?
What’s the word or phrase I’m looking for?
Oh, I know: man-made religion.
Yeah. That’s it!
To his credit, he agrees, “There should be times and seasons of fasting, but it doesn’t have to be Lent. In fact, since Lent has its roots in Babylonian sun god worship,…” (Ugh. And the crucifix has its roots in Roman dictatorships and torture, so should we burn all the crosses, or can symbols take on new meaning over, oh, I don’t know…2,000 years?!)
Who picks those “times and seasons of fasting?”
Isn’t that a “facet of man-made religion” if he does it?
If we leave it up to each person to choose, aren’t they practicing their own “man-made religion”?
There’s an old African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
We’re in this together.
Jesus chose 12, then He chose 72 and sent them out in pairs (Luke 10:1).
Jesus built a community. Jesus created the Church, which is why He is called the “cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20).
As a community, we have traditions and customs.
We have 7-day weeks.
We agree on which side of the road we’ll drive.
We celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
We agree that not only is today Sunday, but it’s also March 6th, and it is 2022 years since the birth of Jesus Christ.
Is agreeing on today’s date part of being tricked by a man-made religion?
Never mind. I digress.
We can discuss Julian and Gregorian calendars in a future post.
Let’s turn our attention back to fasting, Lent, and fasting during Lent.
If there “should be times and seasons of fasting,” it means that fasting is beneficial, maybe even important, maybe even vital to one’s physical and spiritual health.
I mean, if Jesus did it, we should, too, right?
So what do we do with important, beneficial, vital things like mammograms, physicals, and dental x-rays?
That’s right.
We schedule them…annually.
What’s more important than ensuring your soul is healthy?
That’s right.
Nothing.
So be like Jesus.
Go into the desert for 40 days.
Do it each year to prepare for Easter because it’s the only way to...
Stay the course.
Keep the faith.
Endure.
Now go sell something.
