(Tripp Ledger – 3/10/2015)

The Joy of Lent

We are now roughly halfway through the season of Lent – a time of sober reflection as we consider the great suffering and pains that our Lord Jesus Christ endured in order to free us from our sin.  However, it is important not to lose sight of the undercurrent of joy that permeates the Lenten season.  Hebrews 12:2 says of Jesus, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Jesus, despite having to suffer immensely, still went to the cross with joy.  How was He able to do this?  It was because He knew what was being accomplished, and His understanding allowed Him to experience joy even amidst great suffering.

Nehemiah shows us the correlation between understanding and joy.  When the Jewish people finally returned from a period of captivity and exile into Babylon, the leaders gathered them together and Ezra the priest had the Law of Moses read aloud to the people.  The readers also were “giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read” (Neh. 8:8).  As the people listened, they wept at hearing the commands of the Lord that had not been kept.  Afterwards, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the other leaders of the people exhorted them, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.”  In verse 10, Nehemiah says to them, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is holy to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  And the people did this with “great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them” (Neh. 8:12).

When we read the Word of God we are right to react initially with mourning.  However, once we have been given true understanding through the lens of the Cross of Christ, we are also right to have our mourning turn into joy.  Observance of the Church calendar leads us from this mourning into joy.  In Lent, we reflect, we mourn and fast, but through it all we also are to be instructed.  For this, too, is a long-practiced tradition in the church. Lent was to be used as a time to be reminded of the basic tenets of faith through study of the catechism.  And when that period of reflection and instruction comes to a close, we are naturally moved into and rightly prepared for the celebration of the joy of the Resurrection.