Why give up anything for
Lent? Why tell someone you love them on Valentine’s Day which just happens to
fall on the day after Ash Wednesday (today) this year? What does this have to
do with church burnings in northern India and mutilation of Christians in
Nigeria anyway? I’m glad you asked because there is a lot of connection.
One verse from the Bible lays
a more than adequate foundation for the season of Lent and the appropriateness
of having (Saint) Valentine’s Day fall near its beginning. That is the
well-known John 3:16. Love and sacrifice are brought together in the divine
context, and together they remain the primary principles for the Christian
life. One cannot deeply love without a willingness to sacrifice. Significant
sacrifice is rare without the motivation of love.
According to church history St.
Valentine and others with a similar name met martyrdom for their faith in the
early centuries of Christendom. Multiple legends grew over the years expressing
their faith and love. It was not until the days of Chaucer, however, that the
idea of romantic love was attached to these early saints. Since then Hallmark
supported by Godiva and Russell Stover has introduced us to the power of
romantic expression through cards and chocolate.
Enter Lent. With the approach
of Holy Week the joy Christians feel at the coming of Resurrection Sunday,
Easter, is tempered by the knowledge that before there could be that glorious
Sunday, there had to be Good Friday, the horror of Golgotha, the crucifixion.
The worst of Roman forms of capital punishment, crucifixion was designed to
maximize human pain and humiliation. A healthy individual could last as long as
three days nailed to a cross slowly succumbing to dehydration and weather
exposure.
With Lent we are asked to
remember the sacrifice that was made for us prior to being granted that
unbelievable gift of hope at the resurrection. Jesus took only about six hours
to die after being nailed to the cross. The short time can be at least partially
explained by the whipping he received first. The physical torture, however, was
not the sacrifice that brought us the hope. That was symbolized in the three
hours of darkness.
Upon rare occasions in the
Bible we see instances in which events take place that are in the hands of God
alone, and man at most is only an observer. The moment the covenant is made
with Abram (Genesis 15) is one such event. Another in the Old Testament might
be the confrontation between God and Elijah (I Kings 19). In the New Testament
a classic example is the Mount of Transfiguration event found in Matthew 17 and
parallel passages. The event that took place on the cross between God the
Father and God the Son is just such an occasion.
Mankind will never understand
the dynamics of redemption. We can only accept it as an act of divine love. The
Trinity is a doctrine beyond human comprehension because it exists only within
the Divine One. In those moments of darkness during the crucifixion, that
which had always been One was separated, and the Holy Father abandoned the
Perfect Son (Matthew 27:46) because of our sin. Our redemption, our hope of
salvation, came as a result of an event occurring within the Person of God.
For God loved so deeply, he
abandoned his Son. It was the only way we could be given hope. God, and his
Son, sacrificed to show divine love, the love that willingly sacrifices self to
show that love. Yes, it is very appropriate for Ash Wednesday and the season of
Lent to have Valentine’s Day included.
Oh, about those Christian
persecutions I mentioned earlier. Those people thought it was no sacrifice to
suffer loss of property, health, and life itself for their faith in Christ
after what he had done for them. It was just the natural response of love. So
take time to tell someone you love them. Do something that shows that love. Make
it happen more often that just on Valentine’s Day or during Lent.
