Journey to the Cross
Lent, from an old English word meaning “lengthen,” is observed in spring when the days begin to get longer. Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebration of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days, Matthew 4:1-2. Whereas Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his death on the cross, Lent recalls the events leading up to and including Jesus’ crucifixion.
The Christian churches that observe Lent in the 21st century use it as a time for prayer and penance. Only a small number of people today fast for the whole of Lent, although some maintain the practice on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is more common these days for believers to surrender a particular pleasure such as favorite foods. Whatever the sacrifice, it is a reflection of Jesus’ deprivation in the wilderness and a practice of self-discipline.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. In Ash Wednesday services churchgoers are marked on the forehead with a cross of ashes as a sign of penitence and mortality. The pastor marks each worshipper on the forehead, and says, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return,” based on God’s sentence on Adam in Genesis 3:19.
The marking of their forehead with a cross made of ashes reminds each churchgoer that:
- Death comes to everyone.
- Everyone is a sinner and depends on God’s grace and mercy.
- God made the first human being by breathing life into dust and without God, human beings are nothing more than dust and ashes.
The shape of the mark and the words used are symbolic in other ways:
- The cross is a reminder of the mark of the cross made at baptism.
- The phrase used when the ashes are administered reminds Christians that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.
- The cross of ashes may symbolize the way Christ’s victory on the cross replaces the Old Testament tradition of making burnt offerings to atone for sin.
The ashes used on Ash Wednesday may be made by burning the palm branches that were used on the previous year’s Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, so when those ashes are used to mark the cross on the believer’s forehead, they symbolize that through Christ’s death and resurrection, all people can be free from sin.