Vol. 1 Issue 3 - March 2014

 THE MATHEMATICS OF LENT

I have probably told you about the dessert table at the college I attended. It was always full of irresistible treats. That table threatened many young ladies with the infamous “freshman fifteen,” the tendency of freshmen in college to gain at least fifteen pounds in their first year. Usually around Ash Wednesday one of the girls would talk about giving up the dessert table for Lent. They would sacrifice one of their favorite indulgences for the Forty Days. You can guess how this “fast” went: not well.

This yearly episode demonstrates some of the problems with fasting. Sinful man and woman wants to make fasting about something other than the mortification of the flesh so that repentance and faith might increase in the heart. What these girls really intended was to use the Lenten fast as a temporary diet plan to trim their waistlines.

Another problem was that this fast undertaken in the open. They spoke of it openly, probably to garner moral support from the others. But this also defeats the purpose of fasting. Jesus says in Matthew 6:17-18:

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Their fast was not an exercise of repentance and faith but a service to their bellies, not to fill their bellies with food but to but to make their flesh feel better. Fasting is supposed to curb the flesh so that we see its power in our lives.

Another problem that often comes with fasting is the sinful desire to make man-made fasts worth something in the eyes of the Lord. Throughout history many have imagined that man-made traditions (like abstaining from meat on Fridays or the other Lenten fasts) gain God’s favor. This was a problem of Romanism at the time of the Reformation. Melanchthon writes:

Secondly, these traditions have obscured the commandments of God, because traditions were placed far above the commandments of God. Christianity was thought to consist wholly in the observance of certain holy-days, rites, fasts, and vestures. These observances had won for themselves the exalted title of being the spiritual life and the perfect life. Meanwhile the commandments of God, according to each one's calling, were without honor namely, that the father brought up his offspring, that the mother bore children, that the prince governed the commonwealth,—these were accounted works that were worldly and imperfect, and far below those glittering observances. Thirdly, traditions brought great danger to consciences; for it was impossible to keep all traditions, and yet men judged these observances to be necessary acts of worship. (Augsburg Confession. Article XXVI: Of the Distinction of Meats)

Melanchthon’s point is that man-made traditions are detrimental to the true faith when they are taught as necessary for salvation. These traditions are just as detrimental when it is taught that these works make you a better Christian or a more faithful and pious person. The only way God is

pleased is by faith in Christ, which then causes you to live faithfully in your callings according to the Ten Commandments.

To Fast is a free thing, an adiapohra, an indifferent thing. When any tradition of man is taught as necessity or suggested as a way of pleasing God in any way, shape, or form, it has ceased to be indifferent and has become detrimental. The true purpose of fasting is to mortify the flesh, to bring the flesh under subjection so that we see its strength and rely upon Christ’s righteousness to overcome the desires of our sinful flesh.

So this brings us to the problem of mathematics. Usually to fast means to subtract food like dairy or certain kinds of meats for a time. But what if you can’t fast due to health and medicinal reasons? That’s fine because fasting isn’t mandatory.  You are free to subtract whatever it is that you want.

Here’s an even better idea though. Throw out subtraction from your Lenten observance altogether. Instead, try addition. Add more time in worship (this is why we have Matins on Wednesday mornings during Lent). Add more time reading and meditating on the Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions. Lent is a great time to read through the four Gospels to focus our thoughts on the life of Christ and His great mercy toward sinners. Read the six chief parts of the Small Catechism daily. Memorize your favorite hymn.

Go to private confession and absolution once a week during this holy season of repentance and faith in Christ. That is a great way to mortify the flesh and hear the Gospel from your pastor as from Christ Himself!

But whatever you decide to do, do it in secret. Don’t parade it around. Don’t disfigure your face or mope about your self-imposed burden. Do it for your own good, for the mortification of your sinful flesh, and as an exercise of your own God-given faith. As St. Peter writes:

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.  For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Whether you subtract from or add to your spiritual routine this Lent, do it all so that you may add to your faith all these things because faith alone pleases God. Your life with God is not wrapped up in fasting but in faith in Christ’s righteousness. Exercise that faith this season by adding something that builds and strengthens that sacred faith in Christ and His righteousness.

Ad Finem Illum. Amen.