Although written in 2020, Lent once again begins the first week of March. This has been popular of late, so I am reposting it. Blessings this Lent and always. PL
Although we have had a mild winter (as I write this), we likely enter March with the old adage, “March comes in like a lion, but goes out like a lamb,” entering our minds. Although not a phrase related to faith, it recently struck me that it very well could serve as one. For this year with March, we have also just entered Lent.
Some people are intimidated by Lent. They don’t want to think about sin and death. Yet as Christians, we should. Jesus came to defeat these dark powers over our lives. Recognizing our need is not only being honest and humble but an opportunity to increase our gratitude.
Lent isn’t just about more sacrifice and activity. It is a chance for us to reflect upon the story of salvation at work in the past and in each day of our lives. We are sinners yet simultaneously saints. Struggling yet free. Dying yet growing in our experience of a new life that will last eternally. Through the grace-filled moments and disciplines of Lent, God helps us grow in our love for God, our neighbor and of ourselves.
The lion which is sin proves a ravenous foe. Its roar is ignored at our peril, but it need not be a roar lasting in our ears or misshaping our lives. For the Lamb of God has come and speaks love to us. A name given Jesus by John the Baptizer, the Lamb of God reflects the sacrificial lamb, an atonement for sin, during the Temple period. The image is so powerful, the meaning so important, the symbol of a lamb carrying a Roman banner of victory became synonymous with Jesus. The Risen Christ has conquered death for us and for all who trust in him. It is the certainty of this truth that inspired Paul to write the church in Rome, “Yet in all these things [all the suffering and struggles of our worldly experience] we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” We already share his victory, and we can thus walk on in his peace.
The lion and lamb (as I am using them today) remain part of the story of our salvation and always go together. They cannot be separated for they prove both our history and inheritance. No surprise, the lion has thus commonly come to symbolize Christ, both in his suffering and his triumph. Echoing prophecy, the lamb and lion laying together have become a rightful symbol of paradise. It’s both resurrected life and a promised paradise that we will celebrate on Easter. I wish you all the blessings of a fruitful Lent, an experience graciously magnified by our shared Easter joy. Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Originally version published in the March 2020 newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA.
© 2020 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.
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