Springtime for the Soul
A Lenten Devotional
by
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Week 1.1—Ash Wednesday
Springtime for the Soul
First Reading: 2Peter 1:1-15; 3:1-2 Poetry & Wisdom: Ps. 103:1-14 Second Reading: Luke 24:1-12
“Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again” (Luke 24:6-7).
————————Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the season of preparation for our Lord’s passion on Good Friday and the anticipation of his Easter resurrection. Many Christians throughout the world will fast and assemble today in solemn worship and have the sign of the cross drawn on their foreheads with ashes. The pastor or priest may say, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19), and/or alternately, “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The ashes are a sign of repentance and sorrow for our sins before a holy and merciful God (e.g. Jon. 3:5f). It is a somber reminder of the brevity of life, and our ultimate accountability with our creator and judge.
Remember! This is a frequent exhortation in scripture. Moses called upon Israel to remember. “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut. 5:15). “Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments” (Deut. 8:2). “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you” (Deut. 15:15). Therefore, ancient Israel and the Jews to this day remember God’s deliverance and the exodus in the annual observance of the Passover.
Passover could fall on any day of the week. However, according to John, Jesus was crucified and died on the day of Preparation for a particularly holy Passover, a sabbath day of “great solemnity” (John 19:31). That implies that the Passover that year coincided with the sabbath, the seventh day of the week. In other words, the Passover was a fixed holy day in the Jewish lunar calendar and not a fixed day in the week.
On the fourteenth day of the first month in the Jewish lunar calendar, the day of Preparation for the Passover (Mark 15:42; John 19:14), a lamb or goat was slaughtered in the afternoon. In the evening after sunset, which marks the beginning of Passover, the sacrificial animal was roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Exod. 12:1-20; Lev. 23:5-8; Num. 28:16-25). It was a holy day of remembrance.
Setting the date for the Jewish Passover, and therefore Good Friday and Easter, would seem initially quite simple. However, this is not the case. Determining the date for Good Friday and Easter has caused many disputes and even historic schisms in the church. In part the problem is caused by the calendars – Jewish, Julian, and Gregorian. In general, Christians abandoned the custom of relying upon the Jewish Passover full moon in the fourth century. Subsequently, the western church adopted the Gregorian calendar, while the eastern church retained the older Julian calendar. Whereas the early church observed the holy days in relationship with the Passover, currently Easter in the west may occur on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. In the eastern Orthodox churches Easter is usually later. Therefore there is only a loose association between the date of the vernal or spring equinox, the Jewish Passover, the Christian observance of Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter. The first day of spring is an astronomical event, the day in which the earth’s equator passes through the center of the sun. The length of day and night, light and darkness, is equal on that day. Beginning with the spring equinox, in the northern hemisphere the daylight hours lengthen a few minutes each day until the longest day of the year – i.e. the summer solstice, which is the first day of summer.2 Good Friday is the Christian “Passover,” our day of remembrance. It is the day on which Jesus, the Lamb of God, was crucified and died to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Crucifixion is a gory business – i.e. capital punishment at its worst; reserved for the most hideous of crimes in the Roman Empire. Jesus suffered crucifixion and death for the forgiveness of our sins, yours and mine. Remember this is the good news of the gospel, the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:27; Luke 22:19; 24:46; 1Cor. 11:24-25).
Lent is the season of preparation for Good Friday and the anticipation of Easter. Remember, there can be no Easter joy without the plowing and cultivation of the crusty winter soil; no Easter joy without heavenly rains to soften the earth; and no Easter joy without the planting of seed, death and dying. This is the noble purpose of these Lenten readings and meditations. They aspires to renew the mind and inspire the heart with reminders and fresh insights into the essentials of our faith. Remember, Lent is springtime for the soul.
Prayer:
It is my prayer, blessed Spirit of truth, that these forty days of Lent
shall be a season of plowing and cultivating the soil of my heart
Through the reading of scripture and meditation upon the words spoken
by Moses, the prophets, Christ our Lord, and the apostles.
Please send your rain and plant new seed in this springtime for my soul. Amen.
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About the Book
Lent has the historic, root meaning of spring, springtime, and the lengthening of the days. In the days of winter, there is a longing for spring, a longing for the lengthening of days, more sunshine, warmer temperatures, less frost and bone-chilling cold.
Lent is the season of springtime for the soul. That certainly is a positive twist on Lent. Commonly, the first thought that comes to mind is a season of penitence and fasting from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Too frequently, the somber aspect of abstinence, self-discipline, reflection, and introspection has so dominated our observance of Lent that we want Mardi Gras to never end.
Springtime for the Soul: A Lenten Devotional is a series of readings and meditations composed for Christians—God’s holy ones, saints—who are on a quest to grow and gain a greater understanding of our faith. It is my purpose and hope that you will find the daily readings and the meditations refreshing and encouraging, cultivating the crusty winter soil of the heart and germinating new thoughts concerning the essentials of our living faith.
About the Author
Rev. Dr. Melvin H. Shoemaker (MDiv, MPhil, DMin) was professor of New Testament biblical literature and theology in the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California, from 1986 to 2005. Previously, he was professor of religion at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Indiana. He is an ordained minister in the Wesleyan Church and served as a parish minister for twenty years. He is the author of The Theology of the Four Gospels (WestBow Press, 2011) and Good News for Today: A Lenten Devotional (WestBow Press, 2013) and is a contributor to numerous anthologies, dictionaries, and scholarly journals in biblical literature and theology. Dr. Shoemaker retired in 2005 and now resides in Portland, Oregon.