The Lenten season often takes on a sombre, solemn note, However, if we trace the etymological origins of the word, “Lent”, it surprisingly means “Spring” or “Springtime” in the Old English, lencten and was meant to describe the lengthening of the time of sunshine allotted in a day, when the colder season of Spring transited into warmer days (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). It is interesting that Spring is a season of new life and growth.

Lent in the Church’s calendar is in fact, an invitation to new life – where the old self of debauchery and sin dies away, and we grow into the new person that Christ has meant for us. These forty days of transformation, of prayer, fasting, penance, reconciliation, and almsgiving, begin on Ash Wednesday, and end at sundown on Holy Thursday, excluding Sundays (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2024).

Why 40 days? The number 40, besides the number 7, is found extensively in Scripture. In the literature of the Jews, the number 40, is often used to replace or symbolise the notions of “many”, “some”, or “much”, and hence is not a definitive number, but an abstract, symbolic number. Accordingly in Jewish tradition, a person was seen to have arrived at the prime and height of his or her life at the age of 40, and because of this, 40 years became indicative of a generation (Jastrow & Casanowicz, 1906).

How 40 days became associated with a time of suffering, purification, and trial, can be traced to Jesus’ own 40 days spent in the wilderness as he prepared for his public ministry. Mark 1: 12-15 states, “At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’

The forty days that Jesus experienced in the desert parallel a number of significant events in the Old Testament:

  1. Genesis 7:4 speaks of how a great flood was commission by God to cleanse and purify the face of the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.
  2. Genesis 8:5-6 tell us of how Noah remained in the ark for 40 more days as the rains stopped and the flood receded, as the Lord renewed the earth.
  3. In Acts 7: 22 – 36, we hear of how Moses having come to understand his true identity, left the court of Pharoah at the age of 40 years, then because he killed an Egyptian, fled to the desert where he shepherded flock for another 40 years, before he encountered the Burning Bush. He then led the Hebrews out of Egypt through the red sea, and spent another 40 years in Exodus in the wilderness.
  4. Exodus 34:28 reveals that Moses had fasted for 40 days and nights before he received the tablets of the ten commandments.
  5. Numbers 13: 25 shows us how the reconnaissance team sent by Moses surveyed the land for 40 days, before returning with their findings.
  6. 1 Kings 19:8 documents how Elijah walked in the wilderness for 40 days and nights before he encountered the Lord at Mount Horeb.
  7. Ezekiel 4:5-6 recalls how the prophet Ezekiel was tasked to lie on his left side for 390 days, with each day representing a year, to signify 10 generations of 40 years each that Israel had sinned against the Lord, and subsequently another 40 days on his right side to signify the 40 years that Judah had trespassed against the Lord.
  8. 1 Samuel 17:16 recounts how Goliath challenged the Israelites for 40 days.
  9. In Jonah 3:4-5, we read of how Nineveh was gifted 40 days to repent, before the Lord destroyed the city.

(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2018; Jastrow & Casanowicz, 1906)

If Jesus is the sum and fulfilment of the Scriptures, then his 40 days, not only reveal his humanity, as he was tempted in every way, but that these 40 days serve to redeem and ransom everything that has happened before.

We can choose to let these 40 days of Lent slip by, or we can use these days intentionally to deepen our relationship with God and to attune our minds, hearts, and senses so as to journey interiorly, and encounter God’s call for us once more in a tangible way, so as to better prepare us to receive the miracle that we are yearning for at Easter.

With these 40 days, there is a stirring, a restlessness, and an anticipation that something amazing, and extraordinary is about to happen in our lives.

 

By the Grace of God,

Brian Bartholomew Tan

 

References

 

Jastrow, M. & Casanowicz, I. M. (1906). Forty, the Number, Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6248-forty-the-number

 

Online Etymology Dictionary. (n.d.) Lent. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved February 18, 2024 from https://www.etymonline.com/word/Lent

 

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2018). Fact of Faith. Why is Lent Forty Days? USCCB. Retrieved February 18, 2024 from https://www.usccb.org/resources/Why%20is%20Lent%2040%20Days.pdf

 

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024). What is Lent? USCCB. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/lent