Lent: 40 Days of Repentance and Spiritual Growth

Lent is a 40-day season of spiritual devotion before Easter where Christians practice fasting, prayer, and repentance to meditate on Christ’s suffering and pursue deeper faith through self-discipline.

Church Calendar Lent 36

This refers to the 40-day period before Easter, excluding the six Sundays within that span. These 40 days are set apart as a time of fasting, special prayer, and spiritual discipline. Throughout Scripture, the number ’40’ appears in connection with many significant events, and in most cases it serves as a symbol of suffering, trial, and endurance.

Stories in the Bible reflecting the significance of the number 40 include the rain that fell for 40 days and 40 nights during Noah’s flood, the Israelites who wandered in the harsh wilderness for 40 years after the Exodus, and Jesus, who was tempted by the devil in the wilderness for 40 days. As these accounts illustrate, ’40’ is a number that symbolizes suffering, trial, and endurance.

During the season of Lent, believers are called to reflect on the cross of our Lord and, through repentance and prayer, self-discipline and fasting, deep meditation and devout living, to meditate on the path of suffering that our Lord walked — and to give thanks for His grace. In Roman Catholicism and the Church of England, “Lent” is also referred to as the “Great Fast.” Until the early third century, no fixed period was observed, and it was kept for only two or three days; beginning with the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, a forty-day period was established. However, the length of Lent differed between the Eastern Church and the Western Church.

The Eastern Church, from around A.D. 600, observed seven weeks, while the Western Church observed six weeks. Only the Jerusalem Church continued to keep forty days as in the fourth century, though only five of those days were observed as fasting days. It was from the time of Pope Gregory onward that the forty-day observance became standard, and Lent came to begin on Ash Wednesday.

In the early Christian church, during the Lenten season, believers ate simple, vegetable-based meals — excluding meat — known as “Lent Fare.” Only one meal was permitted per day, eaten in the evening, and only vegetables, fish, and eggs were allowed. By the ninth century this practice was somewhat relaxed, and from the thirteenth century a light midday meal was also permitted. In Milan, fasting was observed for thirty-six days, and between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, parish clergy began their fast from Septuagesima. In the modern era, however, fasting requirements have been considerably relaxed, and depending on the church, Lent is now observed through charitable service and spiritual disciplines in place of strict fasting.

Source: Dictionary of Biblical Cultural Background

The Symbolism of Numbers Used in the Bible 12

Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com