Bible Reflection
Maria Peers
According to a few people in 1999, the year 2000 was going to be the end of the world. While this was debatable, most people that year shared a concern for our dependence on technology. The panic came from something known as the “millennium bug.” They were worried that computer systems would completely shut down once the date changed because the date was represented with two digits, meaning that computers would not know if it was 1900 or 2000. While it was rather silly to think that this might end the world, it was a time in recent history where we acknowledged our finite reality.
Our time here on Earth is limited and we do not need a computer system to remind us of that. In Y2K, the world did not end. We entered into a new millennium and this was cause for celebration. We can celebrate our life with more intention, knowing that it will end one day.
For many Christians, the time that we are in right now is called Lent. Each year, Lent is the 40-day period of time that leads up to Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday. Lent ends with the celebration of Easter which is the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The Lenten journey begins on Ash Wednesday, and services are held for Christians to receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads, drawn with ashes. The ashen cross comes from a verse in Genesis which reminds us what we are made of:
“For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (New American Version, Gen. 3.19).
This was spoken after Adam and Eve fell from the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were created to be in perfect communion with God, but the serpent tempted them, and their sin created a separation between humanity and God. During Lent, a person sacrifices something that interrupts their relationship with God. A common thing to offer up, for example, is listening to music. Some people choose to do this because they usually listen to songs that take the Lord’s name in vain. Other people do it because listening to music distracts them from praying. Another reason is to simply practise detachment from worldly things.
The ashes on our foreheads remind us of our death—not to scare us, but to remind us that nothing of this world is permanent. We are created to be in communion with God in Heaven, and Lent is a time to reflect on what we can give up to be closer to Him.
Ash Wednesday happened to fall on Valentine’s Day this year. It was an unusually poetic day to remember love and death. Gandhi is famous for saying, “Live as if you will die tomorrow.” He did not say this to scare people; rather, it is a cause for celebration to be so detached from distractions that a person can live up to their fullest potential today. By remembering death, we can silence those distractions and get our priorities in life right. When we consider that we do not know when our death is, we must ask ourselves:
Have I loved well?
If the answer does not feel satisfactory, the next question is:
What can I do to love my neighbours and enemies better?
Do I know that God is my Heavenly Father, and He delights in me, simply for existing?
Do I love Him well or is there something in the way of my relationship with Him?
Lent is a time to give up one thing that gets in the way of our relationship with God. At the end of our lives, if we are satisfied that we have loved God and loved others the way Jesus taught us to, then we have nothing to fear. Everyday becomes a celebration. All that matters is giving and receiving love, which is the most satisfactory experience when placed in God, who is Love.