Like the Mother Goose character “Jack Sprat,” I am on a
low-fat diet. Thus you’d think I would have been thrilled this week when I
heard that scientists had produced the world’s first lab-grown burger,
synthetic strips of lean muscle germinated from cow stem cells and fashioned into
a patty. One food expert said it was “close to meat, but not juicy.” Another
tester said it was “chewy and tasteless.” And isn’t that an apt description of
man’s efforts to improve on God’s creation! Chewy and tasteless!
What was wrong with the $350,000 stem-burger? No fat. And, as
everyone knows, the flavor is in the fat—the more “marbled” a piece of meat,
the better it tastes. One day, Isaiah says, The Lord of Hosts will serve His
people a feast of “fat things full of marrow,” meaning, rich food and choice meats
(Is. 25:6). John says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast
of the Lamb” when we will exchange the dry “chewy and tasteless” man-made things
of earth for God’s “feast of fat things.” And I am quite sure, though juicy
burgers may be on the menu, it won’t be about the food!
Today is Ash Wednesday, which begins the 40-day discipline of Lent for many Christians (more common to Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans): a time of fasting, prayer, and self-examination before Resurrection Sunday. While the “holiday” is not to be found in the Bible (neither is Christmas or Easter), it seems to me the sentiment it carries is cross-centered: a time for Christians to identify with the sufferings of Christ.
Unfortunately, the day before Ash Wednesday is “Fat Tuesday,” the last day of Mardi Gras—an oddly pagan celebration devoted to overindulgence and revelry before the days of deprivation begin. For those who practice such licentiousness leading up to Lent, it is the greatest of hypocrisies. And perhaps for that reason, many of us who grew up non-Catholic never participated in Lent. But I think we may have “thrown out the baby with the bathwater” [forgive the expression].
The basic idea of Lent is rooted in the Lord's 40 days in the wilderness and temptation by Satan. So Lent reminds us how Jesus was tempted in all ways like as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). Now who can fault that! And what better time than these days leading up to Easter to examine ourselves to see if we are being faithful to His calling (2 Cor. 13:5; 2 Pe. 1:10). It seems to me that Lent is not an event as much as it is a state of mind to be cultivated—on any Wednesday.
The day before yesterday was “Fat Tuesday,” the last day of ‘Mardi Gras’—a ‘holiday’ devoted to overindulgence, revelry, and sinning as much as possible. The debauchery culminates on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday—a day of repentance—followed by Lent, 46 days of self-denial.
Any ‘real’ Christian recognizes the hypocrisy and outright foolishness of a day of deliberate sinning, followed by a day of repenting. But in our amoral culture, immature believers may be easily deceived by the spirit of “Mardi Gras.” In his letter to the Romans, after teaching them about God’s unlimited grace for the forgiveness of sin, Paul asks the rhetorical question: “Well then [since we have so much grace], should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness?" (6:1, NLT) Paul answers his own question with a resounding “Absolutely NOT,” asserting that Christians are dead to sin, and cannot possibly return to it any more than a dead person can come back to life.
Unfortunately, the spirit of “Mardi Gras” manifests itself in the Church! Immature believers take advantage of God’s grace by overindulging in some area of their life, saying ‘tomorrow I am going to deal with this sinful habit?’ Young persons, especially, are tempted to hold on to the “fun” years of their lives, thinking they can wait until they are older to become serious about their Christian walk.
Most of you reading this will not identify yourself as either young or immature. But you may want to rethink how the spirit of “Mardi Gras” may be affecting you. What spirit was in operation when you said to yourself “I know it's wrong to have another piece of chocolate pie; but I’ll make up for it tomorrow”?
