Lenten Discipline – Lenten Discipling

Let’s face it, taking on a discipline for Lent sounds like a drag. I think this has come down to us in the faith with a certain amount of ambiguity. It has a great deal to do with language and translation. The Greek word for discipline is the verb, paideuo (paideu,w), which means to instruct, train, teach;  or to discipline, correct; whip, scourge, beat. But the reason we might take on a discipline at this time of year is to bring ourselves closer to Jesus Christ, to become his disciple. The Greek word for disciple is completely different. The noun is mathetes (maqhth,j), a disciple, pupil, follower. In the Greek-speaking world in the time of Jesus (and that is the frame of reference for the New Testament), teachers and philosophers would gather a group of disciples, students. And lead them they did, quite literally. The teacher would walk before his students and speak and act out his vision of what the world was all about. I have no difficulty at all in envisioning Jesus and the Twelve in just this way: Jesus and the Twelve walking from village to village and talking about the various situations that they would encounter. In this, Jesus was the teacher and the Twelve were followers, disciples. Perhaps for clarity we should talk about Lenten Discipling, walking With Jesus.

Historically, Christians have engaged in activities like regimens of prayer and fasting, Bible reading, selective fasts (like giving up chocolate or meat) and other such things. These devotional activities are personal and, for many of us, quite rewarding. But even these have, as their goal, growing closer to Jesus that we might walk the disciple’s walk behind our leader and are not meant to be punitive. Lent is a great season for discipling behind our Lord because it is the season in which the church remembers the walk that Jesus walked.

I say all of this as a way to make a simple suggestion to one and all who would call themselves Christians. What is it that makes you feel close to Jesus? When is it that that happens for you? Without laying a bunch of guilt on yourself, for we know that Jesus was all about God’s grace, is there a way for you to put yourself in that place and time a little more often and a little more mindfully? If your answer to this last question is, yes, then I would invite you and encourage you to do so this Lenten season. God drew near to us in Christ that we might draw near to God. Discipling gets us closer to Jesus, closer to God. That doesn’t sound like such a drag now, does it?

Lenten Blessings,

Andrew