We are now in the period of Lent, so over the next few weeks I’m going to look at the traditions, this week 40 days.
We saw Ash Wednesday always falls 46 days before Easter Sunday. Lent as a representation of the Temptation of Christ as he fasted for 40 days and nights in the Judaean Desert.
The early church leaders decided that the period of fasting should not include Sundays which were ‘feast’ days, so the 40 days were increased to 46.
I find that a poor excuse, when Jesus was in the wilderness and tempted by the devil to turn stones in to bread his reply wasn’t, “It’s OK, I will just wait until the Sabbath when I can eat as much as I want”.
When we are going through difficult times, we know from Jesus’s experience in the wilderness, that Jesus has been there to.
In the bible ’40’ seems to have a significance and are often related to a time of trial, for example, at the time of Moses it rained for 40 days and 40 nights Genesis 7:12, Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days & 40 nights Exodus 24:18. Some people see ’40’ as some sort of magic number, but one of the few sermons I can remember from my youth suggested ’40’ was a just a long period of time.