WEEK ONE

February 18 - February 21
Theme: Self Examination

Lent is a season of preparation, a time of self-examination and repentance. During the weeks ahead we focus on the sin and self-centeredness that so often grips our hearts, setting aside 40 days to seriously attend to the state of our souls. By entering into deep reflection and contrition we find ourselves over and over at the foot of the cross realizing that our only hope is to be found in Jesus Christ. Our journey together starts by meditating on the prayers of four individuals who were transformed by the Son of God: “Lord have mercy on me”; “Speak the word only and my soul shall be healed”; “I am the chief of sinners”; and “Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief.”

Wednesday, February 18 (Ash Wednesday)
Scripture: Mark 10:46-52
And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

TIME TO SEE

So many problems in our world are rooted in what might be called an epidemic of poor seeing. Not in the sense of physical eyesight or blindness, but in seeing as a disposition of clarity, focus, awareness, insight and attention. For a lot of reasons, we aren’t that great at recognizing things and seeing truth, beauty and goodness even when they are right in front of us. There are too many things distracting us, too many lesser pleasures vying for our attention and keeping us oblivious to the “infinite joy” that is at our disposal. “We are far too easily pleased,” wrote C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory. What keeps us blind is not that we desire too much; it’s that we desire too little.

The first step in improving our poor eyesight is recognizing that we need help. We must see that the way we currently see is imperfect. We can do better. Bartimaeus knew this and wasn’t ashamed of yelling out for Jesus to help, even when it resulted in ridicule from those around him. He didn’t let his pride inhibit his desire for growth. We must be willing to call out to Jesus to help us see more clearly.

We must also be willing to remove obstacles that inhibit our seeing. In our over-stimulated, hyper-mediated world where an app, article, video, or social media feed can fill every second of downtime, this is a huge challenge. But that’s part of why seasons like Lent can be so helpful. Lent strips away the excess and turns down the volume on our over-mediation. It’s a period of time that beckons us to simpler, almost minimalist existence—a removal of the buzzing bright lights that draw our eyes in a hundred different directions, allowing us to see more clearly the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As we deny ourselves, as we quiet our hearts and focus our busy minds, we identify with Christ in the desert, Christ in Gethsemane, Christ on the cross. This is all a preparation to exalt in the blinding bright hope of Christ the Resurrected. In a manner similar to what the Sabbath does for us on a weekly basis, Lent is a set-aside period of time to withdraw from an unrelenting pace and pause to reflect, rejoice, lament, anticipate. If we want to see more clearly, we must embrace seasons of focus like this.

The arts are also a mechanism of focus which can help improve our seeing skills. Art is about reflecting things back to us in such a way that we see them anew or understand them afresh. Art brings focus and framing (quite literally in a framed painting or the framing of a movie shot) to the incomprehensible vastness of mankind’s field of vision. It helps us see what we usually miss. It leads us to slow down and notice what we might otherwise have passed by. In this way art is a logical companion to Lent in the project of curing the epidemic of blindness.

As we begin this Lenten journey together I pray that the art and Scripture collected on each of the next 54 days will help improve our attention to and understanding of who Christ is and who we are in Him. As we press on in between the now of “seeing in a mirror dimly” and the not-yet of “seeing face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12), may we never be “too easily pleased” with our perceptive capabilities. There is always more to know. Always more to see.

PRAYER

Lord, bring us to our knees. Quiet our hearts.
Away from the onslaught of screens and tweets and texts, focus our eyes on you.
Abide in our perceptions, as we taste and see and hear that you are good.
Remove us from ourselves. Help us to dismiss our notions of grandeur and relinquish our litany of self-appointed rights: that we deserve jobs, comfort and cappuccinos; that our social updates deserve to be paid attention to; that the world revolves around us; that we can do with our bodies what we fancy; that the chief end of life is our own individual happiness.
Remove us from ourselves Lord, and draw us closer to You.
In the darkness, in the desert, in the endless debates, let us look to resurrection.
Let us see the rising sun. Amen.

Brett McCracken, Managing Editor, Biola Magazine