70 vs. 40

by David Haberstock

Some of you still remember the 1960s or ‘70s. Maybe you even remember the old one-year series of Bible readings (Lectionary) we used back in those days. Maybe your congregation still uses it.

I mention it because about 70 days before Easter—three Sundays before Ash Wednesday—the liturgical calendar moved from the Epiphany season to Gesimatide or Pre-Lent. Gesimatide are three Sundays with Latin names: Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. They mean approximately “70 days,” “60 days,” and “50 days till Easter” respectively. They serve as a bit of a countdown to Christ’s resurrection victory, just as the Advent wreath serves as a countdown to Christmas and Christ’s taking on our flesh.

But why highlight 70 days till Easter? Why are there 40 days of Lent?

Because those two numbers are important numbers in the Bible and for the Church. 70 was the number of years God decreed for the Old Testament church’s exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 25:12; Daniel 9:2; Ezra 1:1). It was a punishment on them for generations of unfaithfulness to His Word. But God, our loving Father, only punishes His children in order to guide, correct, and bless His children in the way that leads to life (Hebrews 12:7; Proverbs 13:24). So, He sent His people into exile for 70 years, where they pondered all they lost (Psalm 137), and where, for 70 years, they had no access to the Old Testament sacraments in the temple, where the synagogues (or “gatherings”) sprouted up for fellowship around God’s Word and prayer.

Many of us have gone without the Sacrament of the Altar for long stretches lately. Can you imagine going without it for 70 years?

The 70 years was a meant as a time for repentance, for reflection, for renewal, for renewed determination for the Sons of Israel before the Lord restored them to the land of promise (Hebrews 11:9-10).

The Church in her wisdom has given us a similar time—70 days—of repentance, reflection, and renewal to live as His people as we move to the Easter joy of our land of promise in the resurrection.

The 40 days of Lent, meanwhile, recalls the judgement of 40 days and nights of rain in the Flood (Genesis 7:4), as well as the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33-35). It is a time of judgement and renewal. For after the Flood, God brought forth a new earth and a new people according to His promise (2 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 3:20-21), just as after the wilderness wandering God raised up a new generation who, in faith, went up to conquer and take possession of the land of promise.

Now during both Gesimatide and Lent, the ancient practice was to fast and repent, turning away from worldly vices and to the living God. Both made use of the colour purple in church. Both seasons removed the Alleluia and Gloria in the service (see LSB 417). The real difference is not in practice, as the practices of Lent and Gesimatide are the same, but in focus. The readings of Gesimatide call us to repent (Matthew 20:1- 16, Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard) and turn to the Word (Luke 8:4-15, Parable of the Sower) who is our Salvation and healing (Luke 18:31-43).

But Lent (in the One Year Lectionary) is an intensification of our faith and trust in the Word of God, who, in almost all the Sundays of Lent, fights our demonic foes, heals our wounds from sin, and increases our joy. After all, on the first Sunday in Lent we always hear how Christ faced down Satan in the wilderness. For 40 days He ate nothing, relying on the Word of God alone (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3), and defeated Satan, doing what Adam could not (Genesis 3). Christ has turned 40 from a time of judgment into a time of preparation for the victory to come.

So the periods of 70 days and 40 days are times of renewal, refreshment, and preparation as the Lord turns us from ourselves and to Himself.

May this year’s Lententide, with its focus on turning to the Lord, increase your faith just as it did for our brothers of old in Babylon and the wilderness, as you die with Christ to your sin and rise with Him daily in Baptism, celebrating our ultimate resurrection with Him in the glorious joy of Easter.

Rev. David Haberstock

Rev. David Haberstock is Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)'s Central Regional Pastor.