Lent is choc-full of meaning

The Apostle Paul warns believers against attaching any spiritual weight to observing special days and seasons (Galatians 4:10; Colossians 2:16).

Yet across the global church, many find Lent deeply useful.

Beginning on Ash Wednesday (February 18 this year), Lent marks the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness at the outset of his ministry.

It invites dedication, repentance, and self-examination as we journey towards Easter.

But Lent must be about more than a well-timed social post announcing that we’ve “given up chocolate”.

Lent is not simply about skipping meals or swapping steaks for salad – it’s a spiritual recalibration.

And Jesus is very clear: if your fasting advertises itself through a sour face or public display, you’ve missed the point entirely.

In Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus says: “When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting.”

This is a warning against religious theatre – piety that performs well in public but leaves Heaven unimpressed. Jesus isn’t condemning fasting; he’s confronting hypocrisy.

Fasting, rightly practised, should be invisible to the crowd but unmistakable in character.

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