SEASONS - IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT LENT EVOLVED FROM THE PRACTICE OF PURIM?

LENT FROM PURIM????
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The rhythms of religious time are quite amazing.  

I have long held the theory that the season of Lent and the time of Purim are related and linked together in so many hidden and unnoticed ways.   

This becomes clearer to me each season that I observe Lent and Purim together.   That may sound a bit strange to some ears, considering the fact that Purim is a joyous holiday celebrating the end of more than two centuries of exile under the Babylonian Empire and the rescue of the Jewish people from an extermination plot by the sacrificial acts of Esther, and Lent is a time of fasting and penance during the 40 days, plus Sundays, from Ash Wednesday to Easter in the Christian calendar.  How could I possibly place these days together?   Think about it....

In this time of Lent, most Christian people remember the journey of Jesus to the cross and the time leading up to His resurrection.  

This is often the first place in time that many Christian people come to hear and appreciate all the details of the story of salvation.

In the time of Purim, most Jewish people remember the acts of Esther, how she was willing to sacrifice her life for her people and the time that led to the conviction of Haman, who was the enemy of the Jews.  It is as much about the defeat of Haman as the heroic acts of Esther.  His conviction and the reversal of the decree he had placed against Esther’s people saved the nation of Israel. 

Hmmmmm…..do you see the parallels here?  Can you see that sacrificial love in each case is saving people from total destruction?  We have Jesus defeating Satan; Esther defeating Haman.  God is definitely the author and orchestrator of both stories.   Both acts brought hope and new life and joy to those who had lost hope and joy.  Both stories are about great restorations and great reversals that only God could bring into totally hopeless circumstances. 

So I ponder these things each year as I celebrate both occasions; Lent with my Catholic brothers and sisters, and Purim with my Jewish brothers and sisters.  Oh wait….Oh dear….Have I lost you with this one statement?  I surely hope not.  Does it have to be either/or here?  Is not the same God teaching the Catholics and Protestants that teaches the Jews?  Can I not as a godly Protestant agree with some Catholic and Jewish customs and observances? 

I think yes! Not only do I think yes, but I think it very much matters that we recognize it is the same God at work in all cases.  Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant) and Judaism worship the same God.  We all have our Father in common.  Perhaps all of us do not yet know our brother, but we do recognize that our Father is the same.  This God we all worship is different than the god worshipped by Hindu’s, Buddhist and some other religions.  None of these cultures worship our God; they have their own gods, but the two cultures of Christianity and Judaism do worship the same God.   Who can read the scriptures and history and deny this fact?
 
I agree and recognize the fact that the Jewish people have not accepted the whole story yet, but just the same,  all of the stories are told specifically to them (Jews)  and us (Christians), by the same God, and it is evident throughout the scriptures.  So, each season I ponder and journey through both of these customs, because I have finally been able to see that it is not about US, but it is all about GOD, in both situations. 

Personally, I can’t get lost in the spirit of division that both sides are striving to defeat with these very observances that we speak of.  That would be too ironic for me.  The love of my Father gives me the grace to go both places and experience the richness of both occassions.  I must stay in the love of God that I see in both cases.   THE FOCUS MUST BE GOD IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND EITHER OF THESE TEACHINGS.  If you’re looking at the ways of man, you will miss it completely. 

God meets true hearts that celebrate Lent.  God meets true hearts that commemorate Purim.  Miracles keep happening to both Christians and Jews.  Prayers are heard and answered to both Christians and Jews. 

It always does my soul good to go back and have a deeper look at the parallels in both seasons, because they only prove this same theory to me over and over again.

For instance, let’s take a look at some scriptures found in Esther 9:20-23:  

And Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them.

Can you see the striking similarities more when you read this passage?   Did you catch those words saying “the day on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor?”   Can you see the picture of the Jews going from fasting (as Esther did with her maids before she went to the King on behalf of the people) to celebrating their freedom and the forgiveness from the decree of the King? 

Isn’t this just like Lent leading up to Easter, when Jesus first suffers and is then resurrected?  Do we not go from sorrow to joy?   We find such a shadow of the story of the cross and the resurrection in the story of Purim.  

Do we not see Satan defeated just as Haman was defeated?  There is the custom of the Jewish nation to always use plays to symbolize the stamping out of the name of Haman at Purim.  It was just a shadowing of Jesus forever defeating the work of Satan with the cross.   The Jewish people are very focused to remove all memory of Haman from the earth, just as the Christians are very focused on the fact that all sin should now be done away with. 

Do we not see the King of all Kings, the God of Heaven and Earth, overturning his decree against humankind and bringing mercy and forgiveness for their souls?  This is just as the King did to Haman’s decree after he hung him from the gallows.  He reversed the decree and gave freedom and mercy to the Jewish people in the land. 

A king's word cannot be reversed, just as the Word of God can never change.  The King could not legally take back his decree, but he could allow the Jews to defend themselves, which they boldly stepped up and did.  God could not change the curse that mankind brought on himself by disobedience, but He could allow them to be defended and covered by the blood of Jesus.  The price was still paid through a way of substitution.  The law was upheld, but The Christians claimed Jesus as their defense against sin and the mercy of God has prevailed!  The mourning has turned to joy! 

You may be astonished to see these things and how they have worked hand in hand together in the whole big picture of salvation. Then again, perhaps not; maybe you had already seen this picture that God painted for us twice.  I don’t know, but either way, now that the first glimpse has been presented, did you see the rest of the links? 

Did you see that one story would not have been possible without the other?   Had Esther not sacrificed herself to save the lives of her people on Purim, the bloodline of Christ would have been wiped out.  We, Christians, would not have our “rest of the story” to tell.   The mourning would not have been turned to joy.  Thank God for BOTH stories!

Does this make the miracle of Purim and the practice of Lent and Easter tie together even more for you?  I hope so.  These stories do go together.  They go together as surely as God will bring the two peoples together in the end.  We all share One Father.  This is a Father who prefers a united family.  We are not blending different religions in putting two and two together here.  Neither are of pagan origin.  We are simply understanding more completely ONE religion; the one where God The Father reigns over the Kingdom. 

He will clarify all the rest for us eventually.  Every little detail will pan out just as it is supposed to. 

In the meantime, let us open our eyes and love one another with respect and dignity and keep moving together toward the table of our Father in all that we do. 

Let us enjoy our feasts together because God has spoken and His words are “whosoever will may come.”