Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday

This is an extraordinary moment:  The last time Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday coincided was in 1945.  What’s more, it also feels like a strange convergence.  We just don’t tend to think about romantic love and the trek of self-denial leading to the cross at the same time.  But maybe we should.

Remember of the vision of marital love in Ephesians 5:21-33, with both husband and wife following the lead of Jesus and “dying to self” and living to love and bless each other.  Among other things, the Bible teaches that true love seeks joy in the joy of the beloved.  And what true love yearns to express most of all, in words and actions, is that those dear to us can be enveloped in the saving arms that were definitively extended toward us at the cross.

In other words, true love turns to one’s husband or wife (or to other loved ones, for that matter) and says, “Because I love you there’s nothing I want more for you than this—that you would fix your eyes on Jesus and set your heart on the wonder of his enemy-loving grace (Romans 5:8) demonstrated at the cross.”  “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

And, of course, the "cross-way" is our road to follow also:  Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).  Love gives thanks for the cross.  And love runs to the cross because it's the pathway to life, true eternal life!

If there were a section at the store for greeting cards with messages combining Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, maybe they would say something like this:  “I love you, and I want to follow with you in the steps of Jesus as he goes to his cross and as he is raised and ascends into eternal glory!”

By the way, if you’re curious about Lent and what to make of it, consider the perspectives of three Christian authors in this article at Christianity Today, “Lent—Why Bother?” And married couples, as well as those anticipating marriage, can benefit from Kevin DeYoung’s words of encouragement and the resources he notes, “Marriage Tune-Up:  Five Books, Five Questions.”