“We need to be more self-reflective than ever. Marketing has long drawn us into greed. Algorithms now draw us into fear and outrage. Politics draw us into viciousness. But those vices feed a foe within us — one more subtle and terrible than any foe without (Romans 7:14 – 25). How will we – as Christians in Greater Boston – endure the change and hardship coming while relating more deeply with Jesus? “
Lent is upon us, a season of spiritual discipline, reflection, and self-examination. In this week’s newsletter, we’re featuring Lent with Irenaeus, a new book by local author Mako Nagasawa, who is also an elder at Neighborhood Church of Dorchester.
Irenaeus of Lyons, a second-century bishop, confronted distorted beliefs and emphasized the wholeness of body, soul, and creation in the Christian faith. Read an excerpt of his book below to explore his timeless insights on spiritual formation to deepen your faith from the darkness of Lent to the light of Eastertide.
Lent is the forty day period before Easter — that is, Resurrection Sunday. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, when Christians often mark our foreheads with ash to remind us that we are mortal and will return one day to the dust. Lent ends with Holy Week – we recall Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem as king, confronting the powers, only to face anguish at Gethsemane, be crucified on Good Friday, and then, at last, be raised on Resurrection Sunday into an immortal life.
During this period in his life, Jesus journeyed to give and to gain. He went to give something up – his very life. He also went to gain something infinitely valuable — his humanity purified and perfected, and a way for us to share in what he accomplished. The letter to the Hebrews says Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame, for the joy set before him (Heb.12:2).
Lent is like a spiritual fitness routine. In order to more fully appreciate the significance of Jesus’ journey during Lent, Christians typically give something up — often a comfort item: meat; sugar; coffee; video games; social media. We let ourselves feel a physical or emotional pang of desire. We let this desire remind us of a deeper desire: the desire for a deeper connection with Jesus. Lent is, therefore, a season where we hope to gain things: a deeper hunger and thirst for Jesus and his righteousness (Mt.5:6), and strength over our lesser cravings – even if those lesser cravings help us cope with pain or loss. Perhaps especially if so.
Irenaeus is an outstanding guide in this Lenten journey. He was a Christian leader in the second century. He had been mentored by Polycarp of Smyrna in western Asia Minor, the region where Jesus’ apostles – his earliest followers – had spent the most time investing in new communities. Polycarp had been mentored by the apostle John, so Irenaeus’ pedigree was impressive. He might have died as a martyr, but certainly he was ready to, as his predecessor Pothinus of Lyons and mentor Polycarp of Smyrna both died by martyrdom. How did he come to love Jesus that much?
Irenaeus defended the Christian faith against “gnostic” influences — those who believed the body was evil or worthless or didn’t matter as much as the soul and the mind. So-called “gnostic Christians” then argued that Christian faith was about simply believing certain ideas while giving up on changing much of anything. It would have been the easier way to live, frankly. But Irenaeus knew that our journey with Jesus had to be more fully embodied, and involve a retraining of our whole being. For we are, as Irenaeus understood, human becomings.
Most of these reflections come from the fourth book of Irenaeus’ five volume work, Against Heresies. In this book especially, Irenaeus connects the stories and practices of the Old Testament to Jesus. The gnostics wanted to disconnect Jesus from the ancient Jewish story and community. Irenaeus points out that Jesus’ physical humanity was dependent on the Jewish community from which he came. God had shaped and trained ancient Israel in certain ways, with their partnership. Jesus embraced that training and journeyed further.
I hope Irenaeus’ reflections on this journey with Jesus helps you this Lenten season. For this early Christian leader – Irenaeus – believed it was a journey of becoming truly human.
Reflection 2: We Ascend to God or Descend to the Animal
We often think of Lent as a season where we give up something, which is often a comfort item: meat; sugar; screen time; chocolate. We let ourselves feel the loss or lack of that thing. We let this lack lead us to feel desire, and this desire reminds us that our deepest desire is for Jesus. So during Lent, we hope to gain things: a deeper hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Jesus (Mt.5:6), and strength over our lesser cravings – even if those lesser cravings help us cope with pain or loss.
Irenaeus speaks of this training of our desires. He says we either ascend towards God, or descend towards the animal – or, at least, certain types of wild animals. As finite beings created and loved by the infinite God, we are meant to grow infinitely in relation to God… Yet, the apostle Peter said that those who sin without repenting eventually become “slaves to corruption, for people are slaves to whatever masters them” (2 Pet.2:19). Peter, quoting King Solomon in Proverbs 26:11, says that such people are like dogs that return to their vomit or pigs that return to mud. Irenaeus, citing Peter, explains it in terms of desires and longings: “Now, spiritual men shall not be incorporeal spirits; but our substance, that is, the union of flesh and spirit, receiving the Spirit of God, makes up the spiritual man. But those who do indeed reject the Spirit’s counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men, [I say], does the apostle very properly term “carnal,” because they have no thought of anything else except carnal things.” (AH 5.8.2, italics mine, quoting 2 Pet.2:12 – 22; Prov.26:11; cf. AH 4.4.3, quoting Ps.49:12)
Consider how we might “live after the manner of swine and of dogs” as Peter and Irenaeus mention, unpleasant as that might be. We can make our habitats – our families, friendships, and organizations – morally and spiritually unhealthy. For example, if we make a home for toxic favoritism or disdain, allow gossip and conflicts to fester in our presence, or get defensive when we are wrong, then we are like those pigs who sit in the mud and their own excrement. If we are in leadership and allow sins to go unaddressed, we contribute to an unhealthy environment where other people suffer.
We need to be more self-reflective than ever. Marketing has long drawn us into greed. Algorithms now draw us into fear and outrage. Politics draw us into viciousness. But those vices feed a foe within us — one more subtle and terrible than any foe without (Romans 7:14 – 25). How will we – as Christians in Greater Boston – endure the change and hardship coming while relating more deeply with Jesus?
