40 is a special number in the Bible. Noah spent 40 days on the ark, in one version of that story. The Israelites spend 40 years in the desert between slavery in Egypt and the Promised Land. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness after his Baptism confronting the temptation to give up his calling, and finally affirming that he will take it on.
In each case there is an old life to leave behind, a life of bondage, sin, narrowness, smallness, a sense of oneself less that what God calls us to fully be. And in each case, during the 40 days (or years) the old limited self, or people, or world, is rejected and the new is embraced.
Lent gives us 40 days to go through the same transition, to put behind us the self that was less than the ideal we strive for, and to reach out to and reconfirm our intention to being the fully realized person we were created to be.
Perhaps 40 days it what it takes. Maybe 20 days to give up the past and mourn and turn away. And then 20 more days to look forward, to open up and get ready. Today is day 6 of Lent. Where are you on your journey?
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2 comments:
I heard several years ago that the number 40 shows up so many times in the Bible because the stories come from a mathematically unsophisticated oral tradition.
40 is simply the count of one's fingers and toes times two.
I never heard that one. Makes sense though. I did learn that the 40 was not to be taken literally, it simply meant a big number. The way in English we use the words "several" or "dozens" in a vague way that just means a lot.
By the way, in Genesis 8:4 the Bible ays that Noah was in the ark for seven months and 17 days.
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