Today is Valentines Day and Ash Wednesday. Can I relate them somehow?
We’ve been learning in class about social identity in Biblical times. Western culture is individualistic. I do this and that. I define who I am. The ancient Biblical world did not see it that way. The smallest unit of identity was the family, the beit av (house of the father). This is why you see people frequently identified as the son of so-and-so (possibly going back multiple generations). When the gospel of Matthew introduces Jesus, he begins with a long genealogy to show Jesus’ pedigree. A person is defined by the family they are apart of.
Being single, Valentine’s Day has never been a day I look forward to. (I more often call it SAD, Singles Awareness Day) In the midst of wishing for that special someone, imagine the power of a statement like this: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1a) To call God Father and to be his child – what does this say about one’s identity? I am not defined by being single but by how God views me.
This is where Ash Wednesday comes in. This is a traditional Christian holiday that kicks off the season of Lent, which culminates with remembering Jesus’ death and resurrection. This was how God showed his love for us: he came to earth and died for our sins. It’s his way of saying, “I love you.”
