When Does Lent End? Bible Verses and Passages for Easter
As one of the most important Christian traditions – the Lent season – drew to a close, there were some who asked when it officially ended this year. Meanwhile, here are several verses and passages from the Bible that everyone can reflect on as they celebrate Easter.
When Did Lent 2017 End?
This year, Lent ended on Maundy Thursday, April 13. It is a 40-day tradition that officially starts with Ash Wednesday, which happened on March 1, and is a period where Christians carry out fasts and acts of sacrifices to show their faith.
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There is a common misconception that Easter Sunday is when the season of Lent ends. It is important to note that the 40-day period that starts with Ash Wednesday does not include Sundays. This means there are technically 46 days – counting Sundays – for the entire duration of the Lent.
Within this period, believers - and sometimes even non-believers - practice several acts of sacrifices such as giving up some types of food for a certain period of time. There is no rigid rule in carrying out these sacrifices or fasts. The main idea is to emulate Jesus Christ's sacrifice when he went through 40 days of fasting in the desert where he was repeatedly tempted by Satan according to Matthew 4:3.
Bible Verses and Passages for Easter
Apart from carrying out fasts and sacrifices, it is also important for everyone to reflect on God's Holy Scriptures. Here are several Bible verses that people can reflect on in time for Easter.
John 3:16 – "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
John 12:23-25 – "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
Luke 23:26-31 – "As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then 'they will say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!' For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
Romans 6:22-23 – "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
1 Peter 2:24 – "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."
