The first gospel text read at the beginning of Lent this year reminds us how the early church came up with the duration of the Lenten season. The forty day period before Easter mirrors the forty days Jesus sent in the wilderness fasting and praying.

The first epistle text read at the beginning of Lent this year reminds us of something else: what awaits us at the conclusion of these forty days — nothing less than the very destruction of death’s power and the triumph of God’s grace and righteousness.

We color Lent with the grey of Ash Wednesday ashes. We see it as a kind of long slog of things “given up” or new tasks to accomplish. But Paul’s text from Romans encourages us to look to the end of this Lenten season and see the light of Easter up ahead. The days of Lent are not merely about d…