February 16, 2024 — Why Purple, in Lent?

The traditional color for the season of Lent is purple.

To produce garments dyed the color purple was expensive: the 4th-century-BC historian Theopompus reported, “Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon” in Asia Minor. And because it was so expensive to produce the dye and to make clothing dyed purple, these garments became status symbols. A child born to a reigning emperor was labeled  “porphyrogenitos,” or “born in the purple”, which may have been a sign of their wealthy status or because the birthing apartment was walled in Purple.

The dye substance consists of a mucous secretion from the hypobranchial gland of one of several predatory sea snails found in the eastern Mediterranean. As such, Purple is a kingly color, the color of royalty and the color of wealth. Purple is also, or has become, the penitential color for the Church.

Purple is certainly penitential in contrast to Rose, which is the color of Joy, worn on Laetare in Lent and Guadete sunday in Advent. But the only other person to wear Purple clothes in the New Testament was the rich man in the parable of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” (Luke 16:19). But his wearing purple is a sign of his wealth and self-righteousness.

In Mark 15:17ff they mention putting a purple cloak on Jesus as follows:

“And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on…”

They would go on to mock Jesus and then to lead him to his own death on the cross. Although they soldiers looked to mock Jesus by clothing him in purple, he went on to his glory on the cross. As such, we use the color purple in Lent as a reminder that Jesus is our true king.

Pastor Dave