The Secret Life of Christians, part 3: Fasting

“Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven…

And when you fast, don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward. When you fast, brush your hair and wash your face. Then you won’t look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

~ Jesus, in Matthew 6:1, 16-18

Fasting is a very popular health practice these days. Want a detox cleanse, weight loss, or mental clarity? Popular culture offers total fasts, intermittent fasts, and partial fasts for your health journey.

However, long before fasting was made popular for health reasons, it was a regular spiritual practice across many different religious faiths, including Judaism and Christianity.

In the first half of Matthew 6, Jesus warns his followers against doing spiritual or good deeds to be seen by others.  Doing “religious acts” with bad motivation or with a heart that is not oriented toward God is a danger we all face, and Jesus speaks about the three most common acts of Jewish piety which some had twisted away from God: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.

Today, we wrap up our short series with look at the spiritual discipline of fasting.

What is biblical fasting? Probably not what you think it is (1):

Fasting has colourful history in Scripture, and it is very different from how we view fasting today.  The common understanding of fasting today teaches that we fast to get something. The standard promised benefits are spiritual growth, suppression of sin, improved health, better chance of answered prayer, or to achieve a higher level of spirituality.

However, this is not how the bible understands or teaches fasting.  In Scripture fasting was refraining from food (and possibly water) for a limited amount of time, and it was usually in response to a sacred or grievous moment. In other words, fasting in Bible is never about what we get but about entering into “what God thinks and feels about death, sin, war, violence, and injustice.” If a death or catastrophe or sickness occurred, an Israelite would fast and join with God in God’s grief over that event.

In OT, Law of Moses commanded a fast only once a year – at Day of Atonement as Israel prepared for confession, atonement, and forgiveness. During Israel’s time in Exile, regular fasts of remembrance became normal (but never commanded in Scripture). 

However, like all of us who twist the good things of God into things that cause us harm, Israel soon developed ways to abuse fasting. In Zechariah 7:5 God says, “You’ve done all these fasts, but was it really for me you fasted?” In Isaiah 58 the people thought if they fasted God would notice them and do what they want, and they complain that they’ve fasted and God has not been manipulated by their empty religious deeds.  God replies: 

“You’re fasting and wearing sackcloth and ashes, yet you’re evil. You give up food yet do not feed the poor. What I want more than empty religion is doing justice, caring for the poor, and feeding the hungry.”

By Jesus’ time fasting was a biweekly act of piety (every Monday and Thursday), done from evening meal to evening meal (i.e. skipping breakfast and lunch). This is why some called Jesus into question because his followers did not fast as the Pharisees did.  Jesus’ response indicates that though they did not fast while he was with them, they would in the future. So here in Matthew 6 he says…

WHEN you fast…

Jesus expects his followers to practice fasting, and the central issue for Jesus when it comes to fasting is the same as with almsgiving and prayer: is the act done to be noticed as pious and gain reputation, or is it done with eye, heart, mind, soul focused on God?

So Jesus tells followers that when they fast, they are not to look intentionally gloomy like hypocrites. The issue is the intention of the act. Feeling grief is fine; intentionally showing grief to be noticed by others is not.

Hypocrites turn a sacred moment into a theatrical performance to draw attention to themselves. That’s the twistedness of hypocrisy. It manipulates a sacred moment or act and makes it about me. Worship becomes about how it makes me feel.  However, when we make sacred moments about ourselves, when we take a spiritual act or a good deed as an opportunity to perform for others or God, Jesus says we have received our reward in full.  Nothing else good is coming our way.

Instead, says Jesus, fast quietly. Don’t make it obvious. That said, there’s no need to lie or deceive others (my rule of thumb is simply don’t talk about it, but if someone asks, be honest). 

PAUSE and REFLECT:

What is your relationship with fasting like? Is it something you do, avoid, don’t really think about? What would it look like for you to engage in this ancient spiritual practice?

Jesus invites us to return to the biblical reason for fasting – to respond to life’s sacred moments and enter into God’s perspective and heart on a matter.  It helps us to crucify the flesh and find joy in the new life offered us in Jesus Christ.

Practicing biblical fasting

Is fasting a good thing? Absolutely. Are we expected to fast? Absolutely. Yet it remains on the periphery of our spiritual life for most of us. Here is a good resource from Renovaré on the spiritual discipline of fasting: Fasting: A Practical Guide.Here are some other things to remember (2):

1. Motive is what matters to Jesus. We need to stop motivating people to fast by what they might gain. Fasting is not about getting God to do something, but about gaining his perspective and heart.

   
   

2. Fasting is not the same thing as abstinence. To abstain is to select one item and cut it out of one’s life, possibly as a spiritual discipline. For example, one abstains from the internet; one does not fast from the internet.

   
   

3. Fast for the right reasons. If we are fasting for any of the popular health reasons (detox, weight loss, etc.), we are not engaging in a biblical fast. There’s nothing wrong with detoxing, but we should not be viewing it as a biblical fast.

   
   

4. Balance the spiritual discipline of fasting with the spiritual discipline of feasting.

(1) See Scot McKnight, The Story of God Commentary: Sermon on the Mount

(2) Edited from McKnight