A plea to consider fasting

Jesus never commands his disciples to fast. He assumes they will.

 In Matthew 6:16–18 after his teaching on prayer Jesus says,  

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

During his ministry, Jesus’ disciples were considered odd because they didn’t fast. Jesus’ response was that the time wasn’t right. His presence among the people should be a time of celebration, but afterwards, when he’s gone, fasting will take place.

So, Jesus assumes his disciples will fast after he’s gone. Here in Matthew 6, he lays out what proper fasting should look like. In his teaching on prayer Jesus tells his disciples to not be like the pagans, treating prayer like magic that if you just say the right words you’ll get what you want. He also warns them against the example of “the hypocrites,” those Jews excelling in the technical correctness of the Law, who completely missed the heart and purpose of it. They were hypocrites, according to Jesus, because they primarily did these religious acts to be seen and thought well of by other people. They weren’t doing it for God but as a way to gain status in their communities. When it comes to fasting, Jesus gives the same warning that he gave against imitating “the hypocrites” in prayer. They try to show people they are fasting. Jesus’ instruction is that we fast for an audience of one. If you fast toward God, and God alone, he sees and he responds, just like with prayer.

When it comes to fasting today, there are some traditions that still practice fasting as a corporate aspect of worship, while others focus on fasting as an individual spiritual discipline. In my church background, fasting was something that you did if you needed God to do something big. But in most cases, it wasn’t discussed. Generally speaking, I think this is still true today in much of the Evangelical world. Fasting is there. It exists, but it’s on the fringes. It is murky, probably dangerous or at best unhealthy, and if you have no other resort, sure, maybe give it a shot. But this is a shame because not only does fasting have a tremendous biblical pedigree, if we go back to the very passage we were looking it, fasting is addressed right along together with giving and prayer. We take those two practices seriously, why not fasting? How is it that giving and prayer are things that we think should be central to a Christian’s life, but somehow fasting doesn’t make the cut?  

The simple answer is because fasting is weird and not eating is hard. But if we are going to take Jesus at his word, we should give fasting a chance. We should put it back on the list with prayer and giving as something that marks a Christian’s life. So, go on and give fasting a try. If you don’t know how, I’ll be doing another post about how to fast.