Fasting

Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
– Matthew 6:16-18

In this section of teaching Jesus touches on three acts of piety: giving (vs. 2-4), prayer (vs. 5-8), and fasting. We have examined the first two in previous posts; now we examine the third. Much of what should be said regarding fasting has already been said regarding giving and prayer. To avoid repeating, I would encourage you to revisit the blog post Practicing Religion. In that writing I proposed that the problem Jesus addresses is pride. He forces us to answer the question of why we give, why we pray, and why we fast. With any of these practices, our greatest benefit comes when pride is moved out of the way, and our “Father who sees what is done in secret will reward us” (v. 4, 6, and 18).

This raises the notion of rewards. As followers of Jesus, can we embrace the idea of being rewarded for our acts of piety? I believe we can. There is an idea, by no means new, that a deed does not remain good if it is rewarded. That is to say, if I do something good and then get recognition for it, or somehow benefit from it, the deed is robbed of its “goodness.” Perhaps this line of thought traces to Stoicism; I’m not a Stoic, so I can’t say for sure. What I can say with certainty is this: it would be difficult to submit to the teaching of the Bible and conclude that one never gains from acts of goodness or piety.

Think of how this would affect the way we understand Jesus and his sacrificial work. Consider these words from Philippians 2:8-9 “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name….” That sounds pretty rewarding to me. Yes, one could argue that what Jesus received after his earthly obedience was nothing more than what he already had. That is a fair position to take. Nevertheless, there is nothing (in my humble opinion) to suggest that Jesus didn’t consider the benefit he would enjoy as an outcome of his obedience. After all, it was “for the joy set before him” that he “endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). What we learn from the example of Jesus is that the greatest reward—and certainly the one for which we should strive—comes from the pure desire to do only what serves the purpose of our Heavenly Father. This was the compelling impulse at work when Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine” (Matthew 26:39).

In light of this, let’s consider the practice of fasting. At the time of this writing, the season of Lent has just begun, and many of you may be fresh into a selected fast. Given what we have observed, let’s ask this question: What benefit do you want to gain from the fast? Is it the admiration of others, or the affirmation of God? It’s an honest question, one that might partially be answered by taking note of the number of people who know about your fast. Allow me to elaborate by sharing from my own experience.

Many years ago (sometime in the mid to late 1990’s) I decided to give up chocolate for Lent. Those who know me well understand the significance of this. Resisting chocolate for 46 days required much effort on my part. (And of course, this was before I understood that a Lenten fast doesn’t apply to Sundays!) The experience was very beneficial for me. One of the things I discovered is how God can work to break the affinities we have in our flesh. In the early weeks of Lent, I envisioned an immediate trip to the nearest treat shop after Easter worship where I could indulge my overdue desires. By the time Easter arrived, I discovered that God had shown me how He can bring desires of the flesh under His power. It was an experience I will always treasure for the unexpected way God worked in me. There was only one problem with the chocolate fast: far too many people knew about it. Everybody knew, and I mean EVERYBODY! That was the mistake I made. At least for the early days of Lent, I had “put on the gloomy face” that Jesus said to avoid. My reward, to a significant degree, was the admiration of others. While that can feel really good, it is not much of a reward.

So when you fast, should others know about it? To some degree, yes. There are people whose lives are closely knit to yours, and they would be impacted by your choice. It is fair for them to know. Further, your fast can be a matter of prayer for those who are partners with you on the Christian journey. A helpful method of discernment may be to ask yourself why you want a particular person to know about your fast. Is it so they can support you, or so they will admire you? That pretty much seems to be the issue Jesus is addressing. If you want the admiration of others, God will allow you to pursue that. Keep in mind, though, such admiration will be the primary reward you get. And when all is said and done, it’s not much of a reward compared to the reward of what God can do in you.

See you along the Winding Path.