Matthew 6:16-18 (NRSVCE)
Concerning Fasting
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
True fasting for GOD goes beyond outward expression to show your repentance. It for sure surpasses the fasting for weight watchers, or for putting discipline in one’s physical being. Yes, it helps us to become physically healthy and develops one’s self-control, but it is way more than that. Fasting for spiritual purpose means to go without food and drink but always associated with lamentation and/or penitence, a sign of repentance for the sins we have committed. It should not be done for "look-at-how-spiritual-I-am" image. We cannot impress GOD by fasting if it involves unrighteousness brought by human righteousness, that is for traditional purposes. True fasting is often joined with weeping as a sign of mourning because we admit we disobeyed GOD. Fasting should be yoked with prayer whether it is a prayer for forgiveness and/or supplication. Anyone can pray without fasting but no one can have spiritual fasting without praying earnestly. It is not presenting ourselves with the hungry body sitting on ashes and wearing sackcloth to GOD, but presenting our contrite hearts torn apart brought by sincere repentance on account of our sins, a humble heart because we are pleading to GOD to hear us.
Let’s be guided with the top stories of fasting in the Holy Scripture. The first recorded in the Bible to fast is Moses. He fasted forty days on two occasions when the LORD gave him the two sets of the two Stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments (Deut. 9:9 &18). Moses’ fasting is associated with supplications for Israel. He pleaded the LORD to listen to him not to destroy Israel, His own people, who (including Aaron) sinned against the LORD and had made Him angry. With Moses’ prayer and fasting for a total of eighty days, the LORD listened to him and agreed not to destroy them on two occasions (Deut. 10:10).
Let’s also learn from King David, the man after GOD’s own heart (Acts 13:22). He admitted he sinned against the LORD because he struck down Uriah, his soldier, and have taken his wife Bathsheba as his own. After knowing that he had treated GOD with contempt through Prophet Nathan, he prayed and fasted for seven days, for God said HE will punish him through his household and will take the life of his child borne to him by Bathsheba. He cried to GOD to spare his child by fasting and spent the nights lying on the ground. But because GOD already pronounced His word, HE rendered the punishment and took the life of his child. Attributable to his sincere repentance and accepting the LORD’s verdict, GOD gave him another son borne by Bathsheba named Solomon, the chosen one to make GOD’s majestic temple (2 Sam 12:9-24 & 7:13).
The best of them all, in a superlative degree, was done by Jesus Christ in the wilderness (Matt. 4:2).He also fasted for forty days and forty nights. The first two examples were laid to illustrate the very reasons why Jesus underwent fasting even He did not commit any sins. Moses fasted for the deliverance of Israel from GOD’s wrath, the very reason why Jesus had fasted as He absorbed the very sins of all people including Gentles to be His own sins. Jesus fasted to free us from GOD’s wrath. But all of these three stories of fasting were not imposed by GOD. It is all selfless act to win GOD’s favor for other people and an element of personal devotion on winning GOD’s favor, and no hypocrisy in it.
Although GOD ordained the fast on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29;23:32), and some on the chosen times to commemorate the critical events in the Bible( Zech. 8:19), GOD wanted it not to be done in observance of the law, not an act of penance, and not a show-off of their righteousness. Look how GOD reprimanded His people and corrected their concepts on fasting. This is what GOD said in Isaiah 58:5-10:
5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want?
Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves,
bowing their heads like a reed
and stretching out on sackcloth and ashes?
Is this really what you call a fast,
a day that is pleasing to the Lord?
6 No, this is the kind of fast I want.
I want you to remove the sinful chains,
to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,
to set free the oppressed,
and to break every burdensome yoke.
7 I want you to share your food with the hungry
and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people.
When you see someone naked, clothe him!
Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood!
8 Then your light will shine like the sunrise;
your restoration will quickly arrive;
your godly behavior will go before you,
and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;
you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’
You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you
and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
10 You must actively help the hungry
and feed the oppressed.
Then your light will dispel the darkness,
and your darkness will be transformed into noonday.
Jesus affirmed this call in the Old Testament to change the way we look on fasting. He called us to proper fasting. He taught us in today’s topic verse in Matthew 6:16-18, that we should fast in private, to show to our Lord (not to people), and try that no one notices it. Also, we should not only do it at Lent but do it as soon as our conscience tells us that we have offended GOD and we should be so sorry that we will not do it again. Sirach 34:31 says, “So if one fasts for his sins, and goes again and does the same things, who will listen to his prayer? And what has he gained by humbling himself?” Like Jesus or Moses and David, let our fasting be known to GOD only, and let it not only for ourselves but for our fellowmen especially those who are sick and those who need help for their conversion..” AMEN
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