September 22 – Matthew 6:16-18

In our second-to-last week of Humans Being, we’re going to talk about what is likely the most misunderstood of Jesus’s practices: fasting. We’ll skip through a couple other passages to get a more holistic view of fasting and then ask ourselves what it might look like for us to learn the ancient ways of Jesus.

No one passage in the Bible lays out a definition of fasting or describes its various purposes. However, throughout the Bible we see fasting as a tool in the spiritual toolkit of God’s people. First and foremost, the kind of fasting we’re talking about is a fast from food, as we’ll make explicit through the first discussion question (“what kind of fasting is Jesus talking about?”). Usually this was practiced by abstaining from all food but not from water for a set period of time, most often a single day (see below for some of the necessary caveats and cautions on this; fasting isn’t one-size-fits-all).

And this fasting always had a purpose. Often times fasting was part of beseeching the Lord’s action, like when David’s son was sick (2 Sam 12:16-23), or a response of humility and repentance to God (Joel 2:12-14). Here’s a more thorough list, and note, many of these are examples of whole communities fasting together:

• • • Fasting as an act of mourning – ex. Matthew 9:14-15, Esther 4:3
    • Fasting as an act of repentance – ex. Joel 2:12-14
    • Fasting for humility – ex. Psalm 69:10
    • Fasting for beseeching the Lord in times of need – ex. Esther 4:16, 2 Sam 12:16-23
    • Fasting for seeking the Lord’s will – ex. Acts 13:1-3
    • Fasting for intimacy with / dependence upon God – ex. Lev 16:29-31; Matthew 6:18

In discussion we’ll turn first to Acts 13:1-3, then Esther 3:13-4:3, to see some of these examples. That’ll help us capture the biblical emphasis on fasting, which is a means of earnestly seeking God, whether for his presence and comfort or his intervention in a specific situation. That will help us know more about what fasting is for, so that any attempts to add it into our life accomplish the most fitting purposes.

We’ll then head back to Matthew 6 to catch Jesus’s specific words, “when you fast.” He assumes his followers would engage in the practice, which will help us see how a norm for Jesus has now become a rarity for most of us. That will then help us address those things that stand in our way of practicing the kind of fasting Jesus prescribes. For many of us, it’s merely a lack of knowledge on where to get started. Here’s a chapter out of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline that has some really practical discussion towards the end of how to get started fasting (ex. don’t attempt a two-week fast for your first one). Keep in mind here that general recommendations for fasting should always filter through your specific health needs (ex. someone with diabetes should talk to their doctor first; a nursing mom would rightly forgo fasting).

For others of us, food is a fraught space. You might be tempted to use fasting as a dietary practice, which would be just as false as the performative fasting Jesus argues against. Or, if you have a history of disordered eating, fasting might feel like a return to or legitimizing of self-harm. Again, fasting isn’t one-size-fits-all, and wisdom must be exercised here. However, it’s worth pointing out that even such struggles show the power food and nourishment to affect us body and soul. In our last question we’ll contemplate how God might use fasting according to Jesus’s prescription in our lives. Such fasting is a powerful way to take our spiritual practices out of mere headspace and into our bodies, to use our physicality to our benefit as we seek God’s presence, beseech him for our desperate needs, and learn greater dependency on him.

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