Fasting for a Change
Intro:
In addition to these national fasts, both OT and NT describe personal or group fasts with a variety of purposes, especially to indicate and foster self-humiliation before God, often in connection with the confession of sins (e.g., Neh 9:1–2; Ps 35:13; Isa 58:3, 5; Dan 9:2–20; 10:2–3; Jonah 3:5; Acts 9:9)
or to lay some special petition before the Lord, sometimes out of anguish, danger, or desperation (Exod 24:18; Judg 20:26; 2 Sam 1:12; 2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21–23; Esth 4:16; Matt 4:1–2; Acts 13:1–3; 14:23). It may belong to the realm of normal Christian self-discipline (1 Cor 9:24–27; cf. Philippians 3:19; 1 Peter 4:3);
when, for instance, men fasted but did not share their food with the hungry (Isa 58:1–7).
Washing and anointing with oil (v. 17) were merely normal steps in hygiene. Oil does not here symbolize extravagant joy but normal body care (cf. Ruth 3:3; 2 Sam 12:20; Pss 23:5; 104:15; 133:2; Eccl 9:8; Luke 7:46; cf. DNTT, 1:120). The point of Mt 6:18 is not to draw attention to oneself, whether by somber mien or extravagant joy. Jesus desires reticence, not deception. And the Father, who sees in secret, will provide the reward (see on v. 4).
fasting, the third pillar of Jewish piety (see comments on 6:1–2). Since the religious leaders fasted in order to get recognition from the people, that is all the reward that they will receive. “Acts of righteousness,” such as fasting, are of no value if not done with the right motives.
Various kinds of fasts were commonly practiced throughout much of Israel’s history, always as a symbol of some deeper meaning than simply abstaining from food.
• Normal fast. A person abstained from all food, solid or liquid, but not from water—usually to prepare for some significant event. Jesus fasted for forty days in preparation for his temptations from Satan and the inauguration of his public ministry (Matt. 4:1–2; Luke 4:1–2).
• Partial fast. Sometimes people entered into a partial restriction of diet, but not total abstention. For a three-week period of mourning, Daniel ate no meat or drank no wine, and he applied no lotion to his body (Dan. 10:3).
• Absolute fast. During a relatively short, urgent period of time, people could abstain from all food and water to discern God’s leading. Esther neither ate nor drank for three days during a period of national crisis (Est. 4:16), and at Paul’s dramatic conversion he abstained from eating and drinking for three days (Acts 9:9).
• Private and corporate fasts. Fasting is usually a private affair, but at times the people of God came together for corporate or public fasts, such as on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:37), in times of national emergency (2 Chron. 20:1–4), or for seeking God’s guidance in prayer (Ezra 8:21–23).
The expression used in Leviticus for fasting is literally “deny yourselves” (NIV) or “humble your souls” (NASB). This indicates that in addition to abstaining from food, the people were to demonstrate a humbling of their souls by wearing sackcloth, mourning, and praying (cf. Ps. 35:13; Isa. 58:3).
“Disfigure” (aphanizo) here indicates making one’s face unrecognizable from a normal perspective, with the intent to publicize the physical hardships endured while fasting. The hypocrites certainly did not want to be completely unrecognizable, which would defeat the purpose of trying to gain attention for their pious deed. During the fasting period they might disfigure their face by remaining ungroomed or perhaps by sprinkling ashes on their head and face as a sign of contrition. This was a deceptive way of letting others know of their extensive efforts to increase their personal piety.
Jesus’ disciples are to have a different approach, because fasting is to be a heart issue between God and the individual. “But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face.” This kind of anointing and washing is social, not religious. It signifies that a person has prepared herself or himself to enjoy life, similar to the expression in Ecclesiastes, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil” (Eccl. 9:7–8). Rather than making a public display of fasting, which would destroy any spiritual value, Jesus’ disciples are to celebrate life while fasting. Other people do not need to know of their religious discipline.
But as in the other disciplines, Jesus does not prohibit corporate fasting. Of the sixteen or so references to fasting in the New Testament, roughly half speak of corporate fasts, including those that seem to indicate that it was the regular practice of the early church (Acts 14:23; 23:12; 27:9, 33).
As with individual fasts, corporate fasting encouraged the church to express sorrow for sin, seek community forgiveness, concentrate on the work of God, and seek his guidance.
But even corporate fasting needs to be conducted in the privacy of the heart, with no self-adulation of the church taking pride in its serious rigor. Fasting has lost much appeal in the modern church. This is a sad misreading of Jesus’ teaching. He does not condemn fasting, not even corporate fasting, but only fasting with the motive of receiving acclaim from the people.
Fasting is associated with sadness (9:14, 15), prayer (17:21), charity (Is. 58:3–6), and seeking the Lord’s will (Acts 13:2, 3; 14:23).
The only fast that God actually required of the Jewish people was on the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:27). The Pharisees fasted each Monday and Thursday (Luke 18:12) and did so in such a way that people knew they were fasting. Their purpose, of course, was to win the praise of men. As a result, the Pharisees lost God’s blessing.
Remember that hypocrisy robs us of reality in Christian living. We substitute reputation for character, mere words for true prayer, money for the devotion of the heart. No wonder Jesus compared the Pharisees to tombs that were whitewashed on the outside, but filthy on the inside! (Matt. 23:27–28)
The first step toward overcoming hypocrisy is to be honest with God in our secret life.
It may belong to the realm of normal Christian self-discipline (1 Cor 9:24–27; cf. Philippians 3:19; 1 Peter 4:3); but already in the OT it is bitterly excoriated when it is purely formal and largely hypocritical (Isa 58:3–7; Jer 14:12; Zech 7:5–6)—when, for instance, men fasted but did not share their food with the hungry (Isa 58:1–7).
17–18 Yet Jesus, far from banning fasting, assumes his disciples will fast, even as he assumes they will give alms and pray (vv. 3, 6). His disciples may not fast at the moment, for the messianic bridegroom is with them; and it is the time for Joy (9:14–17). But the time will come when they will fast (9:15).
For if the form of vv. 1–18 is negative, the point is positive—viz., to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness (cf. v. 33).
The only specific New Testament references to later Christian fasting come in contexts of seeking God’s will in choosing church leaders (Acts 13:2–3; 14:23).
Let me explain. In the Old Testament there was only one time per year when God’s people were called to fast—the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29–34; cf. Acts 27:9). Since that Day has been fulfilled in Christ’s death (Colossians 2:14), there is no longer any command for us to fast. You won’t find one in all the New Testament.
Let me explain. In the Old Testament there was only one time per year when God’s people were called to fast—the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29–34; cf. Acts 27:9). Since that Day has been fulfilled in Christ’s death (Colossians 2:14), there is no longer any command for us to fast. You won’t find one in all the New Testament.
It is no exaggeration to say that for too many Americans, to use Paul’s words, “Their god is their belly” (Philippians 3:19; cf. Titus 1:12).
Fasting is what we need, for in fasting we essentially say, “I do not live for my appetites—my physical appetites, my sexual appetites, my material appetites. Therefore, with self-control, which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, I’m going to stop all this incessant ‘nibbling at the table of the world.’18
The Bible provides a number of reasons for fasting—it might be an expression of humiliation and sorrow over one’s sin (Leviticus 16:29–34; Jonah 3:5) or of bereavement over a great loss (1 Samuel 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:12). As we see in Acts, fasting occurs in conjunction with the appointment of elders (14:23) or the commissioning of missionaries (13:2, 3). But the main reason we fast is “to nourish our hunger for God and to reduce our hunger for the world.”
This is why the Puritans, who fasted often, called it “soul-fattening.” Do you want a fatter soul? Then take seriously this word when—“when you fast …”
Nēsteia (fast) literally means not to eat, to abstain from food. Fasts were sometimes total and sometimes partial, and ordinarily only water was drunk.
Fasting is mentioned some thirty times in the New Testament, almost always favorably.
Jesus’ disciples did not fast while He was with them because fasting is associated primarily with mourning or other times of consuming spiritual need or anxiety. When the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus why His disciples did not fast like they and the Pharisees did, He replied, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matt. 9:14–15). Fasting is there associated with mourning.
When the people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s preaching they were so convicted that they believed in God and “called a great fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.… By the decree of the king” they would “not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing” (Jonah 3:5, 7). Rather than resent the warning of judgment and damnation, they repentantly turned to God and sought His forgiveness and mercy.
The Lord told Zechariah to declare to the people, “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?… Thus
Overwhelming danger often prompted fasting. King Jehoshaphat proclaimed a national fast in Judah when they were threatened with attack from the Moabites and Ammonites (2 Chron. 20:3). From a human standpoint they could not possibly win, and they cried out to God for help, forsaking food as they did so. Queen Esther, her servants, and all the Jews in the capital city of Susa fasted for three full days before she went before the king to plead for the Jews to be spared from Haman’s wicked scheme against her people (Esther 4:16).