“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,
NASB95)
In these verses Jesus spoke again about another area of our
worship where He challenges His hearers to consider their motives. Here we have
another instance of worship gone wrong—being done for the recognition of
others. This time it is about fasting, or purposely going for a period of time
without food. People today do this for any number of reasons. They might fast
and give what they would have spent on food in money to a charitable cause.
They may have some blood work or some medical procedure in the morning and they
are required not to eat for a period of time prior to the appointment. But the
fasting of Jesus’ focus was done in order to set aside eating for the purpose
of focused worship. The problem is that there were those who emphasized what
they had given up so that they might be recognized by others for their actions.
When fasting they apparently tried to look more hungry or haggard than they
really were just to draw attention to themselves. Jesus said that people who
fast in this way receive their reward there on the spot. The adoration and/or
sympathetic attention of others would be all they ever got.
There is a classic picture played out with so many
variations. It’s the setting where a husband pulls a frozen pie out of its box
from the store, carefully hides the box away in the trash, and bakes the pie.
Then he spills a little flour on the counter, maybe a little on his shirt and a
powdering of his face. As his wife walks into the house she smells the fresh
baked pie and walks into the kitchen where she greatly admires him for the
loving dessert he had slaved over just for her. In the end it’s generally a
commercial for the pie, or whatever product may be the subject and the purpose
is to pull the pride and recognition strings of the viewer so that he or she might
run out and purchase the product. But the actual picture is of someone
pretending to go to great lengths for the admiration of another. It is a
picture of sacrificial deception.
Fasting is an act of worship. It is something done demonstrating
our waiting and dependence on our powerful God. It is done in times of repentance
and mourning as we seek His restoration and His healing, as we might see on a
National Day of Prayer. We see that it is linked to prayer over time. It can be
done corporately as we see in the Bible, and it can be done individually as we
also see, but it is never to be done for show. Like the areas of giving and
prayer, fasting as an act of worship is something that we are to do unto God
alone. Jesus said that it fasting is to be so private that we are even to take
measures to make sure that we look as perky as possible to avoid the attention and
even sympathetic sorrow of others. God sees and He knows as these verses again tell
us, “your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Fasting in the Old Testament is often associated with
brokenness and mourning, particularly for Israel and its people. Nehemiah asked
a visitor about the Jews who had escaped captivity and about the city of Jerusalem.
Scripture records, “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned
for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, “I
beseech You, O Lord God of heaven,
the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for
those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and
Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You
now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing
the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my
father’s house have sinned….” (Nehemiah 1:4–6, NASB95) Nehemiah’s prayer
continued to not only show his own remorse but to also confess the sins of His
people while he called upon God for forgiveness and restoration. Here we see
fasting as a part of Nehemiah showing his great remorse before God. Everything
else at that point did not matter. It was all about crying out to God. Mourning
with fasting is regularly seen in Scripture, and in many of these instances we
find that the fasting continued for days, even leading to weakness as a result.
Fasting is also seen as a part of worship and consecration.
In Acts 13 we read, “And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they
had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called
Mark. Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and
teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and
Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they
were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for
Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they
had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” (Acts
12:25–13:3, NASB95) After Barnabas and Saul (Paul) had returned from Jerusalem
they gathered together with other believers and were sharing together in a time
of prayer and fasting when the Holy Spirit spoke to them and set Barnabas and
Saul apart for ministry. The passage goes on to tell us that those gathered
continued their prayer and fasting, and when the finished they laid their hands
on Barnabas and Saul and sent them out.
Barnabas and Paul were set aside for ministry by the Holy
Spirit in a time of prayer and fasting. Scripture records that this same
practice continued as they went out and established churches throughout the
various regions. In the next chapter of Acts we read, “After they had preached
the gospel to that city [Derbe] and had made many disciples, they returned to
Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples,
encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many
tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” When they had appointed elders
for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to
the Lord in whom they had believed.” (Acts 14:21–23, NASB95)
We have the example of the prophetess Anna, in Luke, who as
a widow continued until she was 84 worshiping in the temple with prayer and
fasting. She was there the day that Jesus was presented in for circumcision on
the eighth day. Scripture records her response, “At that very moment she came
up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those
who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:38, NASB95) She knew
that the Redeemer had come and that the answer to her prayer and the purpose of
her fasting was being answered by God.
Even our Lord is seen fasting when He is led by the Spirit
into the desert for 40 days to be tempted. Being hungry the devil tried to take
advantage of Jesus’ weakened condition to which Jesus responded, “But He
answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man
shall not live on bread alone, but
on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”” (Matthew
4:4, NASB95)
While we have this example of Jesus fasting, we also have an
accusation by the Pharisees and teachers of the law concerning His disciples’ lack
of fasting. Scripture records that the interaction went like this, “And they
said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples
of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to
them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the
bridegroom is with them, can you? “But the days will come; and when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”” (Luke
5:33–35, NASB95; also in Matthew and Mark) Jesus told them that those who were
fasting were looking to someone. When He was present with His disciples there
was no need. But when He left then fasting would again resume. One day we will
be united with Him forever. This is our great hope. In the meantime, as we see
in the early church, fasting remains as we wait on and call out to our God.
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