Tempted to fast? Fasting and feasting as the Body of Christ
Recommendations to fast are common among medical doctors and dieticians. But abstaining from food or drink for medical or health reasons isn’t what “Christian fasting” specifically is all about.
The Bible records all kinds of fasts, both individual and communal, for various spiritual reasons. Yet they all have one thing in common: fasting helps us to see what is truly important in life, revealing those things that we value too much in life and tossing them at the foot of the cross. And even though food is a big idol for people like me, who couldn’t survive without all-you-can-eat buffets, it is not the only one. Because every one of our personal idols tempts us to depend upon them, instead of the only trustworthy one, Jesus Christ, fasting is a spiritual discipline and a form of repentance. When coupled with self-denial and a humble attitude, it empties us of ourselves to be filled with God. We are caused to hunger, so that we can be fed with manna (Deuteronomy 8:3). For, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). Jesus is our daily bread. His Word alone is our strength (Psalm 28:7).
Fasting as a “reality check”
The enemies of the Christian: the devil, the world and our sinful flesh, are constantly on the prowl, tempting us to search inside ourselves for spiritual satisfaction and help. But although we affluent, developed world Christians may feel and appear strong and self-sufficient, in reality, we are hungry, poor, empty, weak sinners who rely on God for everything. Fasting reminds us of our true condition.
When the point of fasting as a “reality check” isn’t taken seriously, it can easily be abused. The reformers echoed the warnings of Isaiah (Isaiah 58), Zechariah (Zechariah 7) and our Lord (Matthew 16:5-12) against hypocritical fasts in the Medieval Catholic Church, as ways of inflating spiritual ego, showing off, or trying to manipulate God into getting what you want. Yet protestant churches often make the same mistake today when fasting is envisioned as a way of making yourself more worthy to stand before God. Like the effect of a can of spinach on Popeye, fasting is treated as a means of increasing one’s spiritual muscle power, instead of as a weapon to fight vain temptations to think highly of one’s own abilities. Fasting, then, doesn’t change God’s opinion about us but it does change our opinion about ourselves.
Fasting takes the focus off self
Consider the disciples in Mark 9:14-29 who are mystified by their inability to cast out certain demons. Some of the earliest Biblical manuscripts record Jesus informing the disappointed disciples that those demons could only be exorcized by “fasting and prayer”. Many read this to mean that if the disciples had just done that one extra thing – fasting – to strengthen themselves they would have been successful. But I wonder if what was really going on is that the disciples were getting a little too confident in themselves? Instead, fasting preaches this: “Don’t look to yourself for power. Look to Jesus. He is the strong man who has overcome the world”. Fasting exposes our weakness, not our strength. How many of us are in a better mood when we are hungry or perkier after having deprived ourselves of shopping for a season, or from the internet for even a day? Nobody looks prettier or feels stronger in sackcloth and ashes, neither physically nor spiritually. True Christian fasting, as an expression of a humble faith towards God and love towards one another, doesn’t turn us inwards upon ourselves - where the problem is - but outwards, towards God and the needs of our neighbours. One early Christian, St. Peter Chrysologus, observed how acts of mercy and prayers for others are inseparable from fasting since “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting” (i). In fact, our tangible acts of love often become God’s answer to other peoples’ prayers!
Fasting is a way of fighting the temptation to navel gaze by selfless attempts at improving the lives of others. Today when we give to the poor, it rarely changes our lifestyle. If I buy a coffee for a beggar, I probably don’t forego one from Starbucks myself. But in Bible times, giving someone your cloak meant that you went without. You experienced the consequence of your sacrifice. This, after all, is the reputation of the church throughout history: giving up of self for the welfare of others, just as Christ has offered Himself up for us all.
Fasting puts the focus on Jesus
In a sense then the church is already, always, fasting, since we are the Body of Christ, who fasted with and for us. As we pray in the Litany, His “fasting and temptation” was a chief part of His saving work. And, since fasting from sin is the ultimate goal, Jesus’ fasting was perfect in more ways than one. This is what makes His fast in Matthew 4 so remarkable. Even at His “weakest,” Jesus is still stronger than the devil and the entire world. Fasting helps us recognize that we are simply weaklings who stand behind, and inside, this strongman.
For this Man enters us and we Him as we consume Him in a sacred meal: Holy Communion. Accordingly, Luther wisely encourages fasting in its preparation: “Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training”. Can you think of a more reverent way of teaching that Jesus alone is our true nourishment (John 6)? Of course, fasting itself does not merit His divine presence, rather “that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’” Instead fasting humbly prepares God’s hungry children for the family feast to come in eternity, as we receive the indispensable foretaste in the Divine Service to tide us over in the meantime. As a matter of fact, the “Eucharistic Fast” is always in anticipation for the Eucharistic Feast, a reminder of the Last Day when all poverty is abolished, the necessity of fasting has ceased and every prayer answered as all of God’s people celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Dr Harold Ristau
President / Walter C. Dissen Chair of Confessional Lutheranism, Luther Classical College
(A version of this article was first published in the Lutheran Witness, March 2020. Reproduced here with permission of Dr Ristau)
(i) Peter Chrysologus. Sermons. Fathers of the Church. Washington D.C.: The Catholic University Press of America, 1953, 90