Sermon on the Mount

As he did with almsgiving and prayer, Jesus redefines fasting as a private act of worship. Jesus assumes his disciples will fast since he says “when you fast.” But the true disciple of Jesus will practice fasting in a way which does not draw attention to themselves. Quite a few years ago I had a friend start a ten-day fast. I remember this because he reminded every day (sometimes several times a day) that he was fasting. It is like the old joke, how do you know someone is a Vegan? Talk to them for five minutes.

When the hypocrites fast, everyone knows what they are doing. The hypocrites “destroy (ἀφανίζω) their faces, a verb which means to render something unrecognizable, even “wear a disguise.” The Pharisees “seem to don masks during their fasting” (BDAG). Perhaps they wore older clothes or even sackcloth to appear to be in great distress after a long fast. The hypocrite wants people to know they are fasting so they are thought to be especially spiritual. Just like the one who makes a demonstration of almsgiving or public prayers, everyone knows the person is fasting.

Unlike the hypocrites, Jesus tells his disciples not to look like you are fasting. Jesus says his disciples should not “look somber” of “gloomy” (σκυθρωπός). The only other place this word appears in the New Testament is Luke 24:17, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus looked gloomy after the crucifixion. In LXX Psalm 37:7 (ET 38:6) the verb describes a person who is in mourning.

The person who is fasting should would wash daily, but the hypocritical person might not wash at all in order to appear in more distress. Jesus says, “Clean yourself up and look normal” when you fast. More than looking normal, Jesus seems to advise appearing to be “not in mourning.” Anointing one’s head was done as a sign of joy (Ps 23:4), perhaps more than daily personal cleanliness (it is more special than “use shampoo and conditioner).

Is there really spiritual benefit to fasting? Augustine said “Do you wish your prayer to fly toward God? Give it two wings: fasting and almsgiving.” (Cited by Wimmer, Fasting in the New Testament, p. 114)

As should be clear from the overview of biblical fasting, the practice does have a place in the Christian life as a spiritual discipline.

One important observation about Jesus’s teaching on fasting is that did not cite any examples of people who have fasted in the Old Testament, Moses or Elijah, nor did he put his own experience forward as a model of how to fast. Although there are people who have completed forty day fasts, this is not the normal practice in the ancient world and it is never presented as a model for modern Christians.

It is not the case that a longer fast is “more spiritual” than a short fast, or that a total fast is better than a fast during the day with a small meal in the evening. Like communion, whatever you do, do it to the glory of God.

McKnight offers two very important warnings about fasting. First, churches should be very careful about how the present fasting because eating disorders are dangerous and some people may be negatively impacted by a period of fasting. Second, fasting is not abstaining from some particular activity (such as giving something up for Lent). Even though people go on an “internet fast” or a “TV fast,” this is not at all what the Bible is talking about (McKnight, Sermon, 202).

As Jesus commanded, fasting should be a private practice as much as possible. It is possible for a faith community to use prayer and fasting when coming to an important decision. Like Paul and Barnabas, perhaps a day of fasting and prayer can be used for appointing leaders or commissioning people to ministry.

In addition, churches could consider a day of fasting in response to a terrible event in the life of the community, or even in the life of the nation. McKnight suggest a time of prayer and fasting in response to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. The point would not be an attempt to manipulate God into action, but to focus the attention on God in response to the disaster.

But if someone decides to go through a period of fasting, they last thing they ought to do is announce it for all to hear, or sigh loudly when they are hungry, or go out to lunch and not eat in order to make every one aware of their spiritual discipline.

Those who fast ought to focus on their response to God, not in order to create a spiritual experience. This is not biblical, even though fasting can put one in a psychological place to have a spiritual experience.

I would love to hear from some readers on their own experience with fasting as a spiritual discipline. How does a private fast differ from a public demonstration? How does fasting focus one’s spiritual thinking?

Of the three disciplines in Matthew 6:1-18, fasting is the most difficult because evangelical Christians have been hesitant to participate in fasts. For most, they would prefer a good potluck to a fast!

However, fasting was common in the ancient world and is still an important spiritual discipline for many religious people. The practice of fasting is considered a critically important method for getting in touch with spiritual things. For example, Bonhoeffer said “Satiated flesh is unwilling to pray and unfit for self-sacrificing service” (Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, 158). McKnight considers this an example of the instrumental view of fasting: one fasts in order to gain some spiritual benefit. But he also states clearly this view of fasting is simply not found in the Bible (McKnight, Sermon, 193).

Jesus does not command almsgiving, prayer or fasting. He simply assumes his disciples will do these basic spiritual disciplines. What he commands is a re-thinking of the how these commonly practiced spiritual acts of worship should be done. In all three cases he turns the focus away from the one doing the act and toward God.

What did it mean to fast at the time of Jesus?

In the Old Testament, fasting was required only on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29-31, 23:26-32), Acts 27:9 simply calls the Day of Atonement “the Fast.” But there are other examples of fasting in the Old Testament in response to either an important or terrible event. The death of a loved one is often associated with “sackcloth and ashes,” perhaps fasting as well. In 1 Samuel 31:13 the people of Jabesh Gilead mourn the death of Saul by fasting for seven days. In 2 Sam 1:12, David and his men fasted and mourned Saul and Jonathan (although this fast only lasted until the evening). In Judges 20:26 the people fasted before the Lord all day before a battle the following day. In 1 Sam 7:6 Saul commanded a fast until a battle was won (although this is considered a rash vow). The people responded with fasting in response to the judgment of God in the exile (crises Isa 58:3-5; Jer 14:12; Zech 7:5). This is similar to the fasts in Esther 4:16 and Ezra 8:23. Psalm 35:11-16 is an example of responding to oppression. David has been attacked by “malicious witnesses” and his response is sackcloth and ashes (cf., Psalm 69:10-11). For Second Temple period Jews, fasting had been encumbered by additional regulations.

There are a few examples of fasting in the New Testament which is not associated with mourning. In Luke 2:37 Anna is described as fasting and praying in the Temple. Paul and Barnabas are appointed to a mission after prayer and fasting (Acts 13:2-3) and Paul and Barnabas appointed elders only after a time of prayer and fasting (Acts 14:23). Paul refers to fasting in 2 Corinthian 6:5 and 11:27 although he may mean a time of hunger since it is in a list of suffering he has experienced.

Luke 5:33 states John the Baptists and his disciples “fasted often,” as do the Pharisees (Mark 2:18/Matt 9:14). In contrast, the disciples of Jesus did not fast in the same way.

The Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Thursday and Monday. According to tradition, Moses ascended Mount Sinai on Thursday and descended on Monday. Those two days were the “market” days, when Jerusalem was the busiest, and fasting would have the largest audience. The early Christian church manual Didache 8 says “But do not let your fasts coincide with those of the hypocrites. They fast on Monday and Thursday, so you must fast on Wednesday and Friday.”

Fasting was important in the early church and is mentioned thirty times in the New Testament and it is never condemned. As in the Old Testament, fasting marked times of sorrow or prayer, often accompanying a decision. Keeping the Old Testament texts cited above in mind, a person might fast during the day and have a small meal in the evening.

Polycarp, To The Philippians 7.2 Therefore let us leave behind the worthless speculation of the crowd and their false teachings, and let us return to the word delivered to us from the beginning; let us be self-controlled with respect to prayer and persevere in fasting, earnestly asking the all-seeing God “to lead us not into temptation,” because, as the Lord said, “the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Bibliography: N. K. Gupta, “Fasting,” page 270 in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Second Edition).

In the context of the Lord’s Prayer, this is a prayer for the individual’s needs. Frequently, “our daily bread” is made into “spiritual bread” or a sacrament, but that is not what Jesus is talking about. While this is a genuine attempt to make the text “applicable,” it misses the point that Jesus is setting up a model prayer for his disciples. The followers of Jesus really did live in crushing poverty and relied on God for their daily bread!

For other posts in this series on the Lord’s Prayer:

• Praying Like The Pagans – Matthew 6:5-8
• Our Father in Heaven – Matthew 6:9
• Thy Kingdom Come – Matthew 6:10
• Give Us Today Our Daily Bread – Matthew 6:11
• Forgive us Our Debts – Matthew 6:12
• Lead us Not into Temptation – Matthew 6:13

It is a very Jewish idea that the ones with food would share it with the poor. James 2:15, for example, indicates our responsibility is to care for the brothers and sisters who do not have food. In the Second Temple book Psalm of Solomon, the writer encourages moderate living and contentment (PsSol 5:16-19). Later in Matthew, Jesus is going to send his disciples out to visit the villages throughout Galilee, and they are to rely only on God (Matthew 10:4-15). He tells them not to take any money but rather rely on God totally for their needs.

In a culture that did not have a way to store food, sharing makes a lot of sense. Bread, which is surplus, will go bad, extra milk will spoil, etc. If a person “slaughters the fatted calf,” they must give it all away that day since it will be wasted. This is why the leftovers from a banquet table are regularly cared for by the poor. Some holidays, Sukkoth, for example, included intentionally sharing food with strangers. There is nothing like this in the modern church, even the potluck is something of a trade – few people stay for a pot luck if they have brought nothing.

In Church history, some people have gone to extremes, which is not what is in mind in the Lord’s Prayer. Some in the medieval period took voluntary vows of poverty, relying on begging for their daily needs. Their goal was noble, to be like Christ in every way, including his poverty, but a Mendicant monk was not balancing voluntary poverty with Paul’s command to work and provide for your own needs (1 Thess 4:8-12).

A monk living in voluntary poverty stood in contrast to the extreme riches of the church. The great cathedrals cost enormous amounts of money at a time when there was great poverty. Is it right to spend that much on a building or for the opulent trappings that went along with this at a time when people were dying of starvation? The mendicant reaction was reasonable but perhaps misguided.

This balance between poverty and riches has always been a problem for Christians. Usually, this results in a wise use of resources (provided by God) so that needs are met and God’s work is supported.

How can we pray for our daily needs? First, we must recognize that we have daily needs. It is very difficult for us to admit that we do have daily needs. Part of the reason is that they are so easily met that we do not think of them as needs. Most of us have never really suffered from serious want, so food and shelter are taken for granted.

Second, develop an attitude of thanksgiving for how God has provided for your needs. We have a job, and we have resources that are far beyond what we deserve and, from the perspective of the world’s history, mind-boggling in richness. No generation of the church has been as wealthy as the Western church of the twenty-first century. How often do we seriously thank God for allowing us to be born when and where he did?

Third, bring your real needs before the Lord. God is not too busy to be interested in our needs. Do not think of physical needs as so insignificant that God is not interested in them. Analogy: Perhaps your child has a school assignment, maybe a science fair project. They can do it without ever telling you about it, but most parents are thrilled to hear about what their kids are doing in school and want to help (or even take over the project!) Just as you are happy to know about and help your child, God is thrilled when we bring him our projects, needs, wants, and desires.

Finally, find ways in which you can be used to provide for the needs of others. There are some who are praying for their daily needs and will struggle to make ends meet, who need the miraculous gift of a bag of groceries or an anonymous Meijer card in the mail at Christmas. God gave us our affluence to manage it for him; we ought to find ways to use our riches to meet the needs of others.