Let Us Keep The Fast
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
– Matthew 4:2 –
Our Lenten season draws near. And so does our Lenten fast. Yet fasting sounds almost medieval to our modern ears. Perhaps that was a habit of the super-spiritual monks; what does it have to do with us?
The season of Lent draws us–as does the majority of the Church calendar–into the life of Christ. His life shapes us. In the Gospel According to Matthew we read of Jesus in the wilderness forty days and forty nights. Such time and space is the language of testing. It reminds us of the people of Israel who were tested in the Sinai wilderness forty years. It reminds us also of the purifying work of God at the time of the Noahic flood, when the waters of heaven rained down on the earth forty days and forty nights. The testing of the wilderness is also the purifying work of the Spirit. We have need of this purifying testing.
Seeing that Jesus, of all people, fasted and was tested in the wilderness, it is all the more the case that you and I should share in that experience and testing. Later in the same Gospel, Matthew records Jesus’ words: …when you fast… (Mt 6:16) Jesus presumes we keep the fast. He goes on to say that fasting is not meant to show to the world how supposedly righteous and holy you are. The physical act of fasting is to reflect the growth in the spiritual virtue of humility. Still, Jesus assures us that, though humanity does not see our fast, our Father who sees in secret knows. (v18) Our fasting is meant for Him and our relationship with Him.
In our comfortable culture which aims at feeding–even force-feeding–us far more than we can stomach, be it physical food, alcohol, social media, outrage, distraction, busyness, selfishness…it is far too easy to become gluttons of such things. Gluttony of the soul dulls the senses. It changes the appetite. The once wholesome food who is Jesus-His Word, His instruction, His promises-tastes stale and bland. We want sweeter foods. But the problem is not Jesus who is the Bread from Heaven. It is our appetite. We need our tastes to be reoriented so that we indeed taste and see that the Lord is good. (Ps34:8)
As we approach Lent, I encourage you to take stock of your habits and appetites. What have you been feeding on which you know is not nutritious for the soul, as well as the body? Perhaps it is even corrosive for the soul and body. Prayerfully consider what you ought to fast. Yet, abstaining from is only the first part of fasting. Abstaining from a given thing is meant to open up a space where you might invite and encounter the Lord. Remember Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit out into the desert for testing. When our comforts are stripped away, we encounter more clearly who we have become. More than this, we also encounter Jesus. This is the second aspect of our fast: abstaining from that we might open space in our lives for an encounter with Jesus. And what He might say to us during that time, Lord only knows; what words of encouragement, correction, love, consolation. But His aim is always to free us from our selves, that we might live freely in Him.
So, as we near our Lenten season, I encourage-maybe even pastoral urge-you to take stock of your life. What ought your Lenten fast to be, for your ongoing health and growth in the Lord? For His desire is that you would not remain as infants, but grow up in the faith, moving from milk to meat. If fasting is new to you, or you are not sure where you might begin, let’s talk. On Fasting (here) also provides some further reflections and practical ideas for fasting.
Grace & Peace