01.14. The Sermon on the Mount (22)
"The Sermon on the Mount" (22)
Fasting (Matthew 6:16-18) No Commandment to Fast
Fasting means to abstain from eating and drinking for a certain time. It is mentioned several times in Scripture and is known until now in many parts of Christendom. Yet when we open our Bibles we will not find a commandment for it either in the Old or in the New Testament. Nor does the Lord Jesus command His disciples to fast in Matthew 6:16-18, just as He did not command the giving of alms in Matthew 6:2-4. But He presupposes simply that His disciples are doing it.
Nowadays we hardly know what biblical fasting means. Most of us probably have to confess that we do not give it much thought. Yet let us not make light of it but ask ourselves what this short passage in the "Sermon on the Mount" has to tell us today.
Fasting in the Old Testament
We read in Exodus 34:28 that Moses did not eat bread or drink water for forty days when he was on the mountain of God. This is the first occasion in Scripture where fasting is mentioned. The Lord Jesus too began His ministry on earth with fasting for forty days and forty nights (Matthew 4:2). As a nation, the people of Israel fasted for the first time before they went to war with their brethren, the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:26).
We also read in different passages that an Israelite or the whole people fasted in connection with earnest prayer (Nehemiah 1:4; Daniel 9:3), but also to humble themselves in mourning and repentance (1 Samuel 7:6; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21). After the Babylonian captivity several yearly fastings were appointed to remember the captivity of Judah (Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 8:19). The significance of fasting is most clearly seen in Psalms 35:13 : "But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: Ihumbled my soul with fasting." So we see that the fasting which pleased God in the Old Testament was the expression of an inward humbling. Although it is not said explicitly the Jews take the words, "afflict your souls," in Leviticus 16:29 as a commandment of God to fast on the great day of atonement. But already Isaiah the prophet had to reprove in God’s Name hypocritical fasting, and call for real fasting and true repentance (Isaiah 58:1-7). The Israelites fasted and practised the most horrible sins at the same time. Such hypocritical and wicked conduct could not please God. The Lord Jesus also condemned it.
Fasting in the New Testament
We find the habit of fasting with the Jews in the New Testament too. The prophetess Anna served God with fastings and prayers night and day (Luke 2:37). In contrast to the disciples of the Lord Jesus the disciples of John and the Pharisees fasted often (Matthew 9:14). The Lord Jesus, in His parable of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple, lets the former speak self-complacent words: "God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess" (Luke 18:11-12). From this we see that in New Testament times too fasting as a religious "exercise" was a tradition, as it still is today in certain Christian churches and various religions (in Islam for instance).
"Moreover, when ye fast,..." As already mentioned, the Lord Jesus neither gives a commandment to fast, nor does He forbid it here. He leaves fasting as a personal exercise of the heart but gives the warning not to do it in a hypocritical manner (as with giving alms and praying). The hypocrites are of sad countenance in order to appear as pious as possible (cp. Luke 24:17), and to make people see how earnest they are. But as we have already seen in Matthew 6:2 and Matthew 6:5, our God and Father won’t give us any reward if we seek to obtain it through the mere appearance of piety, and recognition by men. The real source of strength in faith lies in the hidden relationship with our God and Father. Someone once said: "We cannot confess the Lord publicly if we have not been in secret communion with Him on our knees." This is why the Lord judges so sharply our tendency to give our brethren and fellow-men an impression which does not at all agree with our heart and soul’s true condition. At one time God had to say to Samuel: "for it is not as man seeth; for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7, J.N.D. Trans.). This is why the Lord Jesus says: "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." The Lord Jesus does not mention when and how the Father will reward, but we know that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
Fasting for today?
Before closing let us mention something about fasting today. The fact that in certain circles of Christendom fasting has become a mere religious exercise must not turn away our eyes from the first Christians who fasted with great earnestness (see 2 Corinthians 6:5). Before Paul and Barnabas set off on their first missionary journey the brethren fasted and prayed (Acts 13:3). And when these two, on their journey back, had ordained elders in the various assemblies of Asia Minor, they prayed with fasting and commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed (Acts 14:23).
We may also learn much from the words of the Lord Jesus about prayer and fasting in Matthew 17:21. A French brother wrote as to this in the "Messager Evangélique 1864":
"Fasting means a conscious taking of distance from earthly and natural things so that the heart can be engaged in prayer with spiritual and heavenly things. Fasting is a means to interrupt the link between our natural being and the world which surrounds us; prayer is the means to maintain the link between our spirit and heaven. The former is the holy negation of natural man, the latter the expression of full dependence of the renewed man. But we ought to be on our guard against a monkish, ascetic and lawful spirit which tends to exalt the flesh."