When is the last time you heard a sermon on fasting? I myself cannot recall of one personally in years. As I preach through the Gospel of Luke, I had the privilege to consider this matter more deeply than ever before. To my shame, while I have taken part in fasts and understood something of the reasons for conducting them, I never studied the biblical foundation for or against them. I have another confession to make. Even as I write, it has been years since I have taken part in a fast. By God’s grace I pray that such spiritual lethargy will change.
The text upon which we came was Luke 5:33-35 (ESV):
And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” [34] And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? [35] The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
In short, Jesus claimed that since he as the “bridegroom” came as to a wedding, picturing the relationship between Christ and the Church as his bride, it was not a time for fasting but for feasting. John’s disciples fasted, or denied themselves food and drink, in a manner that echoes the practice of Anna in the temple who fasted and prayed with hopeful expectation of the Messiah (Luke 2:37). In other words, the hunger pains they suffered reminded them of spiritual matters more important than food or drink in the kingdom. Jesus himself made this clear when he fasted in the wilderness and was there tempted by the devil: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matt 4:4)
The Pharisees likewise had developed a sustained tradition of fasting twice a week (Luke 18:12), and while Jesus does not condemn the foundation of their practice, he certainly does censure their self-righteous motives for it. In this regard, see Matthew 6:16-18 and Luke 18:9-14 where Jesus points out the self-righteous and self-promoting practice of fasting in the Pharisees.
Thus, Jesus does not abrogate fasting as a religious practice but does limit the timing of it and the manner in which it is carried out. So, what did he mean when he noted that the “days will come” for fasting when he is “taken away”? We could immediately conclude two things from this statement. First, he referred at least to his death. Second, mourning for that death constituted a time for fasting not feasting. In fact, the occasions for fasting in the Scriptures prior to this indicate that a sense of loss or dissatisfaction with the present coupled with an expectation for something better sets the background out of which fasting occurred. In general, we might conclude that fasting for the Lord’s people arises out of a sort of kingdom longing for something more.
We find this in the very first Scriptural recording of a fast in Judges (see 20:26) when the Israelites are defeated by the Benjamites in battle on two occasions. Such follows the account of the violation of the Levite’s concubine and entails the Lord instructing them to go to battle with the Benjamites (after they inquired of him) only to be soundly defeated twice in a row. Mourning the death of thousands of soldiers and bemoaning the defeat they suffered, they sought the Lord in a more intense way through fasting. Prayer always accompanied fasting almost in the sense of creating a higher octane crying out to God. Prayer, joined to fasting in this instance, resulted in victory from the Lord’s gracious hand.
Putting our general principle of kingdom longing to the test, we see that the instances of fasting manifest this general foundation. For example, fasting occurred as a means of repentance (1 Sam 7:6; Neh 1:4), of mourning (2 Sam 1:12), and of showing dependence upon and crying out for God’s mercy in different situations (2 Sam 12:16; Ezra 8:21). In addition to fasting involving the denial of food and water, other fasting in principle might involve abstinence from sex or sleep and sacrificial giving (1 Cor 7:5; Matt 26:36-44; Isa 58:7).
In the end, physical self-denial is meant to foster spiritual vitality raising one to a higher platform in his or her petitions to the Lord. Fasting acts as a kind of spiritual catalyst to our prayers as they are more powerfully propelled to the throne of God. My wife and I have often bemoaned that we feel our prayers at times don’t make it beyond the ceiling. The hunger pains of fasting then can intensify the fervency and urgency of prayer to help blow a hole through not just the ceiling but also the roof, for when “I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10)
Coming back to Jesus’ statement about fasting occurring when he was “taken away,” we might look to his triumphant resurrection and ascension as the mark that, once again, it is a time for feasting. After all, believers have won the “victory” over death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death has lost its “sting” and has been “swallowed up” in such victory. “[T]hanks be to God” for a reason to feast and celebrate! (1 Cor 15:54, 55, 57) Indeed, those born of God, have in victory “overcome the world” In part, we perform this type of celebratory feasting in the Lord’s Supper. As we remember the victory that we have through the death and resurrection, the bread and cup involve fellowship with Christ and his church as we enjoy an anticipatory foretaste of the feast to come at his return. That’s why we gather around the table “until he comes.” (Matt 26:29; 1 Cor 11:26; Rev 19:9)
We would expect, then, that the practice of fasting came to an end in the New Testament with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This does not follow through, as we find indications of newly planted churches fasting church over the ordination of Paul and Baranabas before their first missionary journey and elders in Lystra ( Acts 13:2,3; 14:23). In the list of Paul’s sufferings for the gospel fasting may possibly be meant (2 Cor 11:27), but “without food” could simply indicate not having anything to eat. So, limiting the clear references to two in Acts, they hardly indicate a strong New Testament emphasis. We cannot ascertain the prevalence of the practice from the these two recorded instances, yet we can be certain of its existence. Clearly, after not only the death but also the resurrection and ascension of Christ, it was a time for fasting.
The instances of fasting also fit our theme of kingdom longing mentioned earlier. In a context where Paul and the others were not only looking in expectation for the extension of the kingdom in the church of Jesus Christ but also fully aware of the dangers in this work (Acts 9:16), especially at the hands of persecuting Jews like he, prayer and fasting intensely sought the Spirit’s anointing of their ministry.
From here, we rightly conclude that that it remains a time for fasting, for the church today finds itself in a similar post-Ascension pre-Parousia context. The bridegroom has been taken away and we await his return to claim his bride. We must not conclude that because the fasting observed in the New Testament church was always connected to the laying on of hands of church officers, that it did not and could occur for other reasons. Rather, seeing that the employment of New Testament fasting fits within the general theme noted earlier, we can rightly apply it to other areas as well.
In the end, with the triumphant death and resurrection of Christ granting to us salvific victory that we experience now yet do not fully possess until he returns, it is both a time for feasting and fasting. This is the conclusion that we can draw from the present victory Paul celebrates in the resurrection of Christ to the future triumph he anticipates in the glorification and resurrection of believers (1 Cor 15:55-57; Rom 7:24-25). Christ already gives us the victory that we do not yet enjoy in full (1 Cor 15:54, 57). Even as we gather around the table in the Supper, we not only celebrate what we have we anticipate what is yet to come with the return of Jesus Christ.
Given the ongoing warrant for the practice and the effect that it has, why do not we not see fasting emphasized or practiced on a regular basis at least in the Western church? Our minds might immediately be drawn to the self-indulgent flowery-bed-of-ease approach that plagues the church. At its foundation, I believe, lies a people who understand very little of what it means to be disciples as those who deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus Christ. Coupled with this, we may sing and recite “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” but what we really pursue is “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, . . . but first let me attend to my own interests.”
What would would the church look like if on a wide-scale we harnessed fasting (not the mechanical self-righteous Pharisaical kind!) to prayer as we repent of our sin, seek God’s blessing upon his preachers, cast ourselves upon him in humble dependence, plead for conquest in the ongoing spiritual warfare with our three great enemies, and in general pursue the interests of the kingdom? Does it sound far-fetched to imagine that the church might have a greater transforming effect on this country through the preaching of the gospel? These questions I leave with as a challenge to consider this neglected yet important matter. I might as well leave you with one final question, Is it not a time for fasting?