Fasting and Feasting
By Jacob Hess
One of my favorite Easter Sundays was the one I celebrated while studying abroad in Uganda. My study abroad experience was wonderful! I made some good friends, learned a lot, and got to experience a unique cultural perspective. The only downside was the food. I lived on a university campus and ate most of my meals in the cafeteria. Everyday was the same: bread, hard boiled egg, and tea for breakfast, and beans and rice for lunch and dinner. Being used to a variety of dishes in the States, you can imagine how starved for a good meal I was! Well, on Easter Sunday things turned around. My Ugandan roommate invited me to celebrate Easter with his family. After the service, we traveled to his family's home where I was delighted to see tables laden with delicious foods. Fruits, meats, cheeses, sauces, and sweet delights all made for a wonderful feast in celebration of Jesus’ defeat of death itself! Looking back on it now, I think part of the reason this Easter was such a memorable celebration was because of the rudimentary diet I had been eating leading to the feast. This, in part, explains the power of fasting. When you say no to something you enjoy—like food—your gratitude for even the smallest gifts grows, but is that all fasting is about? Why should or shouldn’t you fast during this lenten season?
What Is It?
Fasting has been an important practice in the life of God’s people even before the founding of the church. The law required Israel to fast one day a year, the day of Atonement, when the high priest would give a sacrifice on behalf of the sins of the people (Lev 16:29). After the people returned from exile, the number of prescribed days of fasting increased, particularly for the most religious of the community, the Pharisees, who fasted “twice weekly” (see Lk 18:12). Fasting in this period of salvation history was practiced as a way to seek God’s blessings or as a show of humility and mourning over sin, especially in light of God’s just judgement and the hope of a future ruler who would come and defeat the enemies of God’s people.All this changed with the coming of Jesus, who dealt with the judgement due for our sin by taking it upon Himself on the cross, winning victory over our ultimate enemies of sin, death, and the devil.
Why Do It?
Jesus’ victory, however, doesn’t mean that fasting has lost all its value. When asked why His disciples didn’t fast like the Pharisees, and other holy Israelites, Jesus replied, “‘Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day,’” (2:19b-20). Jesus is the groom and we are the bride, but as Jesus notes here, the wedding ceremony is still to come. Jesus has won victory over our enemies, but that victory awaits its final culmination on the day He will return to set all things right.
So, what place does the practice of fasting have in the time between Jesus’ initial victory and its final fulfillment? That’s a big question, and its answer requires some nuance. Fasting is no longer a proper sign of mourning over sin for Jesus has already dealt with our sin on the cross, but it can provide two major opportunities in our walk with Jesus:
Removing any obstacles or distractions that have accumulated in our lives between us and our Savior. Things like food, hobbies, and technology are wonderful gifts, but they can easily become distractions from what is most—and eternally—important.
Replacing bad habits and distractions with new and better rhythms of life that keep our focus on Jesus, who has come and will come again.
Fasting is not about earning God’s love, it’s about enjoying it. It’s important that you keep this focus if you plan to fast this lenten season. Don’t just remove bad things, replace them with good practices that deepen your experience of God’s unending love.
Awaiting the Feast To Come
Fasting from the good gifts of this life can help us recognize not only that all good gifts come from God, but that, ultimately, God is the only one who can fulfill our deepest desires. On top of all this, similar to my experience in Uganda, fasting can encourage a longing for the heavenly feast to come. It may not be easy in the moment, but saying no in the present only makes the feast to come seem all the sweeter. So, perhaps this Lent, take the opportunity that fasting affords of growing your anticipation for the life to come, for the promise of a new world where we will celebrate the wedding feast of the Lamb and His Bride. Relish the removing and the replacing as practices that deepen your relationship with the God who gave all away to save you, and as practices that prepare you for the great feast we will share with Him one day.