Fasting In the Wilderness – Matthew 4:16-18
The human condition is to experience a complex knot of desires. Many of those desires are God-given, good, and necessary for life on Earth. Many are disordered, nefarious, and destructive. For millennia, fasting, going without food and drink for a period of time, has been a core practice of the Church; this is in part because it brings our body and spirit into alignment clarifying our desires and reordering our appetites.
As the Church of the West, we are far more familiar with the God of the mountaintop than the God of the wilderness. When suffering crashes into our lives we often wonder where God is, and Lent is an annual practice that teaches us to find His presence in our wilderness.
Eugene Peterson calls spiritual disciplines, like abstinence and fasting, “voluntary disaster”.
We live by phrases like, “the heart wants what the heart wants.”
The result is that we find ourselves in a wilderness of competing desires.
In the language of the New Testament, this is the tug-of-war between your flesh & spirit.
In Freudian thought, this is called the pleasure principle.
pleasure principle
is decision-making that works toward immediate gratification and avoidance of pain, in order to satisfy biological or psychological needs.
It is to do whatever feels good at the moment.
In the language of New Testament the pleasure principle, this move toward instant gratification, is called “the flesh.”
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh –Ephesians 2:1–3.
Fasting is the practice of going without food and drink(excluding water) for a period of time.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” –Genesis 3:1–6.
The fall of humanity is deeply connected to food; or more accurately, our inability to resist instant gratification.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God –Galatians 5:19–21.
The Genesis narrative demonstrates that we have the propensity to abandon God’s best, in favor of a quick fix– instant gratification
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” – Matthew 4:1–4.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” – Matthew 6:16–18 (ESV)
Jesus assumes his disciples will fast because it helps us fight the flesh and feed on the Spirit.
31b “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” –John 4:31–34.
“[Fasting] is body talk—not the body simply talking for the spirit, for the mind, or for the soul in some symbolic way, but for the person, the whole person, to express herself or himself completely. Fasting is one way you and I bring our entire selves into complete expression. The Bible, because it advocates clearly that the person—heart, soul, mind, spirit, body—is embodied as a unity, assumes that fasting as body talk is inevitable.”– Scot McKnight
“Fasting helps us to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain the Kingdom of God.” – Andrew Murray
But Jesus also assumes we will mess it up.
In the midst of Lent; we commit ourselves to fasting as we journey with Jesus toward the cross.
“Sometimes, the call is made to fasting, and sometimes to a feast.” – St. Athanasius
So, how do I practice fasting?*
Pick a day and try it
I suggest fasting (going without food and drink) twice a week for twelve or twenty-four hours.
I would also suggest working your way up to longer fasts.
This may not be drastically different than your normal busy life. The goal is to be intentional with it.
*If you’ve ever suffered from an eating disorder or live with a diagnosed medical condition, you should consult a doctor, therapist, or pastor prior to fasting. Fasting is a helpful practice given to us by Christ, but notice that fasting is not intended to harm the body. Rather, it is designed to bring the body and soul into alignment.
If you’ve suffered from an eating disorder it is our belief that you can experience healing. With time, community, and Spirit’s help– healing is possible.
