Matthew 6 – Don’t be a Hypocrite – Fasting

Let’s read Matthew 6:16-18
When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

So far in this chapter we’ve been looking at Jesus’ instructions on how to follow religious observances in the right way. That is, a way which honours God and allows us to draw closer to him. A way which allows us to care for the needs of those around is. A way which keeps us humble, remembering our place before God.

Jesus taught about how to (and how not to) give charity to those in need. He taught about how not to pray, and then gave us a model prayer that can act as a foundation for our own prayers. This foundation helps us understand the most important things to speak to God about, and also the attitude of mind with which we should approach him.

And now

Now we move on to the third example Jesus gave of how to correctly perform religious observance: fasting.

This may seem a little less relevant and/or a little more obscure to a modern audience, as most of us have probably never practiced fasting as a religious rite.

Nevertheless it was a common practice for the Jewish people in Jesus’ day, and it’s mentioned many times in the Old Testament.

What is fasting? It’s the practice of going without food, denying one’s own desire to eat, for a certain period of time.

What purpose does it serve? In a nutshell, fasting was a way for a person to show dedication to God, to remove themselves from their daily needs and desires for a short period of time.

It enabled a person for a short period of time to focus entirely on God.

This was perhaps based on the same principle as the Sabbath law, which required people to take one day off work each week, for the same purpose of enabling them to focus on God.

Unlike the Sabbath law, as far as I can tell there are no commandments in the Old Testament law which ordered the people to fast at any particular time or for any particular purpose. It seems to be something a person could choose to do voluntarily when they felt it was necessary.

It’s possible that there’s one exception to that. On the holiest day of the Jewish religious calendar, the Day of Atonement, the people were required to “…deny yourselves and … do no work…” (see e.g. Leviticus 16:29). It’s possible that this command to “deny yourselves” (other translations have ‘afflict’ or ‘humble’) may have implied a requirement to go without food, i.e. to fast, but it’s not stated explicitly.

Fasting was often accompanied by intense prayer, which suggests it may have been used as a way to help focus the mind away from ordinary life and on the things of God.

Fasting also took place at times of mourning, times of repentance and times of impending national disaster. See e.g. 2 Samuel 12:16-17, Daniel 9:3-5 and 2 Chronicles 20:1-4.

It symbolised a person’s recognition that they desperately needed to seek God to ask for help or for forgiveness or for strength. It was a way of clearing one’s mind of all other things and leaving only room for God. Perhaps it was even a way to symbolise entering God’s presence, a place where there is no need for food to sustain us.

And yet

That’s what fasting was supposed to be: a voluntary practice of self-denial to enable a deeper communion with God over a short period of time.

Yet in Jesus’ day it seems that people were doing it for other reasons entirely.

In verse 16 we can again see him calling out the “hypocrites” for using holy religious observances as a way to make themselves look good in front of others.

It’s not clear exactly what they were doing or what Jesus meant by “disfiguring their faces”, but it seems evident they were curating their physical appearance to make it obvious they were fasting.

Perhaps they were even competing with each other to see who could look the most “disfigured” and therefore appear to be the one fasting the longest or the most often.

In Matthew 9:14 Jesus was questioned by disciples of John the Baptist “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?“. From this it appears that regular (and visibly obvious) fasting was seen as evidence of great piety, so much so that people were surprised that Jesus didn’t fast (or if he did, he kept it to himself).

Keeping it to themselves was exactly what Jesus instructed his followers to do whenever they fasted. As we saw earlier, it was intended to be a time for growing close to God, to focus one’s mind on prayer or repentance or a request for help.

It was an entirely private moment between the faster and God. It wasn’t to be done for an admiring audience to witness the faster’s piety.

And us?

Now all of this may seem entirely academic to us in 2024. Most Christians today, as far as I know, don’t fast. Some people may decide to give up certain favourite things for a period of time e.g. for Lent, but it’s not a regular practice at any church I’ve been a member of.

Perhaps there is a lesson here for us, however.

Do you ever find it difficult to pray? Do you struggle to switch off from daily responsibilities and stresses such as work, family, finances, health or whatever else tends to occupy your mind, and come to God?

Does God end up just getting the few moments here and there you are able to snatch out of your daily life?

Now I’m not suggesting that you take up fasting per se, but it might be helpful for you to find some way to temporarily detach yourself from the daily grind and set aside time for God.

That might look very different for each person. It could involve, for example, meditation or listening to certain music or finding a certain place to be, or indeed denying yourself something you enjoy or need for a certain period of time.

If left to their own devices, your body and mind will focus on what they need to do in order to survive and seek pleasure. It will take effort on your part to break away from the rhythm of your natural instincts.

Find what works for you. What is it that enables you to switch off from daily life, even if it’s just for a few minutes, and focus entirely on God? Find it and use it.

Just don’t publicise it!