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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Fasting? |
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Joel
2:12, Matthew 6:16 First
Sunday in Lent February
10, 2008 Fasting is often mentioned in Scripture, but never really explained. This is partly because it was so well understood in Hebrew culture that explanations were unnecessary. Explaining fasting would have been as silly as explaining eating. Not so in our age of conspicuous consumption. Today fasting is almost unheard of, at least for spiritual reasons. We may fast overnight for a medical test in the morning. We all know about the blood test that has to follow a fast overnight, and we all know people who act like they’re being abused for those twelve hours. They do it for their physical health, but fasting as a religious discipline is seldom practiced today, and, even in Lent, a traditional time for fasting, few fast, and few who do know why. So let’s talk about fasting today. First let’s talk about what fasting is not. It is not a way to get things from God. We have convoluted our thinking about much of what we do in church these days. We have turned them from things we do for God, into things we do to get God to do something for us. We have turned prayer, for example into a “wish list.” It is simply a vocalizing to God of things we want Him to do for us. One of the great things about our Prayer Book is that it shows, in the services of Morning and Evening Prayer, that prayer is much more than just asking God for things. When we pray “Morning Prayer” we actually worship God, and we see that what we are doing is for God, not for us. The same is true of worship. Many see worship as a way to get a good feeling, a way to get our batteries recharged so we can face the coming week, a thing God does for us, and a way to get God to do more for us. But worship is really intended to be something we do for God. We are offering our praise and thanksgiving and our very selves to God. Here again we are blessed with this great guide for worship, the Book of Common Prayer, which helps us prevent this error. And fasting? It is amazing how many people think they can get a Land Rover out of God if they simply skip lunch a few times in Lent. But fasting is much different from and much more than a way to manipulate things out of God. We will talk about this more in a few moments. Next we must say fasting is not a way to earn God’s favor or forgiveness, or to atone for our sin. God is already favorable to us. He is favorable, not because we fast, or worship Him, but because He elects to be favorable. He is favorable because it is His nature to show favor. We can’t earn it, no matter how much we fast, even if we starve ourselves to death. And forgiveness is given because Christ died for us. We cannot add to or detract from the finished work of Christ. Fasting won’t make us any more or any less forgiven. Next, fasting is not a sign of intense spirituality. Jesus, in our lesson from Matthew this morning, spoke about people fasting to be seen of men. These men fasted, but were far from God in their hearts. Their fasting was all for show. But real fasting is done in secret, not to be seen of men, but by God. The Pharisee was proud of his outward forms, of appearing to be spiritual because of his fasting. But Jesus said it was all pretense. Fasting to be seen fasting, like wearing ashes to be seen wearing ashes, or praying to be seen praying, or giving money to be seen giving, does not accomplish the goal. It is not a badge of spirituality. Finally, fasting is not sharing the suffering of Christ. I think this whole idea of giving up steak for Lent, and thinking we are somehow sharing the sufferings of Christ, misses the point of fasting entirely. We cannot share the sufferings of Christ by something so trivial, and I think it is blasphemous to think we can. Christ left the glory of Heaven to live as a humble man, and die a horrible death on the cross. More than that, He suffered the wrath of God for our sins, and that was much more horrible than the pains inflicted on His flesh by mere men. Nothing we can do, short of spending eternity in hell, can ever compare with what He suffered in our places. So, let’s talk for a while about what fasting is. The main thing we can say here is that fasting is self-discipline. It is an exercise in controlling the flesh. Fasting is an exercise in bringing the appetites of the flesh under control. It is usually accompanied by prayer. So we are turning aside from the concerns of the world to devote ourselves to God. That is basically it. And fasting is a good thing. Jesus fasted. But when we talk about fasting I think of the words of our own Bishop Ogles quoting one of my favorite theologians, Robert E. Lee. Robert E. Lee said something like, we should fast from ours sins and eat what is good for us. The whole point of fasting is to discipline ourselves, so that we have more control of our fleshly desires, and, therefore, will not give in to sin as easily. So, the real fast, and the fasting we really need to do, is fasting from sin. Let us pray. Holy Father, who loves and provides for Your children, help us to love You, and to keep this Lenten season, as all other days, with holiness and righteousness, fasting from our sins. In the Name of Christ. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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