Lent is upon us. With Ash Wednesday coming next week, (happy Valentine’s Day) I thought it would be helpful to reflect on why Christians practice fasting. To do this, let’s go back to the beginning.
The Fast of the First Adam
In the Garden of Eden, prior to the fall, God gives Adam a particular task, with a particular boundary. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”” (Genesis 2:15-17)
We can see that Adam is called to work (till and keep the garden) as well as fast (abstain from the fruit of the tree of knowledge). While there are multiple ways in which this moment echos across salvation history, I believe there is a biblical through line related to fasting here. In a real sense, Adam’s fall is a failure to adhere to the fast that God had commanded.
When we fast, we abstain from items that are in and of themselves good and pleasing. In Genesis 3, we see that the tree of knowledge was appealing, and in and of itself good. “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 3:6)
The Fast of the New Adam
One of the keys to understanding the relationship between the Old and New Testaments is the relationship between Adam and Jesus. Adam is the starting point of humanity who fails in his task and plunges the human race into darkness with him. Jesus is the starting point of a new humanity, and is thus a new Adam. “For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22) Thus, Paul refers to those who are in Christ as a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
But what does this have to do with fasting?
As soon as Jesus is baptized, we see that the Spirit leads him out into the wilderness to fast for 40 days (Matt 4:1-11). At the end of His fast, exhausted and hungry, He endures and refutes a series of temptations from the devil. The first place the devil attempts to tempt Jesus is where he succeeded in tempting Adam and Eve: food. But here, rather than doubt what God has said and break his fast, Jesus quotes what God has said, that “man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Where the old Adam failed in the garden, the New Adam succeeds in the desert. As those called to follow the example and pattern of Jesus, one way we can grow in His likeness is by overcoming the devil through practiced fasting. For a further breakdown of this, I highly recommend David Fagerberg’s The Liturgical Cosmos, Chapter 2.
Jesus expected his disciples to fast
A few chapter later, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, Jesus gives instructions to His followers on alms giving, prayer (this is where we find The Lord’s Prayer), and fasting. Jesus says, “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18)
Giving, praying, and fasting are expected of those who follow Jesus, and those practices will reap spiritual benefits for those who practice them with proper motivation.
Fasting was the practice of the early church
The Apostles were well versed in the Old Testament, where fasting was a common practice. On Pentecost, when Peter gives his first sermon as leader of the church, he immediately quotes from Joel 2, applying that promise to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that day. And while these verses occur just prior to Peter’s citation, it’s hard to believe that the Jews hearing Peter would not have also known these words… “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;” (Joel 2:12).
Later in the book of Acts, we see that when serious decisions had to be made, the Apostles joined fasting to their prayers. “And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.” (Acts 14:23) Why would they do this if it wasn’t 1) expected of them and 2) spiritually effective?
Conclusion
From Adam to Jesus, across both the Old and New Testaments, fasting is an expectation for the people of God. This post simply seems to establish the principle that Christians are expected to fast.
The reality is that fasting isn’t pleasant in the moment. Left to our own devices, we would often let that practice slip by. We need a way of scheduling these practices into our lives. That is one of the graces of the season of Lent. God has ordered time in such a way as to help us live a holy life.
I hope this post encourages you as we prepare for Lent to begin next week! In my next post I will focus on the spiritual realities and benefits of fasting.
