In our last article we looked at fasting in the Old Testament. Fasting was/is the spiritual practice of not eating food for a particular period of time. Fasting was used for any number of purposes including seeking God's help in the face of war, sickness and impending danger. It was also used as means of approaching God while seeking forgiveness or more generally seeking God's will. Fasting was considered to be useful because it allowed people to focus on prayer and a relationship with God rather than the needs of their own bodies. Fasting was only commanded on the Day of Atonement but was frequently used (as we have seen) on many other occasions. Finally fasting was to be done not as a ritual but as a devotional practice which was accompanied by a humble and contrite heart. Fasting as a public show of piety was rejected by the prophets and by God. As we turn to the New Testament we will see that while fasting is present, it does not play as significant a role as it did in the Old Testament.
The scriptures only record one fast of Jesus. This fasting occurs during his testing in the desert at the beginning of his ministry. In Matthew 4:1-4 we read of Jesus being forced into the wilderness by the Spirit in order to be tempted by Satan. For the Gospel writer this is Jesus' Moses-like wilderness experience which will require total concentration on his call from God if he is to save humanity. In order to succeed, Jesus fasted, setting aside all physical desires so that he could be totally connected to God. The fast prepared him for the test and gave him the courage to remain faithful to his mission. It is noteworthy that on at least one occasion (Mark 2:17-19) when the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting and Jesus and his followers were not, Jesus explained this by saying that his followers could not fast because he was with them (implying that they might fast later). Jesus also continued the prophetic tradition of condemning fasting that is for show and not as an act of inward devotion to God (Matthew 6:16-18) .
The Book of Acts offers us a glimpse into the place of fasting in the early church. In Acts 13:1-3 we read of the church at Antioch praying and fasting in order to discern God's will for their congregation. The result was that the Holy Spirit commanded them to set aside Paul and Barnabas for missionary work. A second example of fasting is that of the commissioning of elders. Paul and Barnabas in their travels would appoint elders in each of the churches they visited. This appointment process was accompanied by prayer and fasting (Acts 14:21-23) . This passage can be understood that all "ordination" of elders was accompanied by fasting…though it may only mean that Paul and Barnabas ordained elders in all the churches. The third and final occurrence of fasting in Acts comes in Acts 27:9 which refers to "the fast." This would imply that Paul along with his companions continued to keep the Jewish fast of the Day of Atonement. The dearth of references to fasting in Acts has been taken by some scholars to mean that the practice was not essential in the life of the early church. I would take it to mean that Jewish Christians brought this practice to the Gentile Christians and it took a while to take hold in those communities.
I believe this to be true because over time fasting became a required practice in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican traditions. Within these traditions there are fast days and fast seasons such as Lent. Each tradition created its own rules and regulations so that people would know when and how to fast. Lutherans encouraged individual fasting but it was not a prescribed practice. Our own Protestant tradition initially rejected fasting as a practice. Calvin believed that believers' entire lives ought to be focused on a simple life which would produce a sense of continual fasting. Zwingli (an early Reformer) was so opposed to periods of fasting that he encouraged people to have a sausage-fest during Lent. In more recent years we Protestants have come to see fasting as a spiritual discipline which can be used to focus our lives while we seek God's guidance and direction.
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