The Fasting God Wants

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Isaiah 58:1-9a / Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19 / Matthew 9:14-15

The Fasting God Wants

Why do we fast? If fasting is only about increasing our own suffering and deprivation, it isn’t Christian; it isn’t Good News.

Perhaps we fast to empty ourselves of something – even something good – so that we can be filled with something better. Perhaps we fast to symbolically empty ourselves of something we think we need, things we have come to mistakenly think of as essential, things we have come to take for granted, which we’d be better off with less of, or just plain without. I’ve known people who have given up meat for every day of Lent, not just Fridays. I’ve known people who have given up eating between meals. I’ve known people who have given up television. Sometimes they forget what the sacrifice was about. Other times, they became more aware of just what they could and couldn’t live without.

According to Isaiah the fasting God has in mind has to do with ending injustice not reducing one’s waistline. The latter would be nice – maybe even needed – but the former is undoubtedly essential. Lent ought to be a time when the whole Church (the Pilgrim People of God and the institution) looks at its own practice of justice and calls society to do the same. How is our stewardship of the earth? How are Church employees treated? Are they justly compensated? Do our parishes combine works of personal charity (i.e. reaching individuals in need) with works of institutional justice (i.e. challenging and transforming the social structures that create the inequities)? Do we both feed the hungry and fight the causes of hunger in our world today?

The fasting God wants isn’t merely about paring down to reduce excess and arrive at bare necessities. It is about forsaking sin and embracing justice. It is about facing our fallen human nature and insisting we live up to our high calling to live in the image and likeness of God.

Why do we fast? We fast for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

·        Make a point to research the causes of hunger, and, over a modest Lenten meal, discuss with friends and family what you learn, focusing on what can be done to change the situation.