Updated 02\/28\/17<\/p>\n
In the Ash Wednesday Gospel reading<\/a>, Jesus says \u201cwhen 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\u201d (Matt 6:17-18). Notice that Jesus doesn\u2019t say \u201cIf<\/em> you fast . . .\u201d The implication is that Jesus\u2019 disciples will <\/em>fast. <\/strong>Aside from teaching his disciples to fast humbly and not call attention to themselves, Jesus does not give explicit instructions about how<\/em> and when<\/em> to fast. Even the why<\/em> seems to be taken for granted in the Gospels. During this season of Lent, as many Christians practice some form of fasting, I think it may be helpful to consider some of the reasons why the Church has practiced fasting over the centuries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For starters, we do not fast because we\u2019re dualistic, gnostic, platonic, or don\u2019t see value in food. The creation is good, and we honor God\u2019s intentions for the world and our bodies when we nourish our bodies appropriately. But we often are not the best judges of what is appropriate. One of the fruits of the Spirit is \u201cself-control\u201d\u2014the ability to discipline one\u2019s appetites and urges. Fasting helps produce this fruit in our lives.<\/p>\n For example, because the same part of our brain that controls our appetite for food also controls our sexual appetites, the monastic tradition has long recommended fasting as a remedy for lust. On a larger scale, by delaying the gratification of our appetite for food, we cultivate the sort of self-discipline that is valuable in all things (1 Pet 4:8). As Richard Foster wrote, \u201cOur human cravings and desires are like rivers that tend to overflow their banks; fasting helps keep them in their proper channels.\u201d[1]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our culture has a playful term for the drowsy and sluggish feeling one has after eating too much: a \u201cfood coma.\u201d But it\u2019s hard to pray when you\u2019re in a food coma. Jesus invites us to practice watchfulness instead of drunkenness (Luke 21:34), and we can be more mentally alert to pray and serve when we\u2019re not weighed down by too much food. St. John Cassian was a monk who lived in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and whose writings influenced the famous Rule of St. Benedict<\/em>. Writing about why we ought to fast, Cassian said, \u201cIt is not only too much wine that besots our mind: too much water or too much of anything makes it drowsy and stupefied.\u201d[2]<\/p>\n Fasting can have the opposite effect: sharpening our thinking and making us more attentive to God and those to whom God sends us. (Many of us will respond at this point, \u201cBut I get cranky when I don\u2019t eat!\u201d Anger is obviously not a desired fruit of fasting, but here\u2019s a hint: eating a low carbohydrate diet makes it easier to fast without getting irritable, because it forces your body to get used to burning fat for energy, and fat is a more stable source of energy. Try it.)<\/p>\n Perhaps this clarity of mind is why the disciples\u2014\u201cwhile they were worshiping the Lord and fasting\u201d\u2014heard the Holy Spirit calling them to send out Barnabas and Saul as missionaries in Acts 13:2-3. This means that fasting can be a powerful, but often misunderstood or overlooked element in our processes of discernment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A curious thing happens when Jesus gets caught up in conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4: He doesn\u2019t get hungry, even though the other disciples are off searching for lunch. Jesus tells his disciples \u201cI have food to eat that you do not know about. . . . My food is to do the will of him who sent me\u201d (vv. 32, 34). Jesus, in his full humanity, practiced fasting as a way to live in the power of the Spirit and do the Father\u2019s will. The inverse of this statement shows us that fasting is not a way to manipulate God. Fasting does not bend our God\u2019s will to match our own. Rather it bends our will to match God\u2019s. And when our will is aligned with God\u2019s, we may discover that power greater than we imagine is at work within us (Eph 3:20).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is most appropriate during the season of Lent, as we practice turning back to God and away from our sinful or selfish desires. Repentance gets short shrift in our proclamation of the Gospel today, but it was integral to the proclamation of Christ and the Apostles (cf. Matt 4:17, Acts 2:38, 2 Cor 7:10). To again quote Richard Foster, \u201cMore than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.\u201d[3] Fasting reveals the attachments we have to the world and demonstrates our desire to be attached only to Christ. To fast without an element of soul-searching and relinquishment of one\u2019s own will is self-defeating.<\/p>\n All these are valid reasons to practice fasting. Maybe now you\u2019re asking, \u201cBut how? Where do I begin?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n We explore these questions in our next post: How do Christians fast?<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Rev. Christopher Brown\u00a0was the first coordinator of the Church Planting Initiative at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.\u00a0He\u00a0previously served as\u00a0the organizing co-pastor of The Upper Room Presbyterian Church, a church plant of the PC (U.S.A.) in Pittsburgh\u2019s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. A graduate of Pittsburgh Seminary, Chris regularly blogs at https:\/\/christopherbrown.wordpress.com,<\/a>\u00a0tweets at @brwnchrstpher<\/a>, and now lives with his family in Colorado where we serves a church.<\/em><\/p>\n [1] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth<\/em> (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco 1998) p. 56 Updated 02\/28\/17 In the Ash Wednesday Gospel reading, Jesus says \u201cwhen 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\u201d (Matt 6:17-18). Notice that Jesus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[232,230,83,82,231],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protestant-spirituality","category-theological-reflection","tag-ash-wednesday","tag-christians-and-fasting","tag-fasting","tag-lent","tag-why-fast"],"yoast_head":"\r\nWe fast to learn self-control. <\/strong><\/h2>\n
We fast to think more clearly.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
We fast to open ourselves up to God\u2019s power flowing through us.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
We fast to confess our sin and brokenness. <\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n[2] St. John Cassian, \u201cOn the Eight Vices,\u201d in The Philokalia vol. 1<\/em> trans. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, & Kallistos Ware. (London: Faber and Faber 1979)\u00a0 p. 74[3] Foster, p. 55<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"