Matthew 6:16-21
“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. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 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. 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Isaiah 58:3-10
3“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. 4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.
I’d love you all to have “your gloom look like the noon day” today, especially because it is so dark and cold…and it's rainy. And I'm sure that the reason why the place isn't packed today is because I'm talking about fasting. And who wants to fast anyway?
In one of my “silly” moments when I was thinking through the text and what I could do to make it interesting, I was thinking about calling Pasquales and having them deliver pizzas and bring them down the aisle just to tempt us. But that's actually not what fasting is about. That's what we think it's about. It's actually much deeper than that.
If you've been able to, even in part, keep up with the Lenten cards, then you have seen and experienced a wide swath of Lenten practices that we are being charged with. Some days are a little easier than others--especially the “Give” cards. Let’s face it, it's easy to give away t-shirts that no longer fit, right? We love to be able to “do” things. And, if we're honest, when we “do” things for others, as Matthew charges, secretly it makes us feel good. It makes us feel good about ourselves and that's what we want!
The “Praying” invitation cards are far more challenging, but they're still pretty familiar. “Fasting”? Not so much! Even at our Lenten Wednesday group this week, we had difficulty even talking about it, because, well, we don't have much experience with it. So what is there to say? For many of us, the concept of having to go without stirs up dread and anxiety. And the more comfortable thing is just to skip over those cards and go on to the next “Pray” or “Give” card. I mean, after all, who's going to know whether we fasted or not?
The Jews (addressed in the Matthew text) and Israel (addressed in the Isaiah text) weren't so lucky. You see, part of the necessary piety for Jews in their fasting tradition is that they literally had to show up at their synagogue wearing a sackcloth and put ashes on their head, without washing their face, having their hair askew so everybody knew that that was the day that they were actually fasting. But it was only one day a year. We still see that tradition in our Jewish brothers and sisters on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Back then there were additional days that Jews could fast; every Monday and every Thursday. The faithful could also come in with their sackcloth, wearing ashes, and hair askew to show others that they were being extra pious. Both of these types of fasting are on the surface, are okay. But the charge in both texts is to not make a sad face when everyone else is eating - what the wish. But the one who fasts, proudly boasts “Oh…I can't eat because…I’m fasting (i.e.,‘Oh, I can’t have the pizza or the chocolate because…I've given up bread for Lent.’) Sigh….
By the way, if you've given up chocolate for Lent—STOP. I saw this wonderful documentary on one of the PBS affiliates recently and it turns out, back in the Middle Ages when chocolate was discovered and was regularly shipped back to Europe, the Catholic Church determined that chocolate actually wasn't food. So you can go back to eating your chocolate now. You don't have to wait ‘til Easter. Not kidding!
So back to what fasting is and SHOULD be in our actions and our attitudes. it might be obvious, but the call is to not work at seeking approval and impressing others. That's why Isaiah 58 is important to look at and absorb. It’s challenging our intentions and our TRUE piety. We want to be seen well by others. We want to seem faithful to others; working hard in the church, serving others in the name of God, but lapping up all the credit.
Back in the ‘90s, the New York Times wrote a very long expose on my alma mater Princeton Seminary in which they had a young man dress up as someone who was homeless and hungry. And he sat on the steps of the chapel of the Seminary. The seminary has chapel at 10 a.m. each morning. As the bell wrang for worship at 10 a.m., the students dashed from their dorms and classrooms to get to the chapel on time. And every single student scaled the chapel stairs never stopping or even looking at the homeless man on the steps. That, my friends, is a wonderfully terrible example of the wrong kind of piety, exactly what our texts are naming. Instead, God wants us to have a piety that's actually a secret act that only God knows about and where God is the sole witness.
But, again, that's not an excuse to stop coming to church--all of you who are not watching today or are not coming at all. But a fasting and worship mindset carried out with integrity and wholeheartedness and oriented solely to God is what a pure piety is all about. Sure, good acts of faith seen by others are all well and good, and we will receive a reward; other’s lauds and acclamations, but it doesn’t please God.
Hans Kung, who was a famous theologian, wrote a tome many years ago entitled “On Being a Christian”. It's filled with chapters on how to be a good Christian. But when he was interviewed about writing the book, he was asked, “Tell us Dr. Kung , why is it that there's no chapter on prayer in your book about being a Christian?” And he said, “I was getting so much pressure to complete my deadlines and I just didn't have the time.”
Fasting in both Testaments and contexts is simply not an act of ‘not eating’ for a time to show devotion to God. It is about acquiring and doing acts of righteousness that overturns evils, that affects others, especially the downtrodden. Refraining from eating is only one part of it. Getting our hearts right is also part of it, as well as caring for those who are impoverished is the last part of it.
Remember Jesus when He was being tempted by the devil with bread in the wilderness? What was his response? It wasn't just about the bread. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Getting a loaf of bread wasn't going to help Jesus, because what he was doing was much deeper work than that. He was cleansing his heart, getting himself ready for ministry. Bread or no bread, he had to have his heart right, because He knew He was going to care for the downtrodden and for the whole world.
Fasting for the sake of God means a genuine self-denial, especially for the sake of others. And when we do that kind of fasting, the reward is not only great in Heaven, which is the future, but we get changed in the process. We get changed in the process, because we move away from self-preoccupation. Healing of our wounds also becomes a by-product. And, if we're really good, then we start to rehab the relationships in our lives, because when we stop trying to be right, we further our relationships, instead of dredging up an argument from ten years ago with our spouse, (that doesn't help, does it?)
Those are the kind of things that we need to fast from and need healing of. And when we are silent even in people's judgment of us, we start to heal and help our relationships, and ultimately, society. This kind of fasting is most difficult. As we all know, in the moment when we're highly triggered by something, the words and actions come so lightning fast, the damage has already been done before we even realize what we’ve done. And that's why prayers and having a heart of giving are important along with the fasting. It's an invitation to give oneself over fully to God--not just a slice of ourselves, but all of ourselves.
I don't think I have to tell you that we all wished that Will Smith had fasted from his words and action last Sunday at the Oscars. My heart is broken for him, because he got so triggered, he could not help himself and his behavior is going to impact his family and his career for probably the rest of his life. But he's not alone. But his was public. We all do things that we really deeply regret; because, in the moment, we were so triggered that we couldn't help ourselves. Or we KNOW we shouldn’t do or say something, but we do it anyway because it FEELS good. That's the very kind of fasting that Jesus is calling us to. Self-control. It is the awareness that God is desiring for us to be healed from. The kind of fasting that actually focuses, not on self, but on God, because ultimately God's desire is to heal our brokenness. It's not just about serving. It's also about our own healing from bad behavior, which as we know is not only a Lenten practice but a life-long quest.
I looked at this text a number of times this week and we looked again at it at the Lenten Wednesday ‘zoom meeting’. And we talked about different versions of this text. And there are hundreds of versions as you know that you can look up on Bible Gateway. And some of them are good and some of them are a little hokey, but I found this one to be particularly helpful, because we're about to take in two beautiful gifts (motioning to the communion table). They're not very tasty at the time being, but two beautiful gifts. So, let's cleanse our hearts and minds before we take in gifts of bread and wine so that we can attempt to fast from even one thing this day and for the next 13 days until we travel with our Lord to and through Jerusalem to his death.
Hear now Isaiah 58 from the New Living Translation:
“We've fasted before you”, they say. “Why aren't you impressed? We've been very hard on ourselves--don't you even notice?” I will tell you why, says the Lord. It's because you're fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you're oppressing your own workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me, says the Lord. You humble yourselves by going through the motions, bowing your heads like reeds in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is that what you call fasting? No. This is the kind of fasting that I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned. Lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free. Remove the chains that bind. Share your food with the hungry. Give shelter to the homeless. Give your clothes to those who need them. And do not hide from relatives who need your help. Then, your salvation will come like the dawn and your wounds will quickly heal. Your Godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. And when you call to the Lord, the Lord will answer, “Here I am.” Feed the hungry. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors. Help those in trouble. Then your light will shine from out of the darkness. And the darkness around you will be bright as the noonday sun.
May it be so. Amen.