Easter Fast Part 2

Today, I am continuing the series on fasting hoping that you will join me for an Easter fast this year. (Actually my hope and prayer would be that an Easter fast  would become a regular part of your annual holy week commemoration!) This fast would entail abstaining from food beginning after the Good Friday worship service and continuing until after the Easter worship service. 

As followers of Jesus Christ, fasting ought to be part of our spiritual  discipline, but given the current pandemic in our world, it is needed now more than ever as we plead with God to put an end to this plague.

Fasting puts an extra measure of urgency into our prayers. It says, “God, I would rather hear from You than eat!” It is a prayer of the soul that says, “I am hungry for food, but I am more hungry for You! Step into our situation Father, as we step away from the table!”

Some, people have this misguided idea that fasting is an Old Testament thing, but in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “when” you fast, (Mt 6:16) and another time He told His disciples that they would fast in the period of time between His ascension and His glorious return. “And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. (Mt 9:15)

As you and I prepare for our Easter fast, let's start out by looking first at Jesus' instructions for a fast. He had just covered the other disciplines associated with His followers, namely praying and giving to the poor, and both of these were to be done secretly, that is, they are to be something between you and God. It is the same with fasting.

Mt 6:16-18 says, “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  17 "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  18 "so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Now, it's nearly impossible to do all these things secretly. My family knows that I get up early, go into my office, close the door and pray. My banker and church financial secretary know what I give to the poor, and my wife and family have a sneaking suspicion that when I'm not at the supper table...I'm fasting.

The point is, God does not want us to make a big show of it to others, as if these things make us “super-spiritual” compared to others. I've got news for you, doing something that is expected of you, (praying, giving to the poor, and fasting) does not make you super spiritual.

Now, please note this and believe this: After each one of these disciplines is mentioned by Jesus in the sermon on the mount, He says, “the Father will reward you.”  Imagine that! The God of the universe who holds all things in His hands will impart blessing to His children when exercising these disciplines with the proper attitude!

I don’t know what that reward looks like, I only know that God is merciful, compassionate, forgiving, and kind, so....what are we waiting for? Let us pray! Let us give! And let us fast!

“Father, how sweet and benevolent You are. For You promise to reward us just  for doing things that are expected of us! Thank You.