Well this is the fourth video that I've done on fasting. I think it's number four
at least. And I want to talk about the myriad reasons we have to fast. You know
the Ninevites - they fasted in sackcloth and ashes, and God stayed his hand of
judgment... good reason to fast. Ezra ate no food and drank no water
because he was mourning the unfaithfulness of exiles who had returned
to the land but had not returned to the Lord.
Esther - remember that? Esther fasted from food and water for three days, and for
three nights, and begged Jews in the province of Sousa to do likewise - to
follow her example, and thus they ended up averting the genocidal plot of
Haman. Remember Haman - he was the personal advisor to the Persian King Xerxes.
And then there was Saul. Saul was three days without sight, and he neither ate nor
drank, and thereafter there fell, as it were, from his eyes something like scales.
and Saul received his sight once again and he arose, and then he was baptized.
And then there's a church at Antioch. A church at Antioch fasted and prayed as
Saul turned Paul, and was being set apart for a glorious commission as the apostle
to the Gentiles. Fasting has all of this and so much more to commend it to your
attention. You know in the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus places fasting on par with
prayer, and fasting on par with almsgiving as an act of righteousness, not to
be seen by men, but to be seen by your father who sees what is done in secret.
Indeed, prayer and almsgiving and fasting - all three inextricably woven together as
one - as the living discipline of fasting fortifies our supplications. In the same
way, it opens our hearts to the needs of the poor and the downtrodden around us.
I think to a series of sermons in which the revered Cappadocian father Saint
Basil exhorted us to walk through history, and as we do, to investigate the
ancient origins of fasting. This is what he had to say: He said, "All the saints
have protected it - protected it like an inheritance passed down from the
fathers. They in turn passed it down like a father passing something down to
a child. And so we are the successors of this long line, and this procession has
been entrusted to us." Fasting for Basil was no trifling matter. He chided those
who appeared to be more eager to pleasure the stomach than provide for
the soul. He said, "While getting filled up does a favor for the stomach,
fasting returns benefits to the soul. Be encouraged, because the doctor has given
you a powerful remedy for sin. Strong, powerful medicines can get rid of
annoying worms that are living in the bowels of children. Fasting is like that,
as it cuts down to the depths, venturing into the soul to kill sin. It is truly
fitting to call it by this honorable name of 'medicine'."
As Moses, Elijah, and Jesus fasted for 40 days, so the church from its very
earliest days onward has fasted forty days in spiritual preparation for the
festival of the Lord's resurrection. And during those forty days our Lord's words
concerning fasting - they remained foremost in our thoughts, fasting not for
outward appearances. Why - because hypocrisy is repugnant to
the Lord. But when your fasting is attended by purity of heart, you'll be
fully rewarded by the Father. Jesus weaves fasting together with prayer and
with almsgiving as a three-braided cord connecting us to our Father who is in
heaven, and to our own flesh and blood who are here on earth. Isaiah 58 has
something to say about that. It is not
inappropriate, but something that should be impregnated on our minds. "Is not this
the kind of fasting I have chosen? Chosen to loose the chains of injustice, to
untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is
it not to share your food with the hungry, and to provide the poor wanderer
with shelter? When you see them naked - when you see those naked, clothe the
naked, and do not turn away from your own flesh and blood. When you fast in such a
way, then your prayers will rise up as a
sweet-smelling savor. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your
healing will quickly appear. Then your righteousness will go before you, and the
glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord
will answer. You will cry out for help and he will say, "Here am I." Oh, the
genuine love of God will inevitably stimulate a reciprocal love for needy
human beings who bear His image and likeness upon the earth. And when that is
so, God will infuse you with his uncreated energy. Though your stomach may
be empty, your spirit will be fully satisfied. You will experience the life
of God springing up within you like a river of living water. Isaiah said, "The
Lord will guide you always, he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched
land. He will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like
a spring whose waters never fail. I think if you're satiated with food and drink,
you're also prone to a-- well, to a false sense of self-sufficiency, and
easily blinded to the needs of those lacking bread and water. But-- but in
fasting, we are refashioned as the poor in spirit illuminated toward dependence
on God and to the needs of those fashioned in His image and in his
likeness. So as we fast, we are ever more reminded that he is the
bread of heaven, and that his body was broken-- broken so that we may even now
experience the life that is truly life, and in the consummation of all things an
eternal banquet table.
I so pray that in some way through these videos,
through these conversations I'm having with you, you'll be stimulated at least to
look into fasting. The rewards are not just temporary. I honestly believe the
rewards are eternal. Well there's more to come,
as I continue a series on fasting. I hope you'll be with me to the end.