In Matthew 6, Jesus condemns religious practices that are meant to impress other people—
acts of righteousness that are just for show.
The chapter begins:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,
for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
He talks about giving to charity and prayer and then says this about fasting.
Matthew 6, verses 16 through 18:
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces
that their fasting may be seen by others.
Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen
by others but by your Father who is in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Notice, Jesus condemns fasting that’s meant to be seen by others.
If you’re fasting in order to earn a reputation for righteousness,
Jesus says that your fasting is worthless.
Imagine a religion that demands, as one of its five pillars of orthodox practice,
an entire month of public fasting.
It’s not fasting in private.
It’s not fasting in secret.
It’s fasting that everyone sees and knows about and talks about.
You’re praised if you do it and blamed if you don’t.
You literally announce to the entire world that you’re fasting.
That would be bad enough.
But imagine what Jesus would think of this public fasting if it weren’t even fasting.
Imagine the level of contempt Jesus would have for a religious practice of public fasting
that isn’t even fasting.
In other words, imagine a religion that encourages people
to pretend to fast, and to praise each other for fasting, even though they’re actually
gorging themselves with food multiple times per day.
They’re not fasting, they’re feasting.
They’re feasting while publicly proclaiming that they’re fasting.
Jesus had utter contempt for doing acts of righteousness to be seen by others as righteous.
What would he think about not doing the deeds of righteousness, but claiming that you’re
doing them, in order to be seen by others as righteous?
Ramadan is a month of feasting that for some reason is called fasting.
Muslims gorge themselves with food at night, then gorge themselves with food early in the
morning, then sleep all day.
They wake up in the evening and gorge themselves with food again.
Then they gorge themselves again early in the morning, and again sleep all day.
They call this month-long cycle of binge-eating and sleeping “fasting.”
No one else in the history of the world thinks you’re fasting when you’re feasting.
But this is Islam, so remember that the rules of “Opposite World” are in full effect.
The Muslim population spends a month out of every year binge-eating, while pretending
that binge-eating is fasting.
Muslims are praised for fasting while they’re feasting.
Jesus condemns doing acts of righteousness to be seen by others.
He calls people who do acts of righteousness for show “hypocrites.”
I think it’s safe to say that when an entire religion encourages doing acts of righteousness
to be seen by others, Jesus would call it a “religion of hypocrisy.”
Happy Ramadan to all the Muslims who are watching this in the middle of the night because you
sleep all day.
And remember what Jesus said about your hypocritical version of make-believe “fasting” . . .
as you’re gorging yourselves with food early in the morning
and preparing for a difficult day of sleep.