Imperceptibly I have found myself drifting into the whole practice of “fasting” by a rather indirect and meandering route.
Perhaps it was stimulated initially by the TV programme some time back titled “The Greatest Loser.” There was a reprehensible and morbid satisfaction on my part in seeing obese individuals being seemingly starved and put through intense exercise to lose weight. Smug satisfaction, as I sat back in the armchair, a beer in one hand and a chocolate digestive biscuit in the other.
Then of course upon returning to the UK on home leave and drinking a morning coffee outside a café; there was the daily parade of grossly overweight women, adorned with tattoos and smoking cigarettes as they waddled along.
Whatever happened to the slim, elegant girls I remembered from my younger days?
Then one day it hit home that I had myself, put on too much weight; the result no doubt of reduced exercise, enjoying my food, a regular beer intake, and a metabolism that slowed down with age. When tying my own shoe laces became a problem, then reality kicked in.
So “fasting” raised its uncertain head. At first I looked at it purely from a physical aspect of losing weight. I’d read that fasting allows the body to most effectively remove waste products. The body is in fact designed to fast as we do it every night. Then when you go without eating for more than a day or two, the body enters into ketosis which occurs when the body runs out of carbohydrates to burn for energy, so it burns fat.
It looked logical, if not difficult to undertake. But then I considered that if I was undertaking this fasting, I might as well explore another experience i.e. spiritual fasting.
Gluttony is after all, categorized as a deadly sin. The early desert fathers believed that a person’s appetites are linked: full stomachs and jaded palates take the edge from our hunger & thirst for righteousness. They spoil the appetite for God.
Fasting thus is like a silent prayer: simply turning away from human sustenance, towards what many believe to be the Sustainer of all.
I wanted to test what it was all about. From the biblical perspective Jesus taught and practiced fasting - yet, it seems to be the most feared and misunderstood of all spiritual disciplines. Many fear it will make them “too fanatical”
Also, how far does one go? I had become so jaded by current society that I realized that fasting could not only be about food, but could, and should include; media obsession, people (especially politicians), telephones, I-pads, computers, tweets, (Lord deliver us!!), even talking, and sleep. Fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate, in and of itself for the sake of some spiritual purpose. There are many bodily functions which are right and normal and perfectly legitimate; but for special reasons in certain circumstances these should be controlled. That to my mind is fasting.
Strictly speaking the Bible only refers to fasting as abstaining from food. Matt 4:2 talks of Jesus being hungry but not thirsty, Daniel and his companions in Dan 1:12 ate only vegetables, John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey; but then the desert in those times was not exactly the most convenient location to consume “Melanzane alla Parmigiana.”
If it comes to an absolute fast, then avoiding all food and liquid brings to mind Moses on Mount Sinai. Did such extreme fasts require God’s supernatural intervention?
Fasting in fact is expected. (Jesus, Matt 6:16-17)
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
It is interesting to note here both the commands about how to fast and the promise.
It also ties in with Matt 9:14-15.
“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
It is worth noting there is no command from Jesus on this occasion on about how often or how long we should fast - it is not legalistic - it is your privilege and opportunity.
What other benefits, (yet to be explored on my part) are there? We are told that fasting sharpens our prayers and makes us more passionate. It can also be used as a useful outlet to express grief. Perhaps there is also a need to humble oneself occasionally before our God, a physical expression of our humility.
Finally I cannot help but reflect that perhaps the greatest hindrance to our work or ambitions is our own imagined strength; and in the slow energy sapping fasting process, we learn something of our physical and mental limitations, even hopefully and conversely, our resilience.
