We’re continuing on with the Sermon on the Mount, and again giving credit to our dear friend Linda Borcky, whose teaching we are so thankful for!
We’re still in Matthew, Chapter 6, starting at verse 16, “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.” Notice two things from the way that Jesus states them: 1) He says “When you fast”… Jesus assumes that fasting is part of our spiritual life; and 2) He states the negative………do not look somber….fasting is not done to draw attention to yourself. It is not to be done to make you look or seem super-spiritual in front of others. But this is exactly what the Pharisees were doing! During this time, the Pharisees fasted two times a week usually on Mondays & Thursdays. They did not wash their faces or anoint their heads; instead, they put ashes upon their heads. They would have looked miserable and unhappy. The Pharisees’ desire was for people to notice and hold them in high regards spiritually by seeing their suffering and sacrifice. They made it about themselves, instead of truly seeking God with a humble attitude.
Jesus follows this up by saying in Matthew 16:17 “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 your Father, who is unseen, and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Both of these acts were forbidden on the Day of Atonement, and by tradition on other days of fasts. But, Jesus here is commanding the complete opposite of the Pharisees’ countenance. He is saying let your appearance be that of joy and gladness. Oil was a sign of joy. Maintain your regular appearance. Do not draw attention or publicize your acts. Be only concerned about God and pleasing Him!
Martin Luther said, “It was not Christ’s intention to reject or despise fasting….it was His intention to restore proper fasting.”
What is proper fasting? Fasting is abstaining from food and/or food & drink for spiritual purposes. There is much to be said about fasting throughout Scripture. In the Mosaic Law, fasting was commanded on the Day of Atonement, as we see in Leviticus 16:29, 31 & 23:27-32, and again in Numbers 29:7. The Day of Atonement would have been a very sobering day that happened only once a year; a day, in Spurgeon’s words, “to teach us that only once should Jesus Christ die; and that though he would come a second time, yet it would be without a sin offering unto salvation. The lambs were perpetually slaughtered; morning and evening they offered sacrifice to God, to remind the people that they always needed a sacrifice; but the day of atonement being the type of the one great propitiation, it was but once a year that the high priest entered within the vail with blood as the atonement for the sins of the people.” Sobering indeed.
After the Babylonian exile, there were four others fasts observed by the Jews. Fasting is closely associated with prayer, mourning, repentance, protection, seeking God’s will, and instruction. It is to be done in a humble manner, with a humble attitude toward God. Ezra 8:21 shows how Ezra proclaimed a fast in order to humble themselves before God and ask protection for a safe journey. Pay close attention to the purposes, times and manner in which fasting was done in the Bible. Why should we pay attention to this? Because just as fasting should never done to call attention to ourselves, we also must never promote fasting as a means of obtaining blessing. This is where it becomes manipulation. We can apply this truth to all three areas Jesus is addressing in this part of the Sermon on the Mount (giving, fasting and prayer). When we begin to “use” these acts in any way other than glorifying God, we relinquish the blessing, or as Jesus states, our reward.
Two lessons to be learned here: 1) Concern yourself with being pleasing to God; not man. “for they loved human praise more than praise from God.” John 12:43
and 2) Put God first in your mind and heart; seek His glory. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
