CT075 - When You Fast

For the last few days we've been inside the Lord's Prayer. Today, Jesus finishes the section he opened at the top of Matthew 6, the three acts of devotion — giving, praying, and fasting. He handles fasting the same way he handled the other two: a warning about doing it to be seen, and then a turn toward the Father who sees in secret.

Notice the first word. Jesus says "whenever you fast," not "if." He assumes the practice, the same way he assumed we'd give and we'd pray. For a lot of us, that's worth being honest about, because fasting has quietly slipped off the map. At its root, fasting is choosing to go without something good — usually food — so the hunger itself becomes a kind of prayer. The empty stomach says what the heart means: I want you, God, more than I want this.

Then comes the warning. The hypocrites disfigure their faces so their fasting is obvious to people, and Jesus' verdict is the same sad sentence he gave the showy givers: "they have their reward." They wanted to be noticed, and they were — an admiring glance, gone as fast as applause. The alternative is to put oil on your head and wash your face, to fast and look like it's any other day, keeping it between you and God. Matthew Allen lands it where giving and praying landed: the reward comes from the Father who sees in secret, the only audience who can truly give it. So take the "whenever" as a gentle nudge. Sometime soon, with no announcement, pick a meal or a day and give that hunger to God.