Matthew 6:16-18
The Rev. Dr. Robert S. Langworthy, preaching
September 1, 2024
Jesus says we can’t be His disciples unless we practice self-denial. Elsewhere in Matthew He says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves.”
But why would denying ourselves be necessary for a life of discipleship? If He loves us, why would keeping His company require us to go without things and suffer loss?
Actually, there is no loss in the practice of self-denial for the sake of a friendship with Jesus. The issue is simply one of making a priority choice.
In life we often have to sacrifice some good things for a still better thing. Yet, when that is the case, we suffer no overall loss, but rather an enhancement and elevation of our life overall – because we’ve just exchanged what’s lesser for what’s greater. For example, an Olympic athlete sacrifices a life of physical ease and the freedom to eat whatever they want in order to know the higher joys of attaining peak performance.
Here’s another example that’s much on Adele’s and my mind now because two weeks ago we celebrated our 33rd anniversary. The day we wed, we denied ourselves forever the option of romance with someone else. But we’ve suffered no deprivation as a result, for our faithfulness to each other has produced a wonderfully happy marriage.
Saying Yes to any great purpose involves saying No to some lesser pursuits. To say Yes to love is to say No to selfishness; to say Yes to excellence in any field is to say No to a life free of stress and strain; to say Yes to walking with Jesus is to say No to unrighteousness, injustice and apathy about the welfare of others.
This is why discipleship has to involve self-denial.
Fasting is a long-revered and long-practiced discipline of self-denial. The Bible reports that Moses, David, John the Baptist, the apostles, Jesus Himself, and many other heroes of the faith fasted.
While Jesus wanted His followers to refrain from fasting as long as He was with them in the flesh, He expected them to resume the practice after the completion of His incarnation. Many of you will have noted that Jesus instructs His followers about how to fast, saying, not if you fast, but when you fast.
The comedian Gallagher once asked, “Why do they call it a fast when enduring hunger goes by soooo slow?”
Well, what does it mean to fast? To fast is to voluntarily deny ourselves, for a set period, something we value for the sake of something we value more. It is to go without some normal blessing in order to be blessed in a special way from a unique time of spiritual activity.
Fasting, it turns out, is a mode of feasting on God’s grace!
Gallagher, and most of us, think of fasting as going without any food. That is the most common form of fasting, but it’s not the only one. We may fast by going without solid food but drinking fruit or vegetable juices, or by going without specified foods (say, sugar-laden foods) but eating healthier foods. In fact, we can fast without restricting our eating at all – by abstaining from something altogether different: say, television, social media, talking with other human beings, or buying luxuries.
The Bible in Isaiah 58 talks about fasting from cold indifference to the plight of the poor, lazy tolerance of injustice, and complacent acceptance of oppression, that we might share our food with the hungry, provide shelter for the homeless, bring comfort to the afflicted and deliver liberation to the enslaved. As the choir will soon sing, God says in that scripture, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke…to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house?”
Every form of fasting has its rewards; and Jesus, I believe, is delighted if we practice any of them. Jesus, I also believe, appreciates that what’s the right form for a particular individual is determined by their unique health condition, life circumstances and so forth. His only concern, I believe, is that we fast for a right reason. For we can do a right thing for the wrong reason and ruin it – as the hypocrites did in their practice of fasting.
As Jesus did with the spiritual disciplines of charitable giving and praying, He here warns us about fasting for the wrong reason: specifically, to impress people rather than to serve people and/or our relationship with God. Thus, He urges us, when we fast, not to play the martyr and “look dismal”, but to wash our faces and look as normal as possible, to protect ourselves from the temptation to draw attention to ourselves, that we might be rewarded by the Father who sees all secrets.
So, if not to show off, what might be a right reason to fast?
Bearing in mind that giving up food is not the only form of fasting, let us consider four reasons to practice that most common form of fasting.
First, we might fast to free ourselves from the everyday preoccupations of grocery shopping, cooking and dishwashing and to free up time to seek God with fewer distractions. Fasting can simplify our life so we can focus on God with sharper and more sustained attentiveness.
Second, we might fast to take the measure of ourselves. For going without food forces us to face our overwrought concern to feel good, especially to feel happy in our tummy. It confronts us with the reality that we often value physical pleasure and comfort more than closeness with God and experiencing His pleasure. It exposes our illusions about the quality and strength of our spiritual commitment.
Fasting brings to light what really matters to us and helps us realize that we are not all that different from comedian Totie Shore who, after foregoing donuts and desserts for a fortnight, lamented, “I dieted for two weeks, but all I lost was two weeks.” To Totie, a life without cream-filled pastries was hardly worth living!
Fasting then can humble us. But it can thereby give us that poverty of spirit, that sense of our need for God’s help, that Jesus says makes the kingdom of heaven ours.
Third, we might fast to undergo the training that gets us into shape to practice self-denial when more substantial things are at stake than losing weight. Defying the demands of our hunger can develop for us strength of self-control that supports self-discipline across the board in our life. It enables us to consistently forego immediate gratification for the enjoyment of longer-term and deeper satisfaction.
Socrates said, “Know thyself!” But better advice still is, “N-O thyself!” We can obtain many of life’s best things only as we say No to ourselves; and we need self-control to exercise such self-denial. We have no chance of controlling our destiny until we learn to control ourselves. Fasting can help us enlarge our capacity to do that.
The fourth reason we might fast is to gain empathy with the billions who suffer hunger often, against their will, that our experiencing even a small suggestion of their pain might move us to more active and generous compassion.
If we fast for the right reasons, we will feast on God’s grace. For fasting can help us know ourselves and our need of strength beyond our own, help us keep God in sight, help us develop some strength in self-control and help us come to care as broadly as Christ! If we fast, we know no loss, but only great gain!
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