I've been eating all day today. Seriously, almost nonstop since I woke up. I was eating breakfast within 3 minutes of getting out of bed. Then I had a mid-morning pear, and my host mother insisted on feeding me lunch right before I left to meet a friend for lunch in town. From lunch, I met some of my students and spent the afternoon with them. This time, coffee and bagels, directly followed by dinner, was on the menu (pun intended).
Eating so much food, my mind naturally gravitated to the opposite extreme - fasting. When I was growing up, I looked at fasting as a rather obsolete tradition that was only practiced in extreme situations, due to the enormity of the commitment. I mean, fasting means you stop eating, right? So you grow thin and gaunt, and everyone knows that you're fasting, right? Isn't that how fasting works?
Well, not exactly. Fasting is not supposed to be a big showy event, a time when everyone has a chance to observe just how holy you really are. In fact, when we fast, God doesn't even want other people to be able to notice a difference. God doesn't want us to fast for show, to bow our heads and rip our clothes and loudly proclaim just how much we love Him. He wants our hearts to show it. He wants us to show our devotion through self-sacrifice, but not self-flagellation. He wants us to sacrifice ourselves by giving to others, not making a public display of our piety.
That's the complete opposite of what most people think of when they think of fasting. But if I know anything about God, it's that He specializes in turning logic on its head, in making the unexpected normal.
Eating so much food, my mind naturally gravitated to the opposite extreme - fasting. When I was growing up, I looked at fasting as a rather obsolete tradition that was only practiced in extreme situations, due to the enormity of the commitment. I mean, fasting means you stop eating, right? So you grow thin and gaunt, and everyone knows that you're fasting, right? Isn't that how fasting works?
Well, not exactly. Fasting is not supposed to be a big showy event, a time when everyone has a chance to observe just how holy you really are. In fact, when we fast, God doesn't even want other people to be able to notice a difference. God doesn't want us to fast for show, to bow our heads and rip our clothes and loudly proclaim just how much we love Him. He wants our hearts to show it. He wants us to show our devotion through self-sacrifice, but not self-flagellation. He wants us to sacrifice ourselves by giving to others, not making a public display of our piety.
That's the complete opposite of what most people think of when they think of fasting. But if I know anything about God, it's that He specializes in turning logic on its head, in making the unexpected normal.
Isaiah 58:1-5, 13-14
1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD? ......
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD? ......
.....13“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
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