Fasting before Christ: drawing near to God
(Old Testament foundation)
Fasting in the Old Testament was consistently linked to humility, repentance, and seeking God’s intervention, never as an end in itself.
Key Scriptures:
- Joel 2:12
“Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” - Psalm 35:13
“I humbled my soul with fasting…” - Ezra 8:21–23
“Then I proclaimed a fast… to seek of him a right way for us…” - Isaiah 58:5–6
“Is it such a fast that I have chosen…? Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness…”
The message is consistent:
Fasting without justice, humility, and obedience was rejected.
Jesus’ radical reframing of fasting
a. Presence replaces absence
Jesus identifies himself as the Bridegroom, redefining the logic of fasting.
- Matthew 9:15
“Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?”
Fasting had often expressed longing for God’s intervention.
Jesus announces: God is already here.
b. From performance to intimacy
- Matthew 6:16–18
“When thou fastest… appear not unto men to fast… thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”
Jesus relocates fasting from:
- public display
- religious signaling
to hidden attentiveness before the Father.
c. Grace before discipline
Jesus never presents fasting as a way to earn God’s favor.
- Luke 15:20
“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him… and ran…”
Grace precedes effort.
Fasting responds to love; it does not provoke it.
“I am with you always”: fasting after Christ
Jesus’ promise reshapes everything:
- Matthew 28:20
“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
And Paul confirms this indwelling presence:
- Colossians 1:27
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Implication:
We no longer fast to bring God near.
We fast to remove what dulls awareness of His nearness.
Early Christian mystic insight: fasting of the heart
a. Watchfulness over abstinence
Scripture already points here:
- Proverbs 4:23
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” - Matthew 15:11
“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out…”
This is the logic behind the Desert Fathers’ emphasis on inner fasting.
b. Healing, not earning
Eastern Christianity’s therapeutic view of fasting aligns closely with Scripture:
- Psalm 147:3
“He healeth the broken in heart…” - Luke 5:31
“They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.”
Fasting serves healing, not transaction.
c. The Bridegroom within
- John 14:23
“We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” - John 17:21
“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee…”
The mystical tradition is not speculative; it is deeply biblical.
The partial loss: when practice became law
Paul directly warns against reducing spirituality to external rules:
- Colossians 2:20–23
“Why… are ye subject to ordinances… which things have indeed a shew of wisdom… but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
External discipline without inner transformation cannot do the work.
Eastern and Western streams in Scripture
Eastern emphasis: stillness and watchfulness
- Psalms 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God.” - Luke 10:42
“One thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part…”
Western emphasis: reflection and formation
- Romans 12:2
“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” - Philippians 4:8
“Think on these things.”
Both streams are biblical, but incomplete without each other.
Fasting today: abstinence or awareness?
Jesus makes the decisive criterion clear:
- Matthew 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
Seeing God is not about effort —
It is about clarity.
A mature fasting posture (biblical summary)
- Galatians 5:24
“They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” - 1 Corinthians 6:12
“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient…”
This is discernment, not denial.
Final synthesis (Scripture-anchored)
Because:
- Christ is present (Matthew 28:20)
- Christ dwells within (Colossians 1:27)
- God desires mercy, not ritual (Isaiah 58)
Fasting is no longer about absence.
It is about:
removing what clouds awareness
guarding the heart
abiding in presence
Or in Jesus’ own words:
- John 15:4
“Abide in me, and I in you.”
That is the fast that remains.
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