Thursday / True Fasting
Read Isaiah 58: 3-9 (NLT)
‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?
“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
“Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!”
Think
When I talk with people about how they plan to observe the season of Lent, a lot of people mention fasting. The idea of “giving something up for Lent” always comes up. Whether it’s coffee, ice cream or chocolate, Facebook, or meat on Fridays, fasting has always been part of this season for Followers of Jesus. Fasting is supposed to make me more aware of who truly supplies my needs. It can help me recognize the sacrifice Jesus made for me. I endure a little suffering, and in turn learn to appreciate Jesus’ suffering.
The Hebrew people followed the traditional act of repentance with fasting to help them keep their focus on God. But like with so many God-things people get their hands on, fasting soon became all about following the rules and rituals designed by the priests. The result was that the ritual became the point in and of itself. If the words of the Prophet Isaiah in today’s reading sound angry to you, it’s because he was—he was seriously pissed off. God’s people had taken something given to them by God, meant to be pure, healing , and holy, and they’d corrupted it. They’d made it all about the show, all about how they looked to each other. Who was doing it the best? Who was suffering the most? They’d turned an act of worship into an “Israel’s Greatest Faster” competition.
True fasting is a deeply personal, holy act that is designed to grow my relationship with God. It causes me to grow closer to the Creator, causes a change in my heart and mind. Fasting changes things in me, then pushes me out in the world to change things around me. That’s what Isaiah means: the fasting God truly wants from me isn’t a temporary self-denial, a short-term thing that only touches my stomach. What God desires is a much deeper, personal sacrifice, something that changes my heart. An actual sacrificial giving of myself; going to the dark places where I’m afraid to go; giving money and time in a way that actually hurts me and impacts the world for Jesus.
I am to give my stuff and myself, to help others in a very real and physical way. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and in prison. This type of sacrifice is much more difficult for me than skipping a meal or two, but also so much more meaningful to God. True fasting is so much more than merely going without a meal.
Pray
Lord, you are my great and awesome God, and you keep your pledge of love with those who love you. I give myself to You. I love You more than anything I could fast from. I seek You more than my own comfort and pleasure. Help me as I fast. Come in and change my heart, then push me out to help you change the world. Meet me here and go with me wherever I go. Amen.
Do
Take a close look at your personal schedule for the weeks of Lent and find one or two hours each week that can be set aside to do something new, something for God. Then take an inventory of what places are around you, in your neighborhood, town, community. Is there a drug rehab center? A hospital, rescue mission, homeless shelter, nursing home , or prison? The list goes on: do you have a neighbor with cancer, someone nearby who’s home-bound, a family of immigrants who are new to the community? Pick just one and make a visit. Maybe take a small gift (cookies to the home-bound, flowers to the nursing home, toothpaste to the prison). Just go and sit with someone; be there to listen. Go shine God’s light into a small, dark corner.
The View from Mt. Hope 