Word to the Wise
Friday, February 16, 2024 - Friday after Ash Wed.
[Isa 58:1-9a and Matt 9:14-15]Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: that a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. [Isaiah]
Fasting seems to have acquired a certain fashionableness nowadays. I hear students speak of a "date fast" or a "social media fast." Other folks speak of it as a way to lose weight! In the Old Testament, fasting was usually associated with mourning. It was required by the Mosaic Law only on the Day of Atonement, but there are descriptions of fasting as a mode of preparing for a great event as well. I am old enough to remember the requirement to fast from food and drink from midnight if I wanted to receive the Eucharist on that day!!
The disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees adopted fasting as a public expression of faith. In today's gospel, they question Jesus about this because he did not require it of his disciples. Jesus replies that he has come to bring about a time of rejoicing (a wedding) and not a time of mourning! Isaiah thunders against fasting that is a display while others are being oppressed and naked and hungry. In the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus makes fasting a private observance that cannot be noticed by others who were doing it in order to BE noticed. [Matt. 6:16-18].
Fasting should have a positive purpose. When it is a matter of faith, fasting should direct us toward the love of God and neighbor. The bumper sticker that I've seen, the words "live simply so that others may simply live" captures some of the idea. Those little cardboard "rice bowls" that show up in the church vestibule during Lent can have the same effect. Perhaps the expression "giving up" in Lent could be better expressed by "giving TO!" AMEN