Articles
Fasting - Mark 2
Fasting
The question of fasting comes up as people noticed that Jesus and his disciples were NOT fasting in the fashion of Jewish tradition of the day.
My observations on this subject.
Fasting was not a ‘religious exercise’. The depriving oneself of food does not in and of itself make one any more religious or closer to God.
WHEN such absence of food is filled with times of prayer, meditation, and study one DOES draw closer to God, but it is not the deprivation of food but the added time for prayer, meditation, and study! (Such times of seeking God are thus uninterrupted by the finding, preparing, and eating of food – remember, they didn’t have Jack-in-the-box or Safeway or refrigerators… eating often was a laborious enterprise!)
Read Mark 2:18-22, the only mention of fasting in Mark’s gospel.
· Cross References: Matt. 6:16-18; 23:5; Luke 18:11-12; Acts 13:2-3; 14:23; 27:9; see Lev. 16:29–34; 23:26–32
· Christians DID – Acts 13:2-3; 14:23; 27:9
· OT – proscribed – Lev. 16:29-34; 23:26-32 [humble your souls understood as fasting]
· Cp. Acts 27:9 – ‘the fast’ = day of atonement (Sept/Oct and end of sailing season)
· As Mark 2 continues, Jesus gives 3 examples to illustrate that things need to be done at appropriate times and situations!
Old Testament discussions:
· During threat of war or times of war – Judges 20:26; 1Sam. 7:6
· When loved ones were sick (David) 2 Sam. 12:16-23
· When a loved one has died – for Saul 1 Sam. 31:13; 1 Chron. 10:12; 2 Sam. 1:12
· When seeking God’s forgiveness - Moses (Deut. 9:15-18); Ahab ( 1 Kings 21:17-29); Nineveh (Jonah 3:4-10); Daniel (Dan. 9:3-5).
· When seeking God’s protection Ezra (Ezra 8:21; Neh. 1:4; Esther 4:3, 16).
Fasts of OT and what they were attached to:
· 10th of 5th month - burning of the Temple, Jer. 52:12-13
· 2nd of 7th month, murder of Gedaliah 2 K. 25:239-29; Jer. 41:1ff
· 10th of 10th month - beginning of the siege of Jerusalem 2 Kings 25:1
· 9th of 4th month - the fall of Jerusalem 2 Kin. 25:3-4
Isa. 58:3-6 perhaps the best passage in OT.
Isaiah 58:3-6 3 'Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?' Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers.
4 "Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5 "Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 "Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke?
Hugh DeLong
