by Ivan Kramskoi, oil on canvas, 1872.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Many people ask pastors about fasting as Lent begins. For Lutherans, it is commended, but it is in no way a mandate. Why do some choose to fast during Lent? We do so because of Christ’s own example during his forty days in the wilderness, but it is also recommended to us in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as a helpful spiritual discipline – not just during Lent but at any time of the year. It can also serve as a sort of penance.[i] The Augsburg Confession states, “Fasting in itself is not rejected, but what is rejected is making a necessary service of fasts on prescribed days and with specified foods, for this confuses consciences. . . . Such outward forms of service do not make us righteous before God . . . therefore it is not a sin to omit them.”[ii]
Primarily, fasting often involves a restriction on when, how much, or what type of food (for example, choosing fish or vegetarian dishes over meat) one might eat. We should not fast from food if it puts our health at risk. You might like to speak with your doctor as to what might work for your circumstances, and please stop fasting if you begin to feel unwell. Yet in modern times, many people fast from activities or things such as social media, enjoyable hobbies, or drinking alcohol. If choosing to fast, you might like to choose something meaningful to you, so that when you feel the pangs of any absence or sacrifice, you might draw your thoughts to God and Christ’s own sacrifice for our sake. Prayer, meditation, and Bible study are helpful during a fast, as they can make the experience all the more meaningful as God’s Spirit seeks to speak to us. Through fasting, we wish to open and refocus our hearts toward God with the Spirit’s help.
Certainly, some kinds of fasting might help us curb unhelpful behaviors or improve our health. Yet, never think we earn more of God’s love in the process. We cannot earn such a gift already freely offered us by Jesus. In speaking about fasting, Martin Luther argued:
“The Scriptures present to us two kinds of true fasting: one, by which we try to bring the flesh into subjection to the spirit, of which St. Paul speaks in 2 Cor 6:5: ‘In labors, in watchings, in fastings.’ The other is that which we must bear patiently, and yet receive willingly because of our need and poverty, of which St. Paul speaks in 1 Cor 4:11: ‘Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst,’ and Christ in Mt 9:15: ‘When the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then will they fast.’ This kind of fasting Christ teaches us here while in the wilderness alone without anything to eat, and while he suffers his penury without murmuring. The first kind of fasting, one can end whenever he wills, and can satisfy it by food; but the other kind we must observe and bear until God himself changes it and satisfies us. Hence it is much more precious than the first, because it moves in greater faith.”[iii]
Can’t fast for forty days? Well, try it for a week or on the occasional day during Lent. Whatever you choose to do or don’t do, offer it up in love to the glory of God. Prayerfully and expectantly watch and wait for the Spirit to help and guide you.
Want to read Martin Luther’s sermon? Visit this link: Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent; Matthew 4:1-11
[i] Penance is an outward expression of one’s desire to repent, to turn our hearts back to God and make amends for our wrongs toward our neighbors.
[ii] See https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/#article26.33
[iii] Excerpted from Volume II:133-147 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1906 in English by Lutherans in All Lands Press (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 11. Original sermon title: “The fast and temptation of Christ.” Downloaded at liturgies.net/Lent/Sermons/lutherlent1.htm on February 23, 2023.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue) translation.
© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.
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