Then They Will Fast

Then They Will Fast.  Today is a holiday (think: holy day) on the liturgical church calendar, but probably not the holiday you are expecting. Truly, February 14 is the feast day for the patron saint of lovers, beekeepers, and epileptics, St. Valentine, when his martyrdom was traditionally celebrated (A.D. 269). But today is also the holiday known as Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the 40-day approach to Good Friday, the day of Christ’s crucifixion (not counting Sundays or this year’s Leap Day). All things equal, Lent is a bigger deal than Valentine’s Day.

Religious holidays such as Ash Wednesday and Good Friday change each year because they are determined by the Jewish (lunar) calendar. Jesus was crucified in conjunction with the Feast of Passover. Passover’s Sabbath began at sundown on the first Friday, after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. Sundown was the deadline for religious Jews to begin their Sabbath, so they pressured the soldiers to accelerate the death process of the condemned by breaking the sufferers’ legs just after 3:00 pm. By 6:00 pm the Jewish Sabbath would have started when no one was allowed to do any physical work, such as burying the dead. But because Jesus died at 3:00 pm, the same time as the evening sacrifice, his legs were not broken. Soldiers confirmed Christ’s death with a spear to the heart. Lent effectively leads worshipers to this very specific moment of Christ’s death on the cross.

Traditionally, Lent is a season marked by fasting and penance. Penance is doing a religiously prescribed deed to absolve one’s guilt of sin. Roman Catholic rules dictate a partial fast for Catholics who are of reasonable health between the ages of 18 and 59, “to eat one full meal and two smaller meals which, combined, would not equal a single normal meal. Additionally, Catholics may not eat meat on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday—or any Fridays during Lent” (credit: “Frequently Asked Questions,” hallow.com). This was where the tradition of eating fish on Fridays originated; fish wasn’t considered meat by Rome. The fasting was their penance. This tradition became the wider custom of giving up something for Lent.

So many facets of this custom are noteworthy and troublesome, but the one that deserves primacy today is the role of the fast. Fasting is ancient, meaningful, and beautiful, but fasting never absolves sin. The New Testament term for the removal of sin is not absolution, but justification. Justification is not a penitential deed accomplished by people, but a gracious gift accomplished by Jesus. Fasting achieves nothing for self. Fasting worships God above all. Fasting is not about the absence of food but the presence of God. Fasting is feasting on a spiritual meal which the physical world does not know about (see, John 4:32).   

Jesus implied that fasting would occupy some aspect of the Christian’s devotional life, but fasting never absolves sin. God justifies sinners! “Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast’” (Matt. 9:14-15).