Fasting and maturation

Doug Wilson recently preached a sermon arguing against the adoption of “penitential seasons” of Advent and Lent. He makes a number of arguments and his reservations are worth considering. Here I want to respond to one of his arguments (from his sermon notes, online at Christkirk.com):”if we were to adopt this practice, we would be in worse shape than our Old Covenant brethren, who had to afflict their souls only one day out of the year. Why would the time of anticipation of salvation be so liturgically celebratory, while the times of fulfilled salvation be so liturgically glum? Instead of establishing a sense of longing, it will tend to do the reverse.”

This is a plausible argument; I have often noted that the OT included only one stated fast day as an argument for saying that the church’s life should be predominantly celebratory rather than penitential. But Doug’s use of the argument got me thinking about the distribution of fasting in Scripture. Several points:

1) While Israel had only one annual day of fasting under the Mosaic order, there were periods when Israel had more regular fasting. Zechariah 8:19 mentions fasting in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months. Zechariah’s point is that these fasts are going to yield to feasts, as Israel’s exile comes to an end. But there was at least a period when Israel fasted much more frequently than once a year. This is not necessarily an argument for a Lenten fast, but it suggests that, in certain circumstances, it’s right for God’s people to increase the incidence of fasting.

2) In general, there are more references to fasting in the later parts of Israel’s history than in the earlier parts. So far as I can tell, there are no references to proclaimed fasts until the period of the judges (Judges 20:26). There are additional references to fasting when we get to the monarchy (1 Kings 21:9, 12; 2 Chronicles 20:3), and the practice of designated fast days continues through the late monarchy, the exile, and into the restoration period (Jeremiah 36:9; Joel 1:14; 2:15; Ezra 8:21).

3) Jesus’ disciples, controversially, do not fast during His earthly ministry (Matthew 9:14-15), but Jesus predicts that they will when the Bridegroom departs (Matthew 9:15). We see the disciples fasting a number of times in Acts, in connection with ordination to mission (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23), prayer (Acts 14:23), and as a part of “ministering to the Lord” (Acts 13:2).

4) I don’t claim that it’s definitive, but there’s arguably an increase in the incidence and importance of fasting as OT history moves ahead and into the NT.

5) Doug’s argument is that an increase in the time devoted to fasting would imply that we are in a worse state than OT saints. I’m not convinced this follows. I’m not sure that fasting necessarily implies “gloom,” or that, if we are indeed called to fast more than Israel, it shows we are worse off. Several responses suggest themselves:

5a) Jesus does not see fasting as a necessarily gloomy enterprise. He instructs His disciples to fast with anointed heads and washed faces (Matthew 6:16) – that is, to fast with all the accouterments of festivity.

5b) The NT promises that we will share in the sufferings of Christ (e.g., 1 Peter 4:13). This is a privilege of followers of the Incarnate and Crucified Lord, one of the factors that shows we are in much better shape than the OT saints, who could not share in Christ’s sufferings and reproach as we do. It is part of our conformity to the risen Christ by the Spirit.

5c) Fasting is no more gloomily defeatist than the cross is (though of course, many Christians have fasted gloomily over the centuries). Fasting and prayer are powerful for expelling demons, Jesus says (Matthew 17:21).

None of this is a direct defense of the observance of Lent. But they suggest the possibility that fasting may be more prominent in the NT than in the OT, and that this increase is a sign of our increasing maturation, our increasing share in the life of God.