Fasting…or a 40 day binge?
Our Scripture reading yesterday, for the first Sunday of Lent, was from Matthew 4:1-11 which details Jesus' fasting and temptation in the wilderness. Historically, Lent has been patterned after this 40-day period of fasting and temptation in the life of Jesus, leading us to the cross of Christ on Good Friday.
For many Christians, some form of fasting and self-denial has been a central part of their Lenten experience. The Old Testament speaks of fasting quite often, particularly during seasons of mourning and repentance. The New Testament also affirms the practice, although generally in a passing sense (Acts 13:1-3, Matthew 6:16-18).
Dr. Martin Luther had some fascinating comments on the theme as it relates to the season of Lent:
But the worst of all is that we have adopted and practiced fasting as a good work: not to bring our flesh into subjection; but, as a meritorious work before God, to atone for our sins and obtain grace. And it is this that has made our fasting a stench and so blasphemous and shameful, so that no drinking and eating, no gluttony and drunkenness, could have been as bad and foul. It would have been better had people been drunk day and night than to fast thus.*
According to Luther, fasting is valuable so long as it's used as a form of discipline to bring our flesh under control and to force our focus from the temporal to the eternal.
However, many have viewed fasting as a way to earn merit or favor with God -- even as a means to earn forgiveness. Luther speaks against this in the harshest of terms, saying that it would be better to go on a 40-day drinking binge than to try to fast your way into the forgiveness of sins.
Disciplines like fasting might flow from our salvation but are never the source of it. The forgiveness of sins might lead us to engage in disciplines that deepen our trust in the Lord and loosen our grip on the things of this world, but those practices can never be viewed as the means or currency by which we receive or earn God's grace.
Is it true that no gluttony or drunkenness would be as foul as fasting aimed at earning God's grace? Of course it's true! To attempt to earn what God freely gives is to turn our loving Father, Savior, and Lord into nothing more than a business partner. It means that we see God as someone who can be paid off; someone whose terms can be manipulated in our favor.
The good news is that Christ made full satisfaction for all of your sins, and it is received by faith alone. May this lenten season, whether it contains any form of self-discipline or not, be one of reflection and repentance, rooted deeply in the Word of God. May he show us the frailty of our humanity and the folly of our self-salvation efforts. May it be clear that there is no hope to be found in our efforts. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are much more meaningful when we know that there is simply no other way for our human existence to have lasting purpose and hope.
*Martin Luther, “First Sunday in Lent (Invocavit) (Matthew 4:1–11),” in Luther’s Church Postil: Gospels: Epiphany, Lent and Easter Sermons, ed. and trans. John Nicholas Lenker, vol. II, The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther (Minneapolis, MN: Lutherans in All Lands Co., 1906), 134–135.