Q&A with Jesus about Fasting
Fasting with prayer isn’t super-spirituality - it’s normal Christianity. It’s a normal practice for believers in this age. As we live in recognition that Jesus is not physically with us but one day He will be returning our hearts are moved to seek Him with passion and desire. It’s this longing and aching in our souls for His presence and return that compels us to lean into the grace of fasting and prayer, seeking Him with all of our hearts.
In this blog I want to briefly look at one of Jesus’ key teachings on fasting to help us gain understanding of the paradigm He taught about fasting and prayer.
When John the Baptist’s disciples didn’t understand why Jesus and His disciples didn’t fast they asked Him a bold but honest question:
Matthew 9:14-15 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
John had taught them to fast and pray with focus and discipline. Could it be that the Messiah, who John was supposedly introducing, didn’t believe in fasting? Why was there such a difference between them? They wanted to know what Jesus believed and find out if He really was the Messiah.
Jesus’ explained that at a wedding feast the bridegroom’s friends would never fast while the bridegroom was with them. It was a time of celebration and rejoicing. He was obviously speaking of Himself and His disciples as the friends of the bridegroom. He used the phrase, “friends of the bridegroom” intentionally. It was John who first coined that term and Jesus was implying to John’s disciples that He was indeed the bridegroom John had prophesied about.
He then made it clear that things wouldn’t always be this way. There would be a time when He would no longer be with them. And in His absence His friends would mourn for His presence through fasting.
We are now living in those days! Jesus has been taken away – He is physically absent. He said very clearly and emphatically in this season His friends would fast. In making this statement He normalized fasting as a way of life for believers.
Jesus wants us to be touched with a deep desire for intimacy. His explanation about fasting set the normal paradigm for believers. Instead of fasting by ritual or for a religious badge as the Pharisees, His followers are to fast out of longing for their bridegroom.
Jesus described this type of fasting as spiritual “mourning” (Mat 5:4, Mat (9:15). We long for Jesus’ presence and His return and as a normal expression of our hearts to Him we fast regularly.
I encourage all believers to pick one day a week and commit to fasting. Push back from physical food in order to press into Jesus as the sustainer of our hearts. If you’re new to fasting, start with fasting a meal once or twice a week. And instead of eating, read your bible, worship, and pray. It’s that simple and it’s that normal. And then once a month, do a three-day fast as a means of resetting your heart before the Lord (We do the first Monday – Wednesday every month). This is the way that we are supposed to live in recognition that Jesus isn’t with us.
We don’t have to fast for a specific breakthrough, though that’s biblical. We can simply fast to put ourselves before Him in love and longing. I’m believing for an entire generation to lean into the grace of fasting and prayer to find the beauty of spiritual encounter in that place. As I write this I’m praying for you to step into this grace and seek the Lord with your whole heart. Go for it!
One disclaimer, I don’t encourage anyone with a medical condition to fast without the approval of a physician.