Encounters With Christ

Rev. Troy Medlin

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1-4)

Hunger pangs. As someone who has never had to worry about where my next meal was going to come from or whether I could afford to go grocery shopping when my pantry is getting sparse, the hunger pangs I have experienced have been quite minimal. They have been fleeting. Still, all of us know hunger pangs. We all know what it is like to be hungry.

Fasting as a spiritual practice helps us get outside of ourselves, reminding us of our dependence on God. A reminder that we not only rely on food for our sustenance but on God who provides us our very life and each breath. Fasting frees us to turn our eyes up to God and to spend time focusing on God’s word, which feeds not only our bodies but our souls, too, strengthening us day by day. Fasting can be a refreshing reminder that we do not exist by our own efforts alone.

Fasting-induced hunger pangs for the children of God do not end there. They can also turn us in another direction: toward our neighbor. In baptism we become servants of all, especially the needy ones in our midst. If we fast, we do not fast for our own sake. Our fasting awakens us to the needs of others. We can allow those hunger pangs to draw our attention to those who lack daily bread. Our fasting can empower us to alleviate hunger here and around the world. As one prayer puts it, “May our fasting be hunger for justice.”

Prayer: Living bread, may the hunger pangs of our fasting awaken us to those around us, so that we might desire the food of justice until all have daily sustenance. Amen 

Rev. Dean Lueking

Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.  (Isaiah 58:4-9)

Surgeons who perform intricate operations often go nonstop for hours without eating. We don’t think of them as fasting while they go about their crucial work. Of course not; they’re intent on saving lives. Food comes later. 

In these pandemic-burdened days one thinks as well of nurses, retirement home care staff, faithful family members and all who work overtime in caring for others. They’re not fasting. They’re doing what is called for. 

Fasting in the sense of making points with God has been rightly denounced in our Lutheran tradition. But fasting in the Isaiah 58:4-8 sense (“loosing the bonds of injustice, sharing bread with the hungry, housing the homeless poor”) is exactly what is needed here and everywhere. 

Prayer: Blessed Lord, teach us to fast from the sin of self-indulgence so that we may feast upon your grace and not grow weary in well-doing.  Amen

Rev. Frank C. Senn

But as for me, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom. (Psalm 35:13)

The psalmist compares his support for others who are afflicted with sickness with the glee his adversaries have over his distress. What is noteworthy is that the psalmist is not fasting for himself but for others. He shares in their afflictions. A contemporary parallel might be friends of a cancer patient who shave their own heads as a sign of solidarity. Fasting for causes, such as world hunger, would be another contemporary parallel. In the ancient church Christians fasted along with those who were preparing for Holy Baptism, showing their support for the candidates. That, in fact, is the origin of this forty day “fasting time” we call Lent. For Christians fasting is not about self-improvement, but expressing devotion to God. We see the psalmist humbling himself before God. We see Jesus in the wilderness clarifying his mission through fasting (Matthew 4:1—11). We discover the meanings of fasting for ourselves when we observe Jesus’s injunction, “Whenever you fast, do not look dismal …” (Matthew 6:16).

Prayer: Lord God, help us by your Holy Spirit to use this time of fasting to show our love for you and our neighbors. Open us by your Holy Spirit to follow Jesus in his forty days of fasting in the wilderness that we may serve you more faithfully; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This week we explore the discipline of Fasting. Fasting is not a discipline Lutherans have often emphasized, although Luther did recognize its value, cautioning that “one should not fast with a view to meriting something by it as by a good work.” He also said, “It is right to fast frequently in order to subdue and control the body. For when the stomach is full, the body does not serve for preaching, for praying, for studying, or for doing anything else that is good.” Fasting gives us more time for prayer and might even give us the opportunity to donate the cost of the meal we are missing to those less fortunate

Rev. Bruce Modahl

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might deny ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him. So we fasted and petitioned our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. (Ezra 8:21-23)

Ezra negotiated with good king Artaxerxes for the return to Jerusalem of another band of exiles. Ezra decided not to include a military escort in his request. Instead, Ezra took his bargaining straight to God. Ezra offered fasting and petitions in return for God’s protection.

Perhaps what Ezra offered up was not as transactional as it sounds. Jesus tells us to petition God in the prayer he taught us. In his Small Catechism Luther explains that when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking for everything we need to live including food, clothing, homes, good government, and good neighbors.

We often fast from something during Lent. Instead of one thing for the Lenten season, let us, health permitting, try fasting from all food for one day. Throughout the day, let us repeat, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The hunger pangs that develop during the day will quickly focus us on our need. The petition we repeat reminds us upon whom we depend to satisfy all our needs.

The hunger and the petition remind us that we too are exiles on a homeward journey. Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us. And along the way Jesus prepares a place for us in the Eucharistic community where we petition God and find food, rest, and strength to continue the journey.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, give us today our daily bread. Protect us along our way. We give you thanks for making a place for us in your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.