What Did Jesus Say About Fasting?

Everyone knows that you’re supposed to fast on Yom Kippur. Even those of us who grew up in Reform/secular environments probably fasted on Yom Kippur. According to a 2020 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center,1 “46% say they fasted all or part of Yom Kippur.”

The traditional Yom Kippur fasting sentiment is, “May you have an easy fast.” Honestly, I’ve always thought fasting was supposed to be kind of tough, so I’m not sure what wishing someone an easy fast implies. To me, it was kind of like wishing someone an easy workout.

The reason for fasting on Yom Kippur has to do with one verse in the Bible that ties into the holy day. Leviticus 23:27 tells us that on this day, “You shall afflict yourselves.” The 1985 Jewish Publication Society translation reads, “practice self-denial,” while others render the Hebrew word ענה (‘anah) as “humble yourselves”2 or “afflict your souls.”3 Traditionally, this has been understood to mean fasting.

In Jesus’ world of first-century Judaism, fasting was a very big deal. So, it’s not surprising that he weighed in on the subject. What might be surprising is that 2,000 years later, what he said about it is still very relevant.

Jesus probably wouldn’t have wished anyone an easy fast. But he did teach us how to fast in a way that generates the spiritual benefits that make fasting worth all the trouble!

Jesus and the “Fasting Look”

One of the most famous things Jesus had to say about fasting was about appearances.

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:16–18)

This was not only about Yom Kippur; some Jews in those days fasted twice a week. But apparently, some took the opportunity to make sure everyone knew they were fasting to show how pious they were. So as Jesus described it, they went around looking sad and “disfigured” their faces, which may have meant that on their fasting days, they didn’t apply the customary oil (the first-century equivalent of a shower and a shave).

Jesus’ point: Fasting is for the sake of God, not for making us look good in front of other people.

My dad used to tell a joke about the fasting man who would say, “Oy! Am I hungry! Am I hungry!” And then after he finally had his meal, he would say, “Oy! Was I hungry! Oy! Was I hungry!”

According to Jesus, that kind of piety for show is spiritually counterproductive. The point of a fast is to draw closer to God, not to impress our neighbors.

Jesus and the Big Macher4

Jesus’ warnings about fasting as a form of performative piety are taken a step further in this teaching parable.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:12–14)

This is a study in contrasts. This Pharisee—a member of the popular sect of Judaism who was big on ritual purity and observance of traditions—seemed pretty enamored with his religious observance. He mentioned to God that he fasted twice a week and also gave tithes of his income, not, he added, like this other guy over there, this tax collector. Tax collectors were looked down upon by other Jews since their job was to be agents of the Roman occupiers of Israel and collect the despised taxes that Rome imposed on the Jewish people. This particular Pharisee was essentially saying, “I thank God I’m not like this riff-raff over here!”

He was like a man in the synagogue who stands up and loudly announces, “I’m giving $10,000—anonymously!”

Meanwhile, the tax collector, apparently not as observant a Jew as the Pharisee, simply implored God to forgive him, even if he didn’t follow the Pharisaic way of life. And Jesus said this was the guy whom God ironically dubbed as righteous.

Fasting won’t bring us peace with God if it’s used to make ourselves look good in front of Him.

Fasting won’t bring us peace with God if it’s used as a means of making ourselves look good in front of Him. Do I fast because I want God and others to think I’m a good person and to reward me because of it? Or do I fast because I am sincerely seeking the presence of the King of the Universe in my life? That distinction makes all the difference.

Jesus taught that no one else needed to know that you were fasting. Even if God is the only one who knows, fasting and other observances aren’t trump cards to be used for one-upmanship over other people.

Jesus and His Non-Fasting Followers

Just when it seems like everyone in Jesus’ time should be fasting with the right attitude, we suddenly hear that Jesus’ followers were not fasting.

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.” (Matthew 9:14–15)5

What was going on there?

“John” here is the famous first-century Jewish figure known as John the Baptist, who had his own set of followers. It was this group that came up to Jesus wanting to know why Jesus’ disciples weren’t fasting like other Jews generally did.

Based on the quotes we looked at above, it’s clear that Jesus did expect his followers to fast at various times, just not to make a show of it. Here, though, Jesus’ followers didn’t do the twice-a-week fast that others did.

So, Jesus uses the analogy of a wedding. When you’re at a wedding (or a bar or bat mitzvah—my parents’ generation called these celebrations “affairs”), you’re supposed to eat a lot if you don’t want to insult your hosts.

Jesus uses the image of himself as a bridegroom. While he’s there teaching and healing people with his followers, it’s like a big wedding, and no one’s going to fast. But he hints at his upcoming death at the hands of the Romans when he says, “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them.” And after that time, yes, his disciples, too, will fast.

In other words, fasting is a spiritually enriching activity, but there are times when you really shouldn’t do it. For instance, fasting is often not doable for pregnant or nursing mothers or for elderly or ill people. If you can’t fast for some reason on Yom Kippur, there are other ways to take hold of the lessons God would teach us through fasting from food. For instance, modern people can gain a lot from fasting from the use of their phones and screens.

Jesus and the Big Fast

It’s instructive that Jesus himself fasted.

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And 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, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:2–4)

Here, Jesus is off like Moses in the desert country, apparently preparing for his upcoming time of ministry in Israel. We’re told he fasted for 40 days and nights, and not surprisingly, he was hungry afterward.

We don’t only live on bread, but on every word that comes from God.

This was certainly not a typical fast but one that helped Jesus to focus on God and spiritual matters. The tempter—understood here to be Satan6—suggests that Jesus can just turn rocks into food. Jesus’ response is to quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 in the Tanakh. We don’t only live on bread, but on every word (which is to say, every promise) that comes from God.

This seems to imply a deeper lesson about fasting. Fasting and eating aren’t in the final analysis about physical food—though obviously, they’re also about that—but at the bottom, they’re about trusting God as the ultimate provider of life.

If we fast in the way that Jesus prescribes, we will use fasting as a way to draw closer to God (to seek God’s face as David put it in the Psalms). And we will meditate in our hunger on the fact that all we have—and every meal we eat—comes from His hands and depends on His mercy.

So if you’ll be fasting this Yom Kippur, you might want to use the time to think about God as our Provider. Oh, and try not to look gloomy!

Endnotes

1. “Jewish Americans in 2020,” Pew Research Center, May 11, 2021.

2. New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition.

3. King James Version.

4. Yiddish for “big shot.”

5. See also the parallels in Mark 2:18–20 and Luke 5:33–35.

6. The parallel passage in Luke 4:3 calls him “the devil.”