When You Fast
Ash Wednesday| Matthew 6:16-18| Pastor James Preus| March 5, 2025
“And when you fast,” Jesus says. But why would we fast? Scripture associates fasting with repentance. God spoke through the prophet Joel, “Yet even now, “declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” (Joel 2:12-19) And we are certainly in need of repentance. Although we have been baptized into Christ, having our sins washed away, and we have been given a new self, who desires to walk with Christ, our old Adam still hangs around our neck. He is lazy, lustful, proud, arrogant, impatient, hateful, and everything else that Jesus is not. We still sojourn through this wicked world which is at enmity with Christ. And of course, we have Satan, prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He is crafty and he knows how to work with your old Adam and this corrupt world to lead you into sin. And he has.
Yes, you are in need of repentance. Those words God spoke to Israel through Joel are for you too. Rend your heart. Return to Him with fasting, weeping, and mourning. You have sinned against the Lord. Like a dog returning to its vomit, and like a sow, which after washing itself, returns to wallow in the mire, so you have returned to those sins which make you ashamed. “When you fast,” Jesus says. He says this for the same reason He taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses,” every day. We need forgiveness every day, because we still sin. We need to repent. And we need to intensify our repentance, lest we become ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and be found to have a dead faith, which makes even the demons shudder, but does not save us (James 2:19).
“When you fast,” Jesus says, “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.” Jesus is telling us that our repentance and spiritual discipline should not be done as an outward show to be seen by others, but rather to be seen by God, who sees in secret. Instead of disfiguring your face and boasting about what foods and pleasures you are depriving yourself of, leave that to you and God.
This is because your neighbor is not your judge. God is. David laments in Psalm 51, “Against You, You only have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment.” Yet, this is the opposite of how we behave. We hide our sins from our neighbors, from our family and friends, and from those people we want to respect us. Yet, we commit our sins in private, thinking that if no human eye sees or ear hears, then our sin is not known. Yet, it is God who is the all-seeing eye and the all-hearing ear. And we do our good deeds out in the open to be seen by others, because we want to win a reward from them, their respect, honor, and praise. Yet, it is God who justifies and condemns, not our neighbors.
So, when Jesus tells us to fast in secret, He is not telling us that it doesn’t matter whether we fast or repent. Rather, He is emphasizing to us the importance of repentance and spiritual discipline, because our Father in heaven who will judge us sees and hears everything. You know more of your own sins than your neighbor does, because your neighbor isn’t all knowing. He can’t hear your thoughts or see what you do behind closed doors or hear what you say when he’s not around. But God sees and hears all these things. What’s more, God even knows those sins of yours which you are not aware of. This is why David cries in Psalm 19, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults!”
Could you imagine if God were to expose all your sins to you, not only those sins which you know you have committed, but hidden them from others, but also those sins which you have hidden from yourself by your own denial or ignorance or forgetfulness? And imagine if God were to reveal to you the true severity of these sins? The horror! The shame! The unbearable weight of guilt! Yes, we can estimate the weight of our sins by seeing Jesus on the cross suffering for them. Yet, because of our sin and limited knowledge, we cannot fully grasp the magnitude of Jesus’ passion. The man, who is also God, suffers the punishment of our sins? We believe it. Yet, our consciences cannot bear the fullness of it.
Yet, Jesus tells us that every careless word will be judged and every hidden thing will be revealed (Matthew 10:26; 12:36-37). And so, we must come to terms quickly with our accuser now before we get to court, lest our accuser hand us over to the judge, and the judge to the jailer, and we be locked in hell until our debt is paid (Matthew 5:25-26). Our accuser and judge is our God, who sees all our misdeeds in secret. Yet, this is no reason to despair. Listen to what our God who sees in secret says, “Return to the LORD, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:13) He who knows all your sins done in secret stands ready to forgive you. “Let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18) The Lord can do this, because Christ Jesus suffered and died for your sins. He knows your sins. And He placed every one of them upon Christ, so that He paid the price for them all. No sin will arise on judgment day to condemn those who are in Christ Jesus, because Jesus has paid for them all with His blood. That is why St. Paul declares in Romans 8, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That is why repentance is so important. For there to be no condemnation against you, you must be in Christ Jesus. Repentance is returning to Christ Jesus. It is changing your mind, so that you think like Christ Jesus. Repentance is putting off the old Adam, and putting on the new self every day, so that the old Adam becomes weaker and weaker, and the new self becomes stronger and stronger. This is not about earning forgiveness of our sins, but about holding fast to Him who forgives our sins. St. Peter exhorts us, having been rescued from sin through faith, we ought to supplement our faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. But if these qualities are lacking, then we have become blind and have forgotten that we were cleansed from our former sins.
This is why fasting is paired with repentance. Fasting is a physical exercise to tell your sinful flesh that it is not the boss. If you can say no to a simple pleasure, then you can say no to greater sins as well. Then you can put your spiritual care first, focusing on God’s Word and prayer, on your relationship with God in secret.
The Church observes Lent, so that we can strengthen our commitment to Christ, so that we may become closer to Him, and find salvation in Him. Our sins do not draw us closer to Christ. They separate us from Him. So, let us put off our former sins and focus more intently on Christ and His Word, so that we may be more confident in the forgiveness of our heavenly Father who sees in secret. Amen.