+Today we talk about fasting in our readings. Jesus
tells the disciples of John that his
disciples do not fast, while they and the Pharisees fast much, because the
very object and reason for the fast – closer, deeper union and relationship
with Jesus – is already immediately present to them. There is no need to fast;
they already possess the “football,” Jesus, in the end-zone! But for any who
were or are not in immediate physical contact with Jesus, fasting is the only
way to go: especially as we journey with him through the Lenten weeks of
self-discipline.
The prophecies of Isaiah are
always magnificent: so poetic, and so powerful! Today he declares: CRY OUT
FULL-THROATED AND UNSPARINGLY, LIFT UP YOUR VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET BLAST AND TELL
MY PEOPLE OF THEIR WICKEDNESS AND THEIR SINS! And you can also tell them that
the way they have adopted to seek him is just not working out: their fasting and their afflicting
themselves produces nothing, because it ends in carrying out their own
pursuits, driving hard their laborers, quarreling and fighting, striking with
the wicked claw! WHAT KIND OF FASTING IS THAT!
This is the kind of “fasting”
I want, the Lord goes on – releasing
those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the
oppressed, breaking every yoke, sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering
the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not
turning your back on your own.
And it means doing this not
only in large ways, but more especially in small, almost unnoticeable sorts of
ways to the people God puts in our path each day.
THEN
your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be
healed; your vindication shall go before you, and 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!”
Now this is a worthy Lenten goal, this
is fasting-with-a-punch, this is what God would have us do! May
we be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to fast this way, this Lent!
Amen.
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