Let’s talk about food.
When I was in college I used to go with a group of friends to lunch on Sundays after church. We took turns driving and there was one day in particular I remember when I was behind the wheel. We couldn’t collectively decide where to go to eat and I found myself driving aimlessly while we all argued the merits of one restaurant after another. Finally I made what I thought was a brilliant decision. I told everyone that we will stop and eat at the seventh restaurant we pass.
This was not nearly as brilliant as I thought it would be. All that decision did was turn everyone into expert navigators. I got commands from every seat in the car to “turn here,” or “go this way,” so that I would arrive at a certain restaurant after passing six others.
Is it hard for you to decide what to eat? I think for a lot of us it is, especially if we are with a group of people. I read once that the average American spends 5.5 days per year deciding what to eat. We spend a lot of time thinking about food.
And there are a lot of places where we can eat. Restaurants are all around us, but they aren’t the only places. Home is likely the place we eat most often but we eat at work too. And we eat at church, and entertainment venues, and theaters, etc. We eat outside a lot with picnics and potlucks. We have to have food to survive, but what we do goes way beyond mere survival. We have turned food into an art form. We watch shows about cooking. There are baking competitions, and chili cookouts, and hot dog eating contests. We also make food a significant part of our holidays. There aren’t a lot of holidays that don’t have something to do with eating. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Independence Day, etc. They all have their foods. Your birthday is probably celebrated in some way with food.
If food was only about survival then we would find a way to eat the same thing all the time and be done with it. That is what we do with our pets. Cats and dogs and birds and fish that we have do just fine with the same food day in and day out. But this doesn’t work for us. Food means more to us than just something we have to take in to live.
But if food means so much to us, then why is there so much fasting in the bible? Why do so many people today deny themselves food for a small amount of time? What is the point of fasting?
One reason is to show that you are grieving. Israelites did this when things didn’t go their way. Here is one account after a battle they had with the Benjamites:
Judges 20: 24-26
24 Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. 25 This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.
26 Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
Another reason is for repentance. The Ninevites in the book of Jonah were saved in part by the fasting they endured after Jonah (finally) came to them and warned them to change their ways.
I think for us though a bigger reason is this. Fasting can connect what is physical to what is spiritual. When people fast, it isn’t long before their bodies start informing them they are hungry. And this can serve as a reminder to them of their connection with God.
Finally, fasting means sacrifice. You are going without for a small amount of time. It is your choice to do so, but there are so many people in this world that don’t have that choice. They just don’t have much food and they are constantly dealing with hunger. Fasting gives you an opportunity to put yourself in their shoes. You feel what it is like to be them. You think of the people that need food. And maybe you will decide to do something about it.
Maybe you will take the money you would have spent going out to eat that night on someone else who could use help.
If you look closely at the Gospels you will find that amazing things happen when people share food. Jesus did it all the time. Several years ago we had massive power outages in my city after tornados came through. There was no power for days. People in the neighborhood offered us food they had in their refrigerator since it would go bad if not shared. That period of a few days was one of the highest examples of community coming together that I have ever known.
When people share food, good things happen.
Think prayerfully about fasting this Lenten season, and think about the needs of others. What might you do to help out?
God Bless