Fasting: The Hidden Discipline

Fasting is the most neglected of the three practices Jesus addresses in Matthew 6. Most Christians have a working understanding of prayer and giving. Fasting feels strange, optional, perhaps even a little extreme. But Jesus speaks of it as naturally as he speaks of prayer — as something his followers simply do.

What did Jesus say?

Jesus follows the same pattern as with giving and prayer: when you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. They have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. The instruction is simple: fast, but do it in a way that is invisible to others. The discipline is between you and God.

What did it mean then?

Fasting was a regular practice in Jewish life. The Day of Atonement required a communal fast. The Pharisees fasted twice a week — on Mondays and Thursdays. Fasting was associated with mourning, repentance, and urgent prayer. To 'disfigure your face' — to make yourself look visibly gaunt and sorrowful — was a way of advertising your piety. Jesus is not criticising fasting itself; he is criticising the use of fasting as a performance. The instruction to wash your face and put oil on your head is the opposite of the hypocrites' practice: it is the normal preparation for a day's activity. You are to fast in a way that is indistinguishable from not fasting — except to God.

What was Jesus revealing about the Kingdom of God?

Fasting, in the Kingdom, is an act of orientation toward God. It is a physical practice that expresses a spiritual reality: that God matters more than food, that there are things worth hungering for more than physical sustenance, that the body can be trained to follow the spirit's priorities. Jesus elsewhere speaks of fasting as something his disciples will do after he has left them (Matthew 9:15). It is not a performance of grief or piety — it is a genuine practice of seeking God, of creating space in the body and the schedule for a deeper attentiveness to him.

How does this transform us from the inside out?

Fasting is one of the most direct ways of training the body to serve the spirit rather than the other way around. Most of us are more controlled by our appetites than we realise. We eat when we are bored, anxious, or lonely. We reach for food as a comfort, a distraction, a reward. Fasting — even briefly — exposes this. It brings to the surface the ways in which we use physical satisfaction to manage our inner life. In that exposure, there is an invitation: to bring those hungers to God rather than to the refrigerator. Over time, the person who fasts regularly develops a different relationship with their appetites — not one of suppression, but of ordering. The body learns that it is not the master.

How can we practise this today?

If you have never fasted, begin simply: skip one meal and use that time to pray. Notice what comes up — the hunger, the restlessness, the pull toward distraction. Bring those things to God. If you fast regularly, examine your motivation. Is it a genuine practice of seeking God, or has it become a source of spiritual pride? Jesus' instruction to wash your face and put on oil is a reminder that the discipline is between you and God — not a badge to wear. Reflection questions: What does my relationship with food reveal about my inner life? What might I be using physical comfort to avoid? What would it mean to fast not as a discipline of denial but as a practice of seeking?