“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” (Matthew 6:16)

The Greek word for “fast” literally means not to eat, to abstain from food. But by the time of Christ, fasting had been perverted and twisted beyond what was scriptural and sincere.

Fasting had become a ritual to gain merit with God and attention before men—it was largely a hypocritical religious show. Many Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), usually on the second and fifth days of the week.

They picked those days supposedly because on them  Moses received the tablets of Law from God on Mount Sinai. But they also happened to be the two major Jewish market days, when cities and towns were crowded with farmers, merchants, and shoppers, where public fasting would have the largest audiences.

Those wanting to call attention to their fasting would “put on a gloomy face” and “neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men.” They would wear old clothes, sometimes purposely torn and soiled, mess up their hair, cover themselves with dirt and ashes, and even use makeup to look pale and sickly.

But this kind of fasting is a sham and mockery. Those whom Jesus condemned for fasting “in order to be seen by men” were pretentiously self-righteous. God was of little concern in their motive or their thinking, ands so He had no part in their reward. The reward they wanted was recognition by men, and that’s what they got. ((John MacArthur, Daily Readings From the Life of Christ [Chicago: Moody, 2008], June 2.))

John MacArthur

Further reading

• ELEPHANT ROOM CURATOR JAMES MACDONALD POINTS US TO A COUPLE CONFERENCES OF INTEREST
• CHUCK SWINDOLL POINTS US TO ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC HENRI NOUWEN…AGAIN
• CONCERNING ONE THOUSAND GIFTS BY ANN VOSKAMP