Why Fast?

Gospel: Mark 2: 18-22

The Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples do not fast.  Perhaps a better question is why does anyone fast at all.  Fasting is a practice found in all religious traditions and it is an important discipline.  But the motivation and intention behind the action is more important than the action of fasting itself.  As with many things, there are better and worse reasons for doing something.

As the question to Jesus implies, the Pharisees and many others fast in order to make their religiosity known to others.  The practice is seen as some sort of badge of virility and asceticism that proves a person tough.  This is not at all a worthy motivation for fasting.  Others will fast because they want to atone for their sins, and this is a much better reason for fasting, provided the person does not think that fasting itself curries God's forgiveness.  

When fasting is wedded to love and care for others, then a pure fast exists.  When we come to recognize that we have way too much of the world's goods and that others have too little of it, we come to fast in order to give to others without the food and resources we have in order to balance the scales.  This is the way to fast, the way to feed 5000 and many more, the way to show God's love in the world without words or ostentation.