Issue 39 Steadfast PrayerBlog | Prayer and fasting
Prayer and fasting
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 13.06.24
Prayer and fasting are often closely associated within the disciplines of Christian spirituality. This association finds its roots in Jesus’ teaching in the New Testament. In Matthew 6, part of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus closely associates the disciplines of prayer, giving, and fasting under the umbrella title ‘acts of righteousness.’ When you give to the needy…when you pray…when you fast… (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16).
Rather than propose the idea, Jesus appears to simply assume that these three disciplines are a regular part of life for his Jewish listeners. And Matthew, in recording them, assumes they will continue to be a natural part of life for all those who follow Jesus, both Jew and Gentile.
The association between prayer and fasting in the Early Church was strong enough for references to fasting to be added into some early manuscripts. In Mark 9:29, in response to the disciples’ question as to why they couldn’t deliver the unclean spirit from a boy, Jesus replies ‘this kind can only come out with prayer.’ Some early copyists have added in the reference to fasting (you can see this in the footnotes to most English Bibles) and others have added the double reference to prayer and fasting in the parallel account in Matthew 17:21.
Fasting in the Old Testament Fasting is portrayed as an intense form of devotion at various points in the Old Testament, either as a regular but occasional act, but mostly in response to some kind of crisis.
The only positive mention of fasting is the first one. When Moses goes up Mount Sinai to be in the presence of God and receive the Ten Commandments, he fasts for 40 days and nights (Exodus 34:28) – an antecedent to Jesus’s fasting in the desert, which we often miss. There is a remarkable Jewish tradition that, when Moses and the 70 elders ‘saw God and they ate and drank’ (Exodus 24:11), this means they feasted on God himself.
