Fasting in moderation
Gospel of Mark 1:13-15 : “He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
Before doing any physical fasting, the doctors warn people that everybody must ask the closest doctor and pharmacist. People who are not supposed to fast, even one day fasting can be dangerous.
Nonetheless, fasting is a yearly recurring practice in Christianity, though in the Protestant world the emphasis is rather on the spiritual fasting, than on the physical one. In the early centuries of Christianity they were very much influenced by the practice of the so called desert fathers, who led a very ascetic life, sometimes fasting during the whole year or several decades renouncing much of the delicious dishes, together with relationships and properties all along, mostly based their lifestyle on the idealized patterns of John the Baptist.
Also in a couple of early Christian writings we can meet the weekly fasting phenomenon, where the believers are told that it is advisable to fast two times a week, namely on Wednesday and Friday, every week. Wednesday should be a commemorative fasting of remembering the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, and Friday of course, the commemoration of the crucifixion.
Of course this ruling is parallel with the practice of the Pharisees, who fasted also two times a week, on Monday and and Thursday. It should be obvious that the Christian writers would have liked to copy the Jewish custom of fasting two days a week, meanwhile they also wanted to separate the Christian fasting from the Jewish custom, by choosing different days. However, traditional Christian fasting was not full starvation, but abstinence from meat, dairy products and alcohol.
It can be surprising to some that the Great Fasting before Easter is not the only last longing fasting period in the Christian tradition, but there was a Great Fasting also before the Feast of the Nativity, called the Nativity Fasting, which used to last for forty days before December 24 and occasionally it was also called the Winter Lent.
In the competing universe of fasting, some claim that the so-called Indian fakirs are the world champions. Once upon a time it appeared in the BBC's news channel, as it was reported in 2003 from Ahmedabad, Western India, that they found a man who had not eaten and drunk anything for seventy years, and still was found in perfect health.
The man lived in most of his life in a cave near a temple in Gujarat state. The man, Prahlad Jani had spent 10 days under constant observation in the Sterling Hospital, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance.
Mr Jani agreed to avoid bathing for his time in hospital. The only fluid he was allowed was a small amount of water, to use as mouthwash. One hundred milliliter of water were given to him, and then collected and measured in a beaker when he spat it out, to make sure none had been drunk. During that time, the hermit did not consume anything and also he did not visit the washroom at all, according to the hospital's deputy superintendent, yet he was in fine mental and physical fettle, said the doctors.
Of course, nobody verified this claim, neither the conditions of this hospital observation, though the myth about not eating for years is still alive worldwide, as even in the West many people are following lunatic movements like living on sunshine only. However, science is absolutely certain that most people can live without food only for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. And the average human can survive for only three to four days without water.
Regardless, of the scientific statements, religions are still adamantly clinging to some mystical experiences, that supernatural fasting occasionally occurred, for example when In the Lenten season we got 40 days and forty nights to remember that the prophet of God, Moses spent exactly that time to receive the Ten Commandments. Likewise, Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in the desert to repel the Ego of the Man. Neither Moses nor Jesus ate bread, thus fasting must be somehow a part of our commemoration.
Although the sick and the people with issues must ask their doctors and their pharmacists what they can do or what they are allowed to do regarding fasting practices, where fasting is a special form of prayer, and fasting is still an important part of our prayers.
As the Apostle Paul wrote about it, that “I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
Thus, fasting has an important place in the liturgy, as a recurring call for the need to pay attention to its significance, its meaning, its efficacy and its importance. Not only in Christianity, but in all world religions, practically in all traditions on Earth.
There was a demon possessed boy, described by the Gospel of Mark, "who has a mute spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able.”
Thus, they had to send for Jesus, and he was able to cast out the demon, which possessed the boy, causing detrimental and debilitating sickness. His disciples were amazed, but also annoyed at the same time, for they thought that they are mature enough as disciples, to wield that much power over demons to cast them out.
Many times we can hear it from the TV life coaches, that if you want to achieve something, you have to believe in yourself. The disciples believed in themselves and it was not enough.
Jesus said to them that “But this kind (of demon) doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Which means that in prayer we have to beg the help of God, who only has the power to cast out demons. And we also have to fast, which means, that we must recognize, that our ego, our pride, our belief in our own strength are in the way of being heard in Heaven. That is why the disciples were not able to heal the boy in the Bible story.
Thus, humility is the way to go. Fasting in the body or in the mind or in both is a good way to make ourselves relevantly remember, that we are nothing in the front of the King of the Universe. Without this humility we cannot stand, but we will fall, because this humility unites us with God, nothing else. And united we stand, divided from God, we fall.
Smaller things might be occasionally arranged, but major spiritual battles cannot be fought successfully without the help of the Almighty God, before whom we are all beggars.
When we must fight our own inner demons, the same applies. When Jesus fought the demons in the desert, he began with fasting and ended with humility and worshiping God, declaring “You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.”
May we follow our Master, Jesus Christ in his humility to approach God, with our prayers, AN
