“Why have we fasted,” they say,
    “and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?”

‘Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

In 1977, Arthur Wallis’s outstanding book, ‘God’s chosen fast’, was published. There weren’t many Christian books around on the subject up to that point. However, since then we have witnessed a plethora. In the church at large there has grown to be a renewed interest in fasting, and a new commitment to practice this ancient spiritual discipline.

But, as today’s reading shows, if our fasting is just ritualistic without having repentance at its heart, it is of no value. We cannot expect God to hear us when in our day to day lives we mistreat people. Prayer is more than a posture. It is about our hearts. It involves our lives.

Jesus clearly saw fasting as a key element of Christian discipleship, but He warned that there is a wrong way to engage in it:

” “When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 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.” (Matt.6:16-18).

We can’t expect to be heard if we are mistreating our ‘neighbours’: people made in the image of God.

Also, we can’t expect to be heard if we’re showing off: parading our spirituality.

By all means let us fast, bearing in mind the great encouragement to do so (Mt.6:17,18). But also, let’s remember the various Biblical warnings about false fasting.

‘When you strive to be a spiritual person, you fight the constant battle of ”ritual versus reality.” it is much easier to go through external activities of religion than it is to love God from your heart and let that love touch the lives of others.’ Warren Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.488.