Food can assume exaggerated importance in our lives. Fasting is one way to bring these appetites under control. People in the Bible fast from food for all sorts of reasons. David fasts for the health of his gravely ill son. Esther fasts before she makes a bold request to the king. Paul and Barnabas fast over the choice of elders to lead churches in Asia Minor. The church in Antioch fasts to seek God’s leading for their future.
Fasting is one of the most neglected and misunderstood practices in the Christian life. Abstaining from food is not a last-ditch effort to get things from God. Fasting is intended to heighten our spiritual sensitivities so God can get through to us. When Jesus emerged from his forty-day fast in the wilderness, and the devil tempted him to turn stones into bread, he declared, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4.4).
We can fast from things other than food. John Chrysostom urged Christians in the fourth century to fast from gossip, and Augustine, his contemporary, proposed a fast from quarreling. How about a fast from bitterness or holding a grudge? Here’s a radical thought—how about a fast from our electronic devices? If the thought of disconnecting from your cell phones leaves you panicky, it may be telling you something you need to know.
Today’s prayer was engraved on a marble tablet discovered in a cemetery in southern France in 1839. While nothing is known of its author, Pectorius of Autun, scholars regard it as a late second-century epitaph prayer. Ichthus is the Greek word for fish. The Greek letters of the word can also be read as an acronym for the phrase “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” The prayer has associations to communion and expresses a desire for Jesus to feed us with heavenly food: