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Hypocrisy & the Fast of the Lord

This day is often referred to as "Fat Tuesday".  Why?  Simply because in the Catholic Church it is the day that precedes the beginning of Lent - which to them is a 40 day period of fasting and penance.  Since tomorrow begins a long fasting period, it's obvious what Fat Tuesday is all about..."eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall..."

Personally I think that is sad and much misinformed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of fasting.  In fact, there is much to be gained by fasting when done in the right way.  Yet there is other ways in which fasting is just a religious exercise that is purely about religious pride - and that never impresses our Lord.

When the prophet Isaiah looked at the Idolatry among his people along with the religious actions they continued to do, he spoke out against their Fasts:
Isaiah 58:3-9 3  ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
4  Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

5  Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?

6  “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

7  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

8  Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

9  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,




The question has to be asked...for WHO am I fasting?
This is exactly what Jesus spoke clearly about in Matthew 6:16-18 
16  “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
17  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

By the time of Jesus the Pharisees had instituted mandatory Fasts of two days a week.  Their purpose was to "look" godly.  The hypocrisy that is clearly there is our trap also.  "looking godly" is nothing more than a religious hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy robs us of reality...it substitutes reputation for character...mere words for true prayers...outward forms instead of devotion of the heart, soul, and mind.
The step away from that is true devotion...and honesty before God and a desire for Him more than anything else.
The age old Spiritual journey is one of cultivating the heart in the secret place.
"The most important part of our Christian journey is the part that only God sees."

Interestingly, God only prescribed one day a year for His people to Fast.  It was the Day of Atonement.

Leviticus 23:27  "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire.

This is our focus for the 40 days ahead.  Jesus is our atoning sacrifice...and it's once and for all.

Hebrews 9:11-14 11  But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
12  he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
13  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
14  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 


I'd love to have you join me in a forty day journey to celebrate our Lord's journey to the cross where He offered himself without blemish to God, purifying us from dead works so that we can serve Our Living God.

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