WHEN I WAS YOUNG the Lenten season always meant giving up of something I enjoyed, like chocolate, or watching a favorite television show. This “fasting” was to somehow let me know a little of what the Lord Jesus suffered for me, and to prepare me for the remembrance of Good Friday and the celebration of the Resurrection. Looking back it didn’t even come close, in any form, to helping me to understand what Jesus went through in the days leading to His crucifixion.
As I have grown older I still find myself “giving up” something during the forty days of Lent, while at the same time seeking to add something to my life such as time for more prayer or Bible reading. All this in the hope that I will become more aware of the Passion of our Lord, and sometimes it does help.
I have come to understand that true fasting is not just about giving up but it is also about giving in and giving out. It is about giving in to the desires of the Lord, and giving out to others. This is what the Lord addressed through the prophet Isaiah,
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Is. 58:6-7)
This is the fast the Lord desires, to humbly give in to Him, while we give out to others. In some ways we are called to indulge ourselves in the work of the Lord, and when we do the prophet declares, “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.” (Is. 58:8)