Feasting in Lent
Common Misconceptions
We’ve all said it. I know I have said it: “In Lent, we fast except on Sundays.”
We do think that way; at least, I do. I’m focused on the fast, and I think of Sunday as an exception: a time to give up the fast so I can take a break and indulge in something I’ve given up. Then, on Monday morning, back to “normal.” Sometimes, we think fasting, even on Sundays, would be a greater fast or a higher commitment to our Lenten devotion. In this way of thinking, Sunday feasts are a concession to our weakness, a carnal break from our higher spiritual call to fast. None of this is biblically or theological true.
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Fasting Versus Feasting
God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, to eat of anything in the garden they wanted, to enjoy his presence and each other. They were made for feasting and enjoying life. The only “no” commandment was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Everything else was “yes”!
We Naturally Reject Fasting
Humanity tends to over-indulge, become addicted, feel guilty, steal food from others, etc. Because of this, we start to think that feasting, enjoyment of life, and celebration must be bad things. We perceive that fasting is true to the spiritual life, but feasting and enjoyment contradict them. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we fast to be prepared to feast properly! Fasting is the prelude; feasting is the main event.
Jesus: Fasting is like a Marital Feast
Jesus said this clearly when he was questioned about fasting by the disciples of John. They wanted to know why he and his disciples were not fasting. He replied,
Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Matthew 9.15
Fasting in Anticipation of the Master’s Return
In other words, when He returns, we won’t need to fast anymore. We’ll be feasting in a great marriage supper. He says in Matthew 22 that the Kingdom of God can be compared to a wedding feast. Our fasting is preparation, part of this temporary phase of life. Feasting is what we are learning to do. Feasting is our future and our life with God now. He created us to feast!
Spiritual Israel Foreshadowed
Listen to the prophet Jeremiah describing God’s restoration of Israel, a foreshadowing of all of God’s people in eternity:
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 31.13-14
The Resurrection Heralded in Lenten Fasting
And at the end of the Bible, when the New Heaven and Earth are described, the people celebrate. They are enjoying God and each other and life. That’s our destiny, and we will know how to really feast then. Fasting is only a temporary part of our life in this fallen world, albeit a necessary one, which is preparatory for the Great Feast.
Lent: Anticipating Easter, Anticipating the Risen Jesus Christ
Just as we do not buy our kids presents every day of the month before Christmas, we fast during Lent. This is not because presents are inherently bad or harmful. It is to prepare them for the enjoyment of opening presents at Christmas. We will not eat cake every day of the week before our birthday. This is not because eating some cake is wrong, but because we want to celebrate with enjoyment and appreciation. But opening presents on Christmas and eating cake on our birthday are not exceptions to a “no presents” and “no cake” rule. Presents and cake are special things to be enjoyed and rightly prepared for by waiting for them until the proper time.
Lent is not a Call to Legalism but to Resurrecting Grace
When we fast during Lent, we do not avoid certain foods because they are inherently harmful or indulgent; instead, we do so because food is sacred and special. We are preparing for the feast by reserving its special elements for the feast itself. Our fast reminds us what hunger and need feel like so that when we feast, we will know that it is God who fills us up.
Part of that preparation is the Sunday feasts; the Sunday feasts in Lent are mini-Easters, celebrations of Christ’s resurrection on the Lord’s Day, so they are times to celebrate and enjoy life, food, and fellowship. They are not moments of guilty indulgence. Instead, they are a glimpse into the future life we are assured of in Christ. We need those weekly reminders of the Lamb’s feast to come, even amid our fast time.
Lenten Feasting: A Joyous Glimpse of Heaven
This Lent, I want to learn to enjoy the Sunday feast. I am asking for the grace to resist the temptation to see it as a guilty indulgence of the flesh. I want to feast with vigor and catch a glimpse of heaven! During the week, I will fast and pray so that the Great Fifty Days of Easter celebration will be much more meaningful and my heart will be well prepared.
Photo by Anha Zeigler on Unsplash
Fasting & Feasting in Lent
The penitential and preparatory season of Lent includes 40 days of fasting. However, if you look at the calendar closely enough and do the math, you’ll see that the actual season is a bit longer. Why? Within those 40 days, we exclude those Sundays. Sundays are feast days and cannot be fast days. These Lord’s…
Christian Feasting vs. Cultural Feasting: What’s the Difference?
Fasting is intuitively a bodily and a liturgical act. The Liturgical Year invites us to “days of discipline, denial, and special prayers” in Lent, Fridays outside of Christmastide and Eastertide, Rogation Days, and Ember Days (BCP, pg. 689). While intermittent fasting has recently been a diet fad, ordinarily fasting in our North American context is…
