Straight Dope on Medicine: Feasting and Fasting

Author

Scott Ganser
March 20, 2023

Feasting and Fasting

Time for everything under the sun. Collection of polar opposites

Ecclesiastes 3 ESV

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

 

Part of the spiritual disciplines. That’s a loaded word – discipline. It shouldn’t be.

If you don’t think this is important, all of human history went sideways when Adam ate a meal with the devil. Should have fasted! He actually knew that it was wrong and went ahead anyway.

1 Timothy 2:14

No one was doing what he or she was supposed to be doing. Adam wasn’t leading and Eve wasn’t following. They both were listening to evil and not exiting the conversation. Once you identify evil, you don’t entertain it.

Eating a meal is a spiritual event, even if you don’t consider it so. John warns against inviting active heretics into your house. You wouldn’t show them hospitality. They are actively working against God and ruining His name.

During a meal you find out about each other’s lives and what is of importance. Generally, your guard is down, and you are more open. It is a scene of safety and security. You can show love for people by feeding them. Eating is enjoyable. Sometimes we do it too much.

Feasting

When was the first feast?[i]

Death and dinner.

Archaeologists working at a prehistoric site in Israel now claim to have found the earliest signs of a communal feast, apparently to commemorate the death of an elder 12,000 years ago. Although other researchers agree that this is the best early evidence for collective dining, one expert questions whether it was a true feast.

Archaeologists consider feasting to be more than just sitting down to eat a lot of food. Feasts are imbued with symbolic significance, such as when we celebrate someone's birthday or a religious holiday. The practice became common only during the Neolithic (early farming) period beginning about 10,000 years ago. At Neolithic sites such as Çatalhöyük in Turkey, for example, archaeologists have found evidence that wild cattle bones were deposited in the foundations of mud-brick houses; the bones may be the remains of neighborhood feasts to celebrate the building of new dwellings.

For the past several years, a team led by archaeologists Natalie Munro of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and Leore Grosman of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have been excavating at Hilazon Tachtit, a cave west of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Hilazon Tachtit was occupied by the Natufians, hunter-gatherers who began to build permanent dwellings during the transition between the prefarming Paleolithic and the agricultural Neolithic periods. Two years ago, the team reported finding the burial of a woman, estimated to be 45 years old when she died (a ripe old age in those times), whose spine and pelvis were deformed.

Munro and Grosman now think that the burial of the woman was commemorated with a great prehistoric banquet. At a just-concluded archaeology meeting in Paris, and in a paper published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they draw upon further studies at the site to argue that the animal remains—which include the shells of 71 tortoises and the bones of at least three wild cattle—were consumed during a feast to commemorate the death and burial of the woman.

God has his reasons to prepare a feast.

 

Isaiah 25:6-9 English Standard Version

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7 And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Reminiscent of the Book of Revelation. God has prepared a feast for all peoples. This is a remarkable concept to consider. No one is out. What is the occasion? No more death. No more tears. Salvation.

It’s OK to be Christian and have fun.
We see that God is generous and loving. Makes memories with us.

You can enjoy the people in your lives. God is our Father. We are His kids, and He makes time for us and addresses issues in our lives.

Sometimes Christian families can be all about the rules. Never have any joy or fun. What happens then? Children rebel. Laying down a set of rules and providing nothing else is not bonding with anyone. Do this. Don’t do that. Leave me alone. That’s the message. Not one that God would have us offer.

What was Jesus’ first recorded miracle?

It was turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. This grand celebration would have been horrendously marred if the wine truly did run out. This provision is expected, and it kept the party going. This might have been the best wine ever produced.

Did Jesus ever sit down and eat and drink with sinners?

Of course he did. It’s a rhetorical question. He even gained a reputation for it. The religious people considered him an alcoholic and a glutton. No, he’s not. Jesus knows when to say stop. He just didn’t fit into the man-made religious box.

He would also dine with his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Where was Jesus before he went to the cross? He was at the last supper, eating and drinking with his disciples, and preparing them for what was to come.

In Jesus’ parables, he would often refer to the Kingdom of God (heaven) as a feast.

Typically, when you eat, it is a time of peace.

Fasting

What is fasting?[ii]

Fasting is the removal or reduction of food (and sometimes drinks) for a period of time, usually for religious or health purposes.

Can be for a season or forever.

Ancient Greece is often crowned as the birthplace of fasting, although it was practiced religiously by different religions and people worldwide during this time. Fasting can be traced back to the 5th century B.C. by the “father of medicine” himself, Hippocrates. At the time, Hippocrates was making recommendations for food abstinence to people displaying certain health conditions.

There is purpose behind fasting.

It can be for preparation.

Matthew 4:1-11 English Standard Version

The Temptation of Jesus

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Satan is going to call into question your identity. Then you are in a defensive posture. Instead, adapt the stance “I don’t have to prove anything to you.”

The term πειρασθῆναι is defined in Louw Nida as “to endeavor or attempt to cause someone to sin—‘to tempt, to trap, to lead into temptation, temptation.’”[iii]

The Greek does not include the desire to commit a lewd or rebellious act.

It first seeks to arouse the desire, and then the desire spurs one on to action.

Donald C. McIntyre contends that “Satan is trying to ascertain whether or not Jesus is the Son of God.” I beg to differ. Satan knows that Jesus is the Son of God. What he is trying to do is to place Jesus below him. To get Jesus to fall in much the same way that he got Adam and Eve to fall.

James 2:19 English Standard Version

 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Isaiah 14 ESV

2 “How you are fallen from heaven,
 O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
 you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
 ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
 I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
 in the far reaches of the north;[c]
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
 I will make myself like the Most High.’

 

Satan comes to Jesus when he is hungry, isolated, and tired. Try to catch you off balance and when you are depleted. Need to know your weaknesses. Run away. Gambling, alcohol. Where is your vulnerability?

The decisions you make about the things you consume is a worship decision.

Jesus fasted from Satan’s offers. Not just the food.

He shunned instant gratification.

The third temptation, however, is conspicuous. It shouts at the reader in the original Greek, and for the attentive reader, you can see the issue in English versions as well. Where the first two temptations are offered as first-class conditionals, the third is offered in a third-class conditional, with a subjunctive verb, and the use of ἐὰν. The third test also is offered backward, starting with the apodosis, and ending with the protasis. For English readers, the “then” statement is offered before the “if” of the conditional. With Jesus’ status as the Son of God proven, Satan now seeks to test the quality of Jesus’ divine Sonship. And that brings us to the last interpretive issue the temptation narrative.

In the third and final temptation in Matthew 4, Satan wants to know whether Jesus is willing to take his divine inheritance early.

Jesus passed this test as well.
He could wait until the appropriate time.

Everyone needs to exercise dominion over their appetites and the dopamine hit (pleasure). People who were alcoholics need to fast for a lifetime. They cannot regulate their intake of alcohol. Others don’t have that issue. Same with gambling and other risky behaviors that will lead to your destruction. Drugs the same way.

We all have these.

Jesus was tempted in every way, as we are, but without sin. Temptation is the prelude to sin. They are not the same. You can be tempted and turn it down. No thanks.

Sometimes there are things you need to take a break from: junk food,

Change your habits. 21 days to alter your behavior. Renouncing junk food can alter your palate and desires.

Social media. Grand waste of time. What have you accomplished? Don’t need to spend time on twitter getting into spats or into gossip.

Turn your phone off and take a walk or bike ride. Kayak. Get out into nature.

If you can’t set something down for a while, you got a problem. Sabbath is fasting from work.

One question to ask, “Are you controlling it, or is it controlling you?”

Cain should have fasted from anger.

Genesis 4

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So, Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?[b] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to[c] you, but you must rule over it.”

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” With the Holy Spirit inside of us, we can possess self-control and demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit. As a result, we can live in a way that is honorable to God.

Not engaging can be a spiritual victory. Adam and Eve shouldn’t have engaged Satan, and Cain shouldn’t have engaged his anger and resentment. Don’t act on destructive yearnings.

What time of the season is it in your life?