In Secret

I often fast on Holy Week, with the last thing I eat being the bread and juice used for communion on Maundy Thursday, until breakfast on Easter morning after the sunrise service. Man, bacon, eggs, sausage, and any other breakfast food has NEVER tasted better. WOW! An outward absence can reveal an inward void, and when that void is filled, there’s nothing like it! I think, in part at least, this is one of the purposes of fasting - to expose the inward void. Jesus was questioned because his disciples weren’t fasting like John’s disciples and the Pharisees, to which He replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast” (Mark 2:19-20). Fasting when you’re full is easy, but when you’re hungry it hurts. Fasting can intensify our desire to be fed the way Jesus was fed, the disciples said to Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something,” but Jesus said, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about” (John 4:31-32). When we fast, we choose to expose the absence and enhance the hunger, which can lead us to a deeper food, previously we knew nothing about, which never tasted better. Wow!