He Who Humbles Himself
Week 2: Lenten Fast 2024
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14
Pray
From Fasting to Feasting
Lord, in our striving, we ask you to show up and show us our sin, especially in the shadows of self-righteousness where we don’t realize it lingers. You’ve wiped our slate clean once for all with the blood of Jesus. But we seek you together, as one body, the bride for your son, the bridegroom, so that you would make us spotless in our fellowship with you. Our union with Christ the King demands we turn from our sinful ways lest we be disciplined by you and for you.
May we hunger for you, and may that hunger clear our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies so we would be satisfied by the fullness of joy we have in Christ Jesus and nothing else. In his name we pray. Amen.
Anger and Wrath
The Christian life is a life of fasting.
St. John Chrysostum, in his book The Homilies on the Statues, asked and demanded:
Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see an enemy, be reconciled with him. If you see a friend gaining honor, do not be jealous of him. And let not only the mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all members of your bodies.
Too often, we feed our hunger with things that do not satisfy because it tastes good or feels good or looks good.
This gets us into trouble. It can get us fat, sick, lazy, entitled, overwhelmed, depressed, deceived, arrogant, all of the above, and so much more.
The frequency at which we consume pleasure-giving yet unsatisfying things can be so excessive that we don’t ever feel hungry.
It’s bad.
But thank God he doesn’t leave us gluttonous.
God loves his people so much that he pours out his anger and wrath. Sounds a bit counterintuitive. But he does this so that we turn away from the junk and turn back to what truly satisfies — not bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Prophets and kings would call peoples to fast, to repent of their disobedience. Bible stories are full of God calling his people — wicked and stiff-necked as they were — to turn to him and be saved from his anger and wrath.
They would.
Then they would turn away again.
And the cycle of repentance would have to repeat.
Even when God’s people tried to follow his law, to live a life worthy of their God, they still messed up. Their religion became more of a feel-good routine than a practice of joyful worship and thanksgiving.
According to the prophet Isaiah, God knew the people were acting religious and expecting his favor in return. But he called them out for what was them just trying to feed themselves.
‘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.
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.
Isaiah 58:3-4
Again, they were appearing religious before men instead of being religious before God. In the same way, Jesus told a parable that called out the Pharisee, not the tax collector, in Luke 18.
In his infinite mercy, God reminds his people what true religion looks like, a fast in particular:
“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?
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?
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.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
Isaiah 58:6-9
The fast he chooses is one that expels our sin because it casts away the excesses of self. Because when we seek God in penitent prayer and fasting, he shows up for our sake and his glory.
When we cast away the excess, when we move into a place of hunger, when we stop with the exhausting sin and the sinning exhaust of our religiosity, he will say, “Here I am.”
Unlike the Israelites, our cycle of repentance doesn’t have to repeat in order to assure a right relationship with God. The death of Christ satisfied the debt — the anger and wrath of God otherwise due to be poured out on us for our sins. This and this alone restores and preserves our right relationship with God.
Nevertheless, in Christ, we get to repeat the cycle of repentance as he, our great High Priest, keeps us in fellowship with God.
In his presence, we are humbled by our sin. Yet, only in humility can we move, energized by that which satisfies: the work of the gospel, the work of faith, and the work of righteousness.
And then people will see him, rather than us, in our religion.
They will turn from the anger and wrath of God.
They will hunger.
And they will be fed. By him.
The one who humbles himself will be exalted.
Proclaim Christ exalted.
Let us fast from all food together from 12 noon today until 12 noon tomorrow. Please feel free to define your own parameters for joining in this fast, e.g. times, days, and dietary needs, as we seek to draw near to the Lord during a season of penitent prayer.
