sealchan
Well-Known Member
Jesus teaches us...don’t look like you are suffering even when you are suffering through your fasting. Even compensate for any outward evidence of fasting so that public approval will not rob you of God’s approval.
This teaching is analogous to those prior in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Don’t seek public pity or approval for your hardship, cover it so that only God can see. Jesus is likely responding to a behavior that he saw too much of in his time and making the continual point that the kingdom of heaven is open to those who cultivate an inner psychological attitude that is in line with God’s desire for us. The inner effort one makes trumps the outer effort one needs to make to be a good person and a good member of your society.
Rather than analyze this section of scripture I want to ask people on this forum:
This teaching is analogous to those prior in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Don’t seek public pity or approval for your hardship, cover it so that only God can see. Jesus is likely responding to a behavior that he saw too much of in his time and making the continual point that the kingdom of heaven is open to those who cultivate an inner psychological attitude that is in line with God’s desire for us. The inner effort one makes trumps the outer effort one needs to make to be a good person and a good member of your society.
Rather than analyze this section of scripture I want to ask people on this forum:
- Do you fast?
- How so and why?
- And if you do, how do you understand Jesus’ teaching that we shouldn’t make a public spectacle of it?