St. Luke 22:39-42, 45-23:1 (3/4) Gospel for Tuesday of the Week of Cheesefare
Fasting II ~ Strength: St. Luke 22:39-42, 45-23:1, especially vs. 69: “Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” Beaten, blindfolded, blasphemed, and mocked, the Lord Jesus stands among those trying Him (and before us), and He declares that He soon will possess the full “power of God.” Already His restraint, confidence, and assuredness manifest a remarkable human strength of will, heart, and soul. Be attentive! He is offering such strength to you and me now and the “power of God...hereafter.” Fasting is a means to strength.
Necessarily, we must look beyond any incidental weakening of the body and soul brought about when abstaining and fasting. All ascesis is carried out, first and foremost, as a means of attaining the strength of “the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mt. 6:33). As Bishop Kallistos Ware says, fasting “is directed not against the body, but against the flesh. Its aim is not destructively to weaken the body, but creatively to render the body more spiritual.” The strength we seek in fasting is a restoration of the natural powers that God intends for our spirits, souls, and bodies, a gaining of power and restraint over uncontrolled lusts, appetites, and provocations.
This passage from St. Mark portrays the Lord Jesus in His final hours starting in the Garden of Gethsemane and concluding with the Sanhedrin’s decision to gain an order of execution from Pontius Pilate. By observing our Lord in the early stages of His Passion, we may discern the power that God intends for us to gain by many means including fasting: strength to pray for victory over temptation, strength to meet the powers of darkness from meekness and that spiritual health that enabled Jesus, as a man, to stand before the opponents of God. We too may witness in Faith to the human potential that God gives as His life floods into ours.
Coming into the Garden, the Lord Jesus urges us and all His disciples to “pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Lk. 22:40). The Eleven were not able to sustain their prayers at this critical time, even when the Lord kindly repeated His admonition (vs. 46). The Evangelist explains why: “He found them sleeping from sorrow” (vs. 45). Perhaps as a result of the Lord Jesus’ warnings, the Disciples were overcome with sorrow at His predictions of His blood being shed (Lk. 22:20), of His betrayal (Lk. 22:21-22), of their own imminent failure to stand with Him (Lk. 22:31-34), and of His being “numbered with the transgressors” (Lk. 22:37).
All right, since we aim to empower our spirituality by fasting, the failure of the Eleven then reminds us that strength finally comes by God and for His glory and purposes. So let us moderate our desires with much confidence - God is in charge and is using the events of the present. Temptation and sorrow will weaken before us as the strength of God grows in us.
Indeed, fasting strengthens our spirits to meet the power of darkness with the same God-given meekness and inner strength that the Lord Jesus displayed when the authorities arrested Him (Lk. 22:47-54). He permits Judas’ kiss (vss. 47,48). He stops all resistance by a command (vs. 51). He immediately heals the servant of the High Priest (vs. 51). He quietly allows the officials to arrest Him and to lead Him to the High Priest’s house (vs. 54). The strong in spirit, those whose hearts are empowered through union with Christ, who know God’s infinite love for them, are able to stand pure and strong in all circumstances. Now, that’s strength!
Fasting reveals human weakness, but, more, it shows Christ’s almighty strength. Fasting can help make us indomitable before our opponents. At Jesus’ arrest, Peter failed. But, in time, by the Lord’s power, we can attain the strength to face Christ-hating assaults calmly as Peter did.
O Compassionate One, help us to hasten to the subjugation of the flesh by abstinence as we approach the divine battlefield of blameless fasting, and shower us with Thy strength.
