– Religious was a common practice in the AT. Voluntary deprivation, partial or total, of food was generally a sign of repentance and conversion:
Jn 3,5-10 : The Ninevites believed this message from God, and proclaimed a fast.
Ne 9,1 : Dressed in sackcloth and with their heads covered in dust, the Israelites gathered for a fast.
Jl 1,14 : Announce the fast, call the assembly, assemble the elders and all the population in the Temple of the Lord, your God.
– One also fasted in order to attract the divine good pleasure to support any request made:
2Ch 20,3 : Troubled, Jehoshaphat was willing to turn to the Lord and proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
Es 8:21 : There, by the brook Aava, I published a fast, in order to humble ourselves before our God.
Ps 34:13 : However, when they were sick, I would clothe myself in sackcloth, exhaust myself with fasting and pray.
Ps 68:11 : For mortifying my soul with fasting, I received only outrage.
Jer 36 :6 : Go there on fast days and […] you will read the oracles of the Lord.
Jl 2,12-14 : Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, tears and mourning groans.
– Little by little, however, the prophets began to call the people’s attention to fasting and the sacrifice of a repentant heart and a contrite spirit instead of formal worship:
Os 6,6 : Because I want love more than sacrifices, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Am 5,21.14-15 : I hate your feasts; they disgust me; I feel no pleasure in your cults.
Is 1:11 : I have had enough of burnt offerings of lambs and the fat of fattened calves.
Ps 50,18-19 : You are not satisfied with ritual sacrifices; and if I offered you a sacrifice, you would not accept it.
– In the NT, Jesus values the sacrifice of the heart and worship of the Father in spirit and truth:
Mt 9,13 : Go and learn what these words mean: I want mercy and not sacrifice.
Mt 12,7 : If you understood the meaning of these words: I want mercy and not sacrifice.
Mk 2,18-22 : Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.
Lk 5,31-39 : Jesus answered them: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”.
Jn 4,21-24 : Jesus replied: “Woman, […] the hour is coming when you will not worship the Father, either on this mountain or in Jerusalem”.
