Fasting
C. Hodge. Mark 2:18-20 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say to him… I. ITS NATURE. Fasting in a religious sense is a voluntary abstinence from food for a religious purpose. II. ITS OBLIGATIONS. III. BENEFITS OF FASTING. 1. There is a scriptural, a psychological, a moral and religious ground for fasting. (1) Each act of self-denial, the refusal to gratify the lusts of the flesh, even when natural and proper, is an assertion of the supremacy of the soul over the body, and tends to strengthen its authority. (2) It is a general law of our nature that the outward should correspond with the inward. No man can maintain any desired state of mind while his bodily condition and acts are not in accordance. He cannot be sorrowful in the midst of laughter. 2. There is also the further ground of experience and the example of God's people. All eminently pious persons have been more or less addicted to this mode of spiritual culture. (1) It must, however, be sincere. The hypocritical fasting of the Pharisees is at once hateful and destructive. (2) It must be regarded as simply a means and not an end. (3) It must be left free. (C. Hodge.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? WEB: John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast?"