Texts in Conversation
In the Shepherd of Hermas, the shepherd tells Hermas his fast is worthless and that the great fast is to do no wickedness at all. Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas likewise asks for more than a fast from food: a fast from the whole world.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Shepherd of Hermas 54:5
Early Christian
3 “You do not know,” he says, “how to fast to the Lord, nor is this a fast, this unprofitable fast that you observe for Him.” “Why, Sir,” I say, “do you say this?” “I tell you,” he says, “this is not a fast, the kind you think you are keeping; but I will teach you what a complete fast is and one acceptable to the Lord. Listen,” he says. 4 “God does not want such a worthless fast; for by fasting like this for God you will do nothing for righteousness. But fast for God in this way: 5 do no wickedness in your life, and serve the Lord with a pure heart; observe His commandments and walk in His ordinances, and let no evil desire rise up in your heart; instead believe God. Then, if you do these things and fear Him and hold yourself back from every evil deed, you will live for God; and if you do these things, you will accomplish a great fast, and one acceptable to God.”
Date: 90-140 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Gospel of Thomas 1:27
Nag Hammadi
26 Jesus said, “You see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not see the beam that is in your own eye. When you remove the beam from your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” 27 “If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not make the Sabbath a Sabbath, you will not see the Father.” 28 Jesus said, “I stood in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk; none of them thirsted. My soul was pained for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see. They came into the world empty, and they seek to go out of the world empty. But now they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, they will repent.”
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Notes and References
“... Secondly, there is a reinterpretation of fasting and Sabbath observance, indeed, one might even call this a radicalising extension of them: the true disciple is not merely to fast from certain foods, but from the whole world, and is not to rest from labour on the Sabbath, but from worldly concerns at all times. A total renunciation of anything associated with evil is enjoined. [...] Here we have a metaphorical fasting, because its scope (‘the world’) is so greatly expanded. [...] Barn. 3.3 interprets fasting in the first instance as abstinence from evil (which is then broadened to wider moral concerns). In Herm. 54 [Sim. 5.1] the shepherd tells Hermas that the fast which he has been observing so far is useless and futile (ἀνωφελής … μάταιος, 54 [Sim. 5.1].3–4), but that there is another, true fast: Do nothing evil in your life, and serve the Lord with a pure heart. Keep his commandments, as you walk in his decrees, and let no evil desire enter your heart. Trust God. And if you do these things and fear him and restrain yourself from every evil deed, you will live to God. And if you do these things, you will accomplish a great fast, acceptable to God. (54 [Sim. 5.1].5) ...”
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