Anoint Your Head and Wash Your Face When Fasting Matthew 6:17

Matthew shared how Jesus told His disciples, “After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus continued, “Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward”, and in chapter six and verse seventeen of his book, Matthew shared how Jesus told His disciples, “anoint your head and wash your face” when fasting where we read:

But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;

The verse reads, “But you, when you fast, ...” Matthew began with the words, “but you” which means “moreover and the disciples” “when you fast” or “at the time and moment the disciples abstained as a religious exercise from food and drink either entirely or from customary choice nourishment if it continued several days”. Jesus gave His disciples the condition for the times when they would abstain from food and drink as a religious practice.

The verse continues, “anoint your head, and wash your face.” Matthew added the word, “anoint” or “perfume with oil” “your head” which means “the disciples' supreme, chief and prominent part of the body”, “and wash” or “and cleanse” “your face” which refers to “the disciples' countenance and front of the human head”. Jesus told His disciples to put “oil” upon their heads and “cleanse” their faces when they fasted.

When we consider Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus not only expected that His disciples would “fast”, but also they should do so in such a way that no one knew. “Anointing” themselves with “oil” and washing their face would be a normal way of living out their day and would not portray any difference in their lives. God desires to have a relationship with people through His Son Jesus Christ, and when they align with Him, their “fasting” is done so that no one but He would know their suffrage.

Next time Jesus shares with His disciples what would happen if they fasted before their, “Father which is in secret”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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