Hi Gramps,
Thank you for taking the time to read this. And I thank you in advance for the time you spend if you do have time to answer my question. I am wondering about Jesus and his fasting for forty days. I should probably already know this. But I am just wondering. . . is the forty days mentioned in the bible literal or figurative? If it is literal, is it because Jesus was the actual son of Heavenly Father that he was able to do it, and not suffer death? Or if it is figurative, is there any way to know how long Jesus fasted? Or does it really not matter what the actual number of days is? Jesus was perfect and did so many wonderful things. It wouldn’t surprise me if the forty days that the bible says he fasted is literal. I am sorry if you have already elaborated on this. I did not see a heading for “fasting” so I went ahead and asked.
Thanks so much.
Kim
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Dear Kim,
We don’t know how he did it.
If we take a very literal reading of the scripture and say he went forty days without food or water then our current understanding of human limits would force us to conclude that he had help of Supernatural origin. It is simply not ‘humanly’ possible.
If it is literally true then it just reinforces Jesus status as the only Begotten Son.
If we step away from the literal interpretation then we can look for more of the symbolic. Some researchers state that the number 40 was less a specific number and more general expression for any large figure. For me, in the context of fasting, a few days would be a large number.
There is also the idea that fasting means different things to different people. Our definition of fasting may not have been the same definition that they used back then to describe what Jesus did. This opens up the possibility that he did eat and drink, but it still would have been minimal.
While either of these options (or even other options I did not consider) make the fasting less of a miracle. It does nothing to lessen the main point that the scriptures are trying to teach. That is that Jesus had mastered his physical desires to the point that Satan’s temptations had no power over him.
I think it is a wonderful example of what we should be striving for.
Gramps
