How does anointing your head and washing your face relate to the practice of fasting? Passage in View “‘But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father who is unseen; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.’ ” (Matthew 6:17-18) Immediate Literary Setting Matthew 6:1-18 forms a triad—giving, praying, fasting—each concluding with the instruction to practice the act “in secret.” Anointing and washing place fasting in the same social-privacy framework that giving and praying receive through the closed hand (6:3) and the closed door (6:6). Cultural and Historical Background 1. First-century Jews normally applied olive oil to skin and hair against sun, dust, and dryness; clay oil-flasks unearthed at Capernaum and Magdala confirm ubiquity. 2. Public fasters traditionally signaled affliction—unkempt hair, ashes, rough garments (Isaiah 58:5; Matthew 6:16). Jesus reverses the signals: maintain normal grooming. 3. Anointing also connotes festivity (Psalm 23:5; Ecclesiastes 9:7-8). Washing prepares for worship (Exodus 30:19-21) and for post-mourning renewal (2 Samuel 12:20). Old Testament Precedent David’s sequence—“washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes” (2 Samuel 12:20)—prefigures Jesus’ command: outward normalcy marks inward submission. Isaiah 61:3 contrasts “ashes” with “the oil of joy,” showing oil as a sign of gladness granted by God, not self-generated display. Jewish Fasting Practice Mandatory: The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27). Occasional: National crises (Joel 2:15), personal petitions (Ezra 8:23). Targumic expansions and later rabbinic tractates (b. Taʿanit) detail signs of mourning that Jesus challenges. Greco-Roman Overlap Stoic and Cynic philosophers also practiced ascetic fasting, courting public attention. Jesus’ instruction prevents blending His disciples with pagan virtue-signaling. Why Anoint and Wash?—Four Purposes 1. Concealment: No visual cue betrays the fast (protects sincerity). 2. Reorientation: Grooming reminds the faster that fasting elevates joy in God, not gloom before men. 3. Sanctification: Purified body anticipates communion with the Father who “sees.” 4. Testimony of Hope: Oil and water evoke resurrection life and the Spirit’s anointing (Acts 10:38). Early Church Reception • Didache 8:1-3 prescribes Wednesday/Friday fasts but omits ostentatious signs, echoing Matthew 6. • Tertullian, On Fasting 18, warns against “pallid parade.” • Apostolic Constitutions 5.13 exhorts believers to wash and anoint so outsiders cannot detect their fast. Theological Implications 1. Heart-Focus: Spiritual disciplines lose value when redirected toward human applause (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7). 2. Reward Motif: The Father, not the crowd, grants reward; thus personal piety supersedes public performance. 3. Joy over Penitence: Fasting becomes a longing-for-God practice, not a merit badge of misery. Practical Takeaways for Believers • Fast privately; if unavoidable, keep routine hygiene. • Modern “anointing” may equal normal grooming: shower, comb, moisturizer. The principle transcends culture. • In corporate fasts, churches may meet for prayer but still discourage performative suffering. Harmonization with the Whole Canon From Mosaic washing (Exodus 30), prophetic critique of hypocritical fasting (Isaiah 58), Davidic renewal (2 Samuel 12) to apostolic teaching (Acts 13:2), Scripture consistently places inward disposition above outward show—Matthew 6:17 crystallizes the theme. Summary Anointing the head and washing the face during fasting are not extras; they are deliberate acts of normalcy that shield the soul from pride, guard the integrity of the discipline, and display trust that the God who designed the body also alone rewards the heart. |
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