Ayuno Prolongado de Jesús en el Nuevo Testamento
The New Testament records that Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, a period during which he was tempted by the devil [3]. This event is recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, which states, "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered" [3].
This prolonged fast by Jesus is understood by some patristic writers, such as Augustine, in the context of spiritual hunger and the sustenance provided by God's word. Augustine, in his Homilies on the Gospels, discusses Jesus's response to the tempter's suggestion to turn stones into bread: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" [3]. This emphasizes a reliance on divine provision and spiritual nourishment over physical sustenance.
The concept of fasting and hunger appears in other contexts within Augustine's writings, often with spiritual implications. He speaks of the Church as "an-hungered" and the "Body of Christ" as experiencing hunger, distinguishing between voluntary fasting and involuntary hunger [5]. He also refers to God as the "true Bread from Heaven" for believers, contrasting it with the manna provided to the Israelites in the desert [4].
The forty-day period of Jesus's fast echoes significant periods of fasting and testing in the Old Testament, such as Moses's forty days on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah's forty-day journey to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8). While the New Testament explicitly details Jesus's fast, the Old Testament also contains laws regarding unleavened bread and solemn assemblies, such as the command to eat unleavened bread for seven days [1, 2]. These periods often signify preparation, divine encounter, and spiritual discipline.
Sources
- Exodus “Exodus 13:6 (Geneva1599) — Seuen dayes shalt thou eate vnleauened bread, and the seuenth day shall be the feast of the Lord.”
- Deuteronomy “Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God. You shall do no work. -- Deuteronomy 16:8”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. XVI.--OF THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS.: 33. Matthew proceeds with his narrative in these terms: "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And so the account continues, until we”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 8: Augustine — Exposition on Psalms — PSALM LXXVIII. (2) (part 16): anger went up upon Israel." He had delayed therefore in order that He might first do what they had believed that He could not do, and then might bring upon them what they deserved to suffer. For if they placed their hope in God, not only would their desires of the flesh but also those of the spirit have been fulfilled. For he that ... opened the doors of Heaven, and rained upon them manna to eat," that He might fill the unbelieving, is not without power to give to believers Himself the true Bread from Heaven, which t”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 8: Augustine — Exposition on Psalms — PSALM XLIII.[1] (part 1): 1. This Psalm is a short one; it satisfies the mental cravings of the hearers, without imposing too severe a trial on the hunger of those fasting.[2] Let our soul feed upon it; our soul, which he who sings in this Psalm, speaks of as "cast down;" cast down, I suppose, either in consequence of some fist, or rather in consequence of some hunger he was in. For fasting is a voluntary act; being an-hungered is an involuntary thing. That which is an-hungered, is the Church, is the Body of Christ: and that "Man" who is extended”