Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are the three traditional disciplines of Lent, and Jesus addresses all three directly in one passage: Matthew 6:1-18. His consistent instruction is that each should be practiced quietly, “in secret,” rather than for others to see. Isaiah 58 pushes further, insisting that the fast God actually wants includes loosening injustice and sharing with the hungry — not ritual alone.
Having marked the beginning of Lent, many Christians now turn to its three traditional disciplines: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These aren’t separate, unrelated practices — Jesus addresses all three together, in a single passage, using nearly identical language for each. That structure is worth paying attention to.
Jesus’s Teaching on All Three, Together
Matthew 6:1-18 begins with a warning that applies to everything that follows: “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (v.1). Jesus then walks through giving, prayer, and fasting in turn, using the same pattern each time — condemning the practice of doing it “to be seen by others” (vv.2, 5, 16), and instead calling for it to be done “in secret,” trusting that “your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (vv.4, 6, 18). The repetition is deliberate. Jesus isn’t giving three separate lessons; he’s making one point three times, because it applies equally to all three disciplines.
Almsgiving: Giving Without an Audience
“When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do… so that your giving may be in secret” (Matthew 6:2-4). Almsgiving — deliberate, generous giving to those in need — loses something essential the moment it becomes primarily about being seen giving. The instruction isn’t against giving publicly by circumstance; it’s against giving for the purpose of being seen.
Prayer: Away from Performance
“When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6). Jesus follows this immediately with the model prayer that begins “Our Father in heaven” — a prayer notably simple and unadorned compared to the “many words” he warns against in verse 7. Prayer during Lent, as at any time, isn’t measured by eloquence or length, but by honest address to God.
Fasting: A Private Discipline
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting… but when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting” (Matthew 6:16-18). The instruction is almost playful in its practicality — wash up, don’t perform hunger for an audience. Fasting is meant to be a discipline between the individual and God, not a public display of piety.
Isaiah 58: The Fast God Actually Wants
Centuries before Jesus, the prophet Isaiah confronted a people who were fasting faithfully but still asking why God wasn’t responding. God’s answer through Isaiah is pointed: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice… to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter… ?” (Isaiah 58:6-7). Isaiah’s point isn’t that fasting is meaningless — it’s that fasting disconnected from justice and generosity toward others misses what the practice was always meant to produce. A private discipline that never turns outward toward real need has stopped short of its purpose.
Bringing the Three Together
Read together, Matthew 6 and Isaiah 58 sketch a fuller picture of what these Lenten disciplines are for: fasting that creates space for dependence on God, prayer that’s honest rather than performative, and giving that flows out of both — directed toward real need, not personal recognition. None of the three is complete without the others; together, they form a single posture of humility, attentiveness, and generosity.
The Promise Attached to Genuine Practice
Isaiah doesn’t leave the “fast God chooses” as a bare demand — he attaches a promise to it: “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear… Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I” (Isaiah 58:8-9). That’s a significant pairing. The chapter opens with a people confused about why their religious devotion isn’t producing any visible response from God, and closes with a direct promise of answered prayer — but only once fasting has been joined to justice and generosity. The implication is worth sitting with: private discipline and outward generosity were never meant to be separate tracks. They were always meant to arrive together.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the three traditional disciplines of Lent?
Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving (giving to those in need) — all three are addressed together by Jesus in Matthew 6:1-18, each with the same instruction to practice it privately rather than for public recognition.
What does Isaiah 58 teach about fasting?
Isaiah 58:6-7 teaches that the fasting God truly wants includes loosening injustice, sharing food with the hungry, and providing shelter for the poor — insisting that ritual fasting disconnected from justice and generosity falls short of its purpose.
Why does Jesus say to practice these disciplines “in secret”?
Because practicing them for an audience shifts the motivation from genuine devotion to public recognition — Jesus consistently warns that seeking that recognition forfeits the deeper reward of being seen and known by God instead.
Final Thoughts
Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving were never meant to be performed for anyone watching — Jesus is remarkably consistent on that point across all three. And Isaiah adds an equally important corrective: whatever private discipline is practiced this season, it should eventually turn outward, toward real need in the world around us. That combination — inward humility and outward generosity — is what Lent’s traditional disciplines were always meant to produce.
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General seasonal devotional content (Matthew 6; Isaiah 58); no organization-specific claims. Compiled by the Editorial Desk.