Matthew 6:17

But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but do ye fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday).

As therefore, when He said, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth," it was not of hands that He was speaking, but of the duty of being strictly concealed from all; and as when He commanded us to enter into our closet, not there alone absolutely, nor there primarily, did He command us to pray, but He covertly intimated the same thing again; so likewise here, in commanding us "to be anointed," He did not enact that we positively must anoint ourselves; for then we should all of us be found transgressors of this law; and above all, surely, they who have taken the most pains to keep it, the societies of the monks, who have taken up their dwelling on the mountains. It was not this then that He enjoined, but, forasmuch as the ancients had a custom to anoint themselves continually, when they were taking their pleasure and rejoicing (and this one may see clearly from David and from Daniel); He said that we were to anoint ourselves, not that we should positively do this, but that by all means we might endeavor, with great strictness, to hide this our acquisition. And to convince thee that so it is, He Himself, when by action exhibiting what He enjoined in words, having fasted forty days, and fasted in secret, did neither anoint nor wash Himself: nevertheless, though He did not these things, He most assuredly fulfilled the whole without vainglory. It is this then that He enjoins on us likewise, both bringing before us the hypocrites, and by a twice repeated charge dissuading the hearers.

But He speaks in accordance with the manners of the province of Palestine, where it is the custom on festival days to anoint the head. What He enjoins then is, that when we are fasting we should wear the appearance of joy and gladness.

(Verse 17 and following) But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting to men, but to your Father who is in secret: and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. He is speaking according to the custom of the province of Palestine, where they usually anoint their heads on festive days. Therefore, he commanded us to show ourselves joyful and festive when we fast. Those reading it from the Psalmist: The oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head (Ps. 140:5), on the contrary they want the good oil, about which it is said elsewhere: God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows (Ps. 44:8). And He commands that we, who practice virtues, should anoint the principal (ἡγεμονικὸν) oil of our hearts with spiritual oil.

(ubi sup.) A question is here wont to be raised; for none surely would literally enjoin, that, as we wash our faces from daily habit, so we should have our heads anointing when we fast; a thing which all allow to be most disgraceful.

(ubi sup.) Or; by the head we rightly understand the reason, because it is preeminent in the soul, and rules the other members of the man. Now anointing the head has some reference to rejoicing. Let him therefore joy within himself because of his fasting, who in fasting turns himself from doing the will of the world, that he may be subject to Christ.

(Serm. in Quadr. vi. 2.) Fasting ought to be fulfilled not in abstinence of food only, but much more in cutting off vices. For when we submit ourselves to that discipline in order to withdraw that which is the nurse of carnal desires, there is no sort of good conscience more to be sought than that we should keep ourselves sober from unjust will, and abstinent from dishonourable action. This is an act of religion from which the sick are not excluded, seeing integrity of heart may be found in an infirm body.

The reward of the hypocrites' fast is shown, when it is added, That they may seem to men to fast; verily I say unto you, They have their reward; that is, that reward for which they looked.

For it is enough for you that He who sees your conscience should be your rewarder.

(Hom. in Ev. xvi. 6.) For God approves that fasting, which before His eyes opens the hands of alms. This then that you deny yourself, bestow on another, that wherein your flesh is afflicted, that of your needy neighbour may be refreshed.

"But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father Who is in secret: and thy Father Who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Men of old would anoint themselves with oil after bathing as a mark of their joy and well-being. So you also, O reader, should appear joyful when you fast. The oil used to anoint we also understand to mean almsgiving. Our Head is Christ, Which we should anoint with deeds of mercy; and our face, that is our senses, we should wash with tears of repentance.

Also if He bade us not to be of sad countenance that we might not seem to men to fast, yet if anointing of the head and washing of the face are always observed in fasting, they will become tokens of fasting.

Therefore the simple interpretation of this is, that is added as an hyperbolical explanation of the command; as though He had said, Yea, so far should ye be from any display of your fasting, that if it might be (which yet it may not be) so done, ye should even do such things as are tokens of luxury and feasting.

Spiritually interpreted—the face may be understood to mean the mental conscience. And as in the eyes of man a fair face has grace, so in the eyes of God a pure conscience has favour. This face the hypocrites, fasting on man's account, disfigure, seeking thereby to cheat both God and man; for the conscience of the sinner is always wounded. If then you have cast out all wickedness from your heart, you have washed your conscience, and fast well.

Spiritually again, thy head denotes Christ. Give the thirsty drink and feed the hungry, and therein you have anointed your head, that is, Christ, who cries out in the Gospel, In that ye have done this to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me. (Mat. 25:40.)

And truly we ought to wash our face, but to anoint, and not to wash, our head. For as long as we are in the body, our conscience is foul with sin. But Christ who is our head has done no sin.

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face. Here the fitting manner of fasting is set forth, and regarding this he does three things. First, he sets forth the manner; secondly, he assigns the reason; thirdly, the benefit. He says, therefore, But thou; similarly Ecclesiastes (9:8): "At all times let your garments be white, and let not oil be lacking on your head." And here Augustine raises a question, that although it is the custom among many to wash their face daily, yet to anoint the head is considered wanton. Does the Lord therefore desire this?

Likewise, Chrysostom says that fasting ought to be done secretly. But whenever we see someone anointed, we will say that he is fasting.

To these objections they respond in three ways. Jerome says, and I believe this is the more literal meaning, that it was the custom among the Palestinians at that time for men to anoint their head with oil daily and wash their face. Hence she said in Kings: "I have nothing but a little oil to anoint myself" (cf. 2 Kgs 4:2). Hence this custom was counted among necessities. Therefore the Lord means that he who fasts should not change his way of living, which is to anoint the head and wash the face.

Or, in another way, according to Chrysostom: The Lord speaks by way of excess, just as above, But when thou dost alms; as if to say: if it were fitting, you should do what hypocrites commonly do.

Thirdly, according to Augustine and also Chrysostom, the Lord speaks in a likeness, and this exposition is mystical. By "head" two things are understood: "The head of every man is Christ" (1 Cor 11:3). You anoint the head, then, when you bestow mercy on your neighbor: "What you did to one of these least" (Mt 25:40). Or the head of a man is his reason or spirit, according to Augustine, which is the man, as if to say: You should so afflict the flesh that the spirit within is refreshed by devotion: "Although our outer man is being destroyed, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day" (2 Cor 4:16).

He says, moreover, wash thy face, i.e., your conscience. For just as a man is rendered pleasing to men by an honest face, so he is pleasing to God by a pure conscience: "Those who love cleanness of heart" (Pr 22:11); "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" (Is 58:6). And he says anoint thy head and not "wash," because Christ does not need washing, and neither does our conscience.

(ap. Anselm.) The Lord having taught us what we ought not to do, now proceeds to teach us what we ought to do, saying, When thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face.

(ord.) That is, to thy heavenly Father, who is unseen, or who dwells in the heart through faith. He fasts to God who affliets himself for the love of God, and bestows on others what he denies himself.

(ord.) Behold how every thing in the New Testament is not to be taken literally. It were ridiculous to be smeared with oil when fasting; but it is behoveful for the mind to be anointed with the spirit of His love, in whose sufferings we ought to partake by afflicting ourselves.