Matthew 6:18 teaches that when you fast, the point is to be seen by God rather than admired by people. Jesus says that a private, unnoticed act of devotion is known to your Father, who rewards what is done in secret. Jesus speaks this in the Sermon on the Mount, addressed to his disciples and the crowds listening on a hillside in Galilee.
So that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:18 (WEB)
What Matthew 6:18 Means
The verse begins with the purpose of fasting: “so that you are not seen by men to be fasting.” Jesus is not forbidding fasting. He assumes his followers will fast, and he is concerned with the reason behind it. If the goal is applause, the act has already been paid in full by the attention it gets.
Then he shifts the audience. The fast is meant to be seen by your Father “who is in secret,” and he “who sees in secret” will reward you. Notice the repetition: the Father’s watching is quiet and constant. Nothing hidden from him goes unnoticed, and nothing done for him goes unrecognized.
The verse does not promise a particular kind of reward, such as health, success, or a quick answer to prayer. It promises that the Father sees and responds. The reward is his, and he decides its form. What the verse does rule out is seeking the praise of people as if it were the same thing.
The Context of Matthew 6:18
Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community that knew Jewish practice well, and the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 through 7 sets out how that practice is to be lived from the heart. Right before this verse, Jesus addresses giving and prayer, using the same pattern: do not perform for an audience, but act where the Father alone sees. The fasting teaching completes that threefold pattern.
Right after the verse, Jesus turns to treasure and the heart: “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Fasting and storing up treasure are linked by the question of where a person’s attention rests. A hidden act of devotion keeps the heart pointed toward God, which is why the surrounding verses read as one teaching about sincere devotion.
Key Phrases in Matthew 6:18
Matthew 6:6
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
(WEB)
This verse comes just before the fasting teaching and makes the same point about prayer: go into your room, close the door, and pray to the Father who sees in secret. Reading the two together shows that secret devotion is a pattern Jesus expects across all of religious life.
Isaiah 58:3
‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.
(WEB)
In this verse, people complain that God does not notice their fasting, and the prophet answers that their fasts are full of self-interest. Isaiah’s words help explain why Jesus focuses on the heart behind the fast, showing that the concern is ancient and rooted in Israel’s own prophets.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 6:18
Father, you see what no one else sees. You know the hours I spend waiting, the meals I skip, the prayers I whisper when the room is empty. Keep my heart from wanting applause more than you. When I am tempted to make my devotion known, turn my attention back to you, the one who is in secret. Teach me to rest in your seeing and your reward, whatever form it takes. Amen.
