Did Jesus stop eating altogether after the time of his 40-day fast referred to in Matthew 4:2? It’s a notable question, not only under consideration because of his relation to the Deity, but the question also addresses another issue, which is to what extent we can draw inferences from the Bible when it’s not actually and obviously stated in the Bible?
When it comes to the Bible, even those who strive to go by every word in the Bible may tend to draw their own conclusions if the answer is not actually found there. In a sense. The Bible leaves some room open for us to do so, when the conclusion does not run contrary to what is expressed in the Bible, or in its overall spirit. An opening, if you will, is found in the last Verse of the Book of John. In John 21:25, John says “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” Not knowing what those “other things” Jesus did, one who knows their Bible would reasonably conclude that whatever Jesus did was in terms of what is good and right.
So, did Jesus stop eating altogether after his 40-day fast? At the outset, one may reason that Jesus ate prior to his 40-day fast. Of the fast itself, Matthew 4:2 says, “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, [Jesus] was hungry.” Well, it seems he was eating before the start of the 40 days, otherwise why does the Bible not make the duration longer? This would infer another conclusion, which may be that even though Jesus has a divine relation to God, it isn’t beyond him to eat. So, the question remains, Did he eat after his 40-day fast?
One might reason that he would have to eat to keep his body alive. It is commonly known that a person can live for 1-2 months without eating. 2 months is 60 days which is more then the 40 days that Jesus fasted, so it is plausible that his body would still be functioning after 40 days.
To the possibility that he may have stopped eating altogether, that is one possibility alluded to in Luke 22:14–16, when at Passover, Jesus says to his disciples in Verses 15 and 16, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” That might suggest that if Jesus was so inclined to abstain from eating, he could just as well have been fasting at times prior to the Passover without eating at all. Then again, that Passage could show he was eating beforehand. Could he really have not eaten at all since his 40-day fast up to the time of his Passover Seder? Depends on the duration of time between his 40-day fast and his last Seder.
It would help if anyone knows the time of year in which the 40 days ended. 40 days is a month and ten days. Would the 40 days have ended in February? March, maybe? Passover typically starts in early April, so it is conceivable that IF Jesus’ last Passover with his disciples was in the same year as his 40-day fast, he could have easily lived around Passover if it was in the same year as his 40-day fast, particularly if the fast began sometime in February. But WAS it really in the same year?
It's been said in some quarters that in the year Jesus was put on the cross, he had celebrated his third Passover with his disciples. The Bible doesn’t particularly say if it was Jesus’ third Passover, or second or first. We do know two things from the Bible: Within Matthew 4:12–17 we find that Jesus begins his ministry after John the Baptist baptized him. Luke 3:23 says that Jesus was 30 years old when he began his ministry. The Bible doesn’t say how old Jesus was when he had his last Passover. Some say Jesus last Passover meal was in 30 or 33 AD. Well, if it was in 30 AD it would be conceivable that Jesus could have lived without eating up to the Passover if it was in 30 AD, when Jesus would be 30 years old. But if was in 33 AD, when he would be 33 years old, it’s unlikely his body would have lasted that long without eating. That is, if it was a real body that can be touched. Is there any dispute among the Romans who put him on the cross that they didn’t feel his body?
So, it seems the answer to whether he continued to fast after 40 days depends on whether he celebrated his last Passover when he was 30 years old or when he was 33 years old, considering he was put on the cross shortly after his last Passover. Perhaps the answer is just unanswered, like John 21:25. Or perhaps as in John 21:25, there is conceivable just one person from those thousands of years ago, like John perhaps, that knows the answer.
