Mark 2:18-22
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18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”
What is fasting?
There is a lot of misconceptions about fasting. There are a lot of people who really don’t know much about it so they therefore are unsure about it, or they think themselves super spiritual because they do fast over those who don’t.
Some may think that the longer you fast, the more spiritual you are.
Some thing that fasting only has to do with food.
Some think that fasting is a requirement when it’s really an act of freedom.
John Calvin Quote on fasting:
“Let us say something about fasting, because many, for want of knowing it’s usefulness, undervalue it’s necessity, and some reject it as almost superfluous; while on the other hand where the use of it is not well understood, it easily degenerates into superstition.”
So Calvin here is saying that believers will make one of two errors with fasting. They will say, we have the spirit, we have the Word of God, who needs to fast? Or they will say, let’s fast because we can control God.
John is telling us to teach something about fasting because both of those are wrong.
Calvin, quotes a lot of Augustan, who quotes a lot of Paul, who quotes a lot of Jesus. They’re all buddies.
What about in scripture?
Fasting is abstaining from food for a spiritual reason. Christians are not the only ones who fast within our faith. Many different religions utilize fasting for spiritual formation.
Now much of the understanding that John’s disciples as well as the disciples of the Pharisees were a result of personal loss, an expression of repentance or seeking forgiveness, preparation for consecration (or setting yourself apart). Or even just an act to be seen by others for praise.
(which Pharisees didn’t really have disciples. They themselves were disciples of the scribes. This more than likely would have been admirers or fellow travellers. )
(These two groups are also NOT FRIENDS)
So you have these two groups who are more than likely fasting because of one of the reasons stated above.
The disciples of John may have been fasting because of the imprisonment or death or their leader, or maybe his emphasis on repentance.
They approach Jesus and His disciples who are eating and drinking and being merry, in fact they are accused often of being gluten’s, drunkards, and sinners. They like to feast. You can say in 2021, they like to party.
So this is really confusing to the disciples of the Pharisees and the disciples of John.
Mark 2:18
Mark 2:18
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
So they ask Jesus this question. Which is really interesting because notice that that Jesus himself isn’t accused by these people, but He was being held responsible for his disciples failure in accordance with the current practice.
They ask Him, “why are your disciples not fasting?”
Jesus gives this answer that is really interesting. That if you had ears to hear, would be very troublesome.
So in the OT… one of the more frequent ways in which God speaks of His people is that of His bride. And He was their husband.
In fact, when the people would worship other god’s, when they were guilty of idolatry, the bible calls it adultery. You have cheated, you have strayed, you have left me.
So we read Jesus allude to Himself being the bridegroom in this passage. He also brings up the silliness of fasting during a wedding feat. Which during this time, the wedding feast was a serious thing!
Mark C. Jesus Is Lord over the Law (2:18–27)
Since engagements were often long (in some cases years), the actual wedding was a time of feasting and great joy. William Barclay notes, “In a hard wrought life the wedding week was the happiest week in a man’s life.… There was actually a rabbinic ruling which said, ‘All in attendance on the bridegroom are relieved of all religious observances which would lessen their joy’ ” (Barclay, Mark, p. 59).
One commentator even goes as far to say that wedding feast REQUIRED seven days of festivity. One was not permitted to fast or engage in other acts of mourning or difficult labor during wedding feast.
DARN IT! LOL!
Mark 2:19-20
Mark 2:19-20
So… in Mark 2:19-20 we read...
19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
So here we see JESUS saying to these people, the bridegroom is here!
He saying something here!
That God has come in the flesh, the SON OF MAN is here, and you would NEVER EVER FAST when it’s time to feast.
The disciples in this instant probably do not understand the significance of this statement until later. But as we have the advantage of reading the whole Gospel, you can’t help but to see the first allusion to the crucifixion.
Jesus tells them… they will fast, but not right now… because i’m here.
JESUS SAYS… MY PRESENCE IS A WEDDING FEAST.
Nobody fast during the apex of celebration! You feast! I AM HERE, SO WHY WOULD THEY FAST?
Mark ((3) Over Fasting (2:18–22))
Christianity is characterized by joy, not mourning. Indeed a wedding is a symbol of the salvation associated with the kingdom of God. The passage further suggests that the way to God is not through religious practices but through joyful association with Jesus.
Now… since the bridegroom is here, we won’t fast. But when the bridegroom leaves, we will fast, but not like we used to. He’s talking about the heart involved.
Mark 2:20-22
Mark 2:20-22
20 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”
Mark C. Jesus Is Lord over the Law (2:18–27)
Again, Jesus used analogies that the Jews of that day would have been familiar with. In sewing, if a piece of unshrunk cloth was used to patch an old garment, the patch would shrink when it was washed, making a worse tear of the cloth. New wine needs to be put in flexible skins so the skin has room to expand as it ferments. If it is put into an old, brittle skin, it will burst the skin
Mark (3) Over Fasting (2:18–22)
The twin parables here teach the incompatibility of the old (scribal Judaism) and the new (Christianity). Judaism is the old garment and the old wineskin. Christianity is the new garment (implied), the new wineskin, and the new wine (on the last cf. John 2:1–11, especially v. 10). The point is not that the “old” is wrong or evil but that its time has passed. As Acts shows, the Twelve were slow to learn this truth.
Jesus is saying here… “We don’t fast like that no more, why? Because i’ve come. I’m here.
Here’s the thing...
You don’t have to consecrate yourself to make yourself holy in the sight of the Lord. Why? BECAUSE CHRIST HAS COME. Jesus consecrates you. You don’t consecrate you.
This is why… if you try to save yourself with behavioral modification, the whole thing is going to bust.
If you try to fast… to make God intervene… that’s going to make the wineskin burst because GOD HAS INTERVENED. He has delivered you from SIN & DEATH.
The greatest deliverance you will ever need has been accomplished for you in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
You need not fast to seek repentance or forgiveness. It has been given to you in the person & work of Jesus.
SO WHY DO WE FAST NOW IN THE NT COVENANT?
Matt Chandler says it this way...
“We fast, because we’ve tasted the kingdom and nothing else will satisfy us.”
We have tasted the kingdom of God… and honestly… I just know it’s better. I know it’s better than any other worldly thing you can put into my mouth.
There is just nothing that taste as good as the presence of Jesus.
So when He is taken away… we don’t do it to consecrate ourselves because we have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit and we are made Holy by it. We don’t do it for forgiveness because we have that through Jesus.
We are forgiven for our sins past, present, future. Fully, freely and forever.
Piper says this...
We have tasted the powers of the age to come, and our fasting is not because we are hungry for something we have not experienced, but because the new wine of Christ's presence is so real and so satisfying. We must have all that it is possible to have.
WE HAVE TASTED AND SEEN THAT THE LORD IS GOOD.