“How Can The Guests
Fast?” Mark 2:18-22
SCRIPTURE INTRO: Jesus
was a master of metaphors, word pictures.
In this account, some people
asked him a very straightforward question
about the practice of fasting.
Jesus answered by talking
about weddings, patches on garments, wineskins.
That’s typical of Jesus. He wants you to ponder.
He wants to engage your mind and heart.
He wants you to think deeply about the
implications of grace.
INTRO: Shortly after we moved here, driving around, looking
at town—
Late in afternoon we drove
out to St. Bernard monastery.
The place was strangely quiet, we were the
only car moving,
there was not a person to be seen—
Sun was setting, the shadows
of those beautiful buildings and trees lengthening.
And then we saw a solitary figure crossing
the grounds—
a monk in a black robe, head bowed, on way
to the chapel.
It was a timeless picture of
devotion and piety.
I said, “Look girls, there’s a monk!”
Adrienne was about four at the time and she
stared and asked, “Does it talk?”
If you were a great artist,
were given a canvas and told to paint a picture
that best represents a truly spiritual life,
a picture that represents a life transformed
by the Gospel, what would you paint?
Would it be a quiet monk in a
robe, dedicated to a life of prayer and humble work,
crossing the monastery grounds on his way to
the vesper service?
Maybe that’s too Catholic for
you.
Would it be a woman deep in
private devotions—with her Bible open before her—
her eyes squeezed shut, tears of fervor and
repentance on her cheeks,
tears falling on the Bible, with her hands
raised in prayer?
What about this?
A groomsman, his tuxedo
jacket is off, sleeves are rolled up, wet with sweat,
from dancing with all the bridesmaids.
His plate is piled high with
food from the buffet—
and his wineglass, which has been filled
several times, is almost empty again.
His head is tilted back,
mouth is open, roaring with laughter,
as he shares a joke with his best friend—the
groom.
That doesn’t seem like a very
spiritual picture—
but that’s exactly the picture Jesus paints
in this account.
The life transformed by the
Gospel is like the joyful feasting
of the closest friends of the bridegroom as
they share his joy.
The
had a totally different view of the truly
spiritual life.
If they painted a picture, it
would be of a person fasting—face drawn with hunger.
OT itself only commands one feast a year,
Day of Atonement.
Jews added four more national feasts, plus
every Monday and Thursday.
There were some, like the
Pharisees, who were legalists in their fasting.
They believed that the act of fasting itself
made them acceptable to God.
God would see them denying themselves, that would
earn them points with God.
There were others, like the
disciples of John the Baptist—
who where true Israelites, looking for the
Messiah, understood grace,
whose motives were different from the
Pharisees—mourning over sin.
But like the Pharisees, they
saw fasting as the mark of a truly spiritual life.
People representing both of
these groups come to Jesus—
the Pharisees with condemnation, disciples
of the Baptist with concern, confusion,
asking, “Why don’t your disciples fast?”
Jesus immediately goes deeper
than the practice of fasting itself—
to the very heart of the matter which
is:
What does the truly spiritual
life look like?
And this is his answer: It looks like feasting, not fasting.
The life transformed by the Gospel is a life
of joy.
That shouldn’t surprise us. Bible says it over and over.
The Old Testament saints got it, Nehemiah
got it.
“Do not mourn, for the joy of the Lord is
your strength.”
Do you want to become a better
person, a more spiritual person—
a person more and more transformed by the
Gospel?
That means you will become
more and more joyful, not more gloomy.
Let’s see what we can learn from joy in this
passage—three headings.
1. Joy and Jesus
2. Joy and grief
3. Joy and regeneration
MP#1 Joy and
Jesus
True joy that marks the life
of a person transformed by the Gospel
is always joy in Christ—his presence and the
things he has done for you.
Picture he paints of this joy
in him is a wedding. Jesus said:
“How can the guests of the bridegroom fast
while he is with them?
They cannot, so long as they have him with
them.”
Jewish weddings were week-long
celebrations with
meals, wine, music, dancing, gifts, and
speeches.
There were also customs that
would be embarrassing to us today
like escorting the bride and groom to their
marriage bed on the first night,
putting them in bed, standing around and
making jokes, giving advice,
before leaving them and going out to eat and
dance some more.
Among orthodox Jews today
many of these customs,
that Jesus would have been familiar with are
still practiced.
Growing up in the South,
every wedding reception I went to involved
standing around, drinking punch, eating
finger foods and wedding cake.
You could get by not really
eating anything and it wouldn’t offend.
What’s really expected is that you show up
and talk to people.
In fact, you can’t really pig out. Trying to balance little plate and cup.
But that wouldn’t do among
the Jews in Jesus’ day.
You had to join in to the festivities body
and soul.
Told you earlier how the
Pharisees insisted on two weekly fasts—
they also had a rule that if you were
invited to a wedding—
you could not fast, you had to feast and
celebrate.
Even the Pharisees understood
the importance of wedding feasts.
One more detail, this term
“the guests of the bridegroom”
is literally translated “the children of the
bridechamber.”
That meant not just any
guest, but the groomsmen and bridesmaids.
These were the special guests. Wedding party.
Obvious that Jesus meant that
he was the groom—
and his disciples were the special wedding
guests of the groom.
Wedding itself a picture of
his great work of salvation.
And you are also one of those wedding guests
because you are a disciple of Jesus.
Now lets consider some of the
implication of this—it’s rich, barely scratch surface.
1. Joy and
rejoicing in Jesus is to be your constant, internal disposition.
The Lord is always concerned
with the heart.
This passage is not an exposition on the
details of fasting—
Jesus is addressing the
internal disposition of your heart.
The message that comes across clearly is
that the disciples of Jesus
should be people who are as joyful as
special guests at a friend’s wedding.
The belief of the church in
Jesus’ day was that the internal disposition
that pleases God is one of constant mourning
over sin—
your own sin and the sin of the nation.
Fasting was the outward
expression of that mourning.
Pharisees were hypocrites, because they
weren’t even mourning inside.
Disciples of John the Baptists, genuine,
really mourning as fasted.
But Jesus corrected even
these sincere believers.
Now, there are times and
places for mourning, grief and even fasting—
and we will talk about that in a minute, but
let’s not miss this big thing.
Joy and rejoicing in Jesus is
to be the disposition of your heart—
because Jesus has come and saved you from
your sins.
He has risen from the dead
and ascended into heaven.
He has sent his Holy Spirit to be with you.
He has promised to come again and set all
things right.
He has given us means to enjoy and be
assured of his presence—
like what doing now, corporate worship,
where two or three are gathered.
Internal disposition of the
believer should be joy in Christ.
2. Joy and
rejoicing in Jesus should have some outward manifestation.
Now, I’m not going to be
legalistic about this.
Told that there was a time at
students could receive demerits if they were
not smiling.
There are differences in
personality, culture, church traditions—
as we will see in a moment, times of grief.
But, there should be some
outward manifestation of joy.
As Christians we should not be grim people.
Serious, sober—yes. But not long faced. How can we be.
Have you ever met a stranger,
demeanor has told you—this is a believer.
Then you find out that he is—not because
grinning like a loon—
but celebration of Christ in here, coming
out in some way.
MP#2 Joy and
grief.
Followers of Jesus will go
through times of grief, but joy will be restored.
Jesus continues:
“But the time will come when the bridegroom
will be taken from them,
and on that day they will fast.”
What time was Jesus talking
about?
Clearly Jesus was talking about the day of
his crucifixion.
His death was a terrible day
for his disciples.
They did not understand what he had said
about his resurrection.
They were sure he was gone forever.
Remember Luke’s account of
two disciples on road to Emmaus?
We had thought he was the one who would save
Their hopes were dashed, things seemed very
bleak.
So even in this lesson on
joy, Jesus acknowledges that there will be times
of
deep grief leading to fasting, even in the lives of his disciples.
Notice that this fasting
Jesus speaks of is not a planned fast.
After Jesus was crucified, disciples didn’t
say—we need to fast.
Let’s plan a fast for tomorrow and later
next week.
Their fasting was the fasting
of grief.
They lost their appetites. Grief so great food lost its appeal.
Have you ever grieved like
that?
Have you ever been dealt such a blow that
you lose your appetite?
Maybe you’re not that way with food—maybe
you can always eat.
But grief and mourning causes
you to fast in other ways—
Life seems to lose its color—things that
your normally enjoy
hold no appeal, all that consumes you is
this sorrow in your heart.
That’s what Jesus was saying—
I know that my joyful disciples will go
through a time of such grief,
that even food will lose its appeal—they
will fast.
This is comforting in an odd
sort of way.
It shows us that Jesus knows we are still
living in this old fallen world.
We have all the spiritual
blessings in Him—
but things have not been set right yet,
waiting the Second Coming.
As we wait, there are going
to be times of grief and fasting—
even for Christians, even for the guests of
the bridegroom.
The disciples grieved the
loss of a friend, loss of a leader—
and the loss of their hopes for the future
of
For you it may be the death
of someone you love,
or the loss of a job or your health or end
of some plans cherished.
Also times when Christians
grieve over the power of indwelling sin.
Perhaps you commit an old sin—again—one of
those besetting sins.
And the weakness and disgust you feel in
yourself brings mourning and fasting.
Or maybe it’s a particularly
hurtful sin to people you love—
and the thought of that causes you to groan
and for a time wonder if ever right.
Or maybe it’s disappointments
with people in your church,
or frustrations with your family,
or sorrow for your child,
or self-hatred, or emotional difficulties,
or destructive power of psychological
illness,
or an addiction—
All manner of things bring
true disciples to times of grief so deep
that they fast, appetite is gone
that they fast and seem to lose their joy.
Jesus knows that. Knew it would happen to his disciples.
Knows it might happen to you. That doesn’t mean that joy is gone forever.
Because even though Jesus
leaves it unsaid here—he says later to his disciples:
“I tell you the truth, you will weep and
mourn while the world rejoices.
You will grieve, but your grief will turn to
joy.”
Just
repeating the words of his ancestor King David in Psalm 30.
“Weeping may remain for a night, but
rejoicing comes in the morning.”
“You turned my wailing into dancing, you
removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.”
Are
you grieving now? If you know Christ,
your joy will be restored.
Look for it.
Ask for it.
Even
if you don’t feel like eating, life has lost its color,
turn to the Bridegroom, he’s here, in time
will lift you up.
MP#3 Joy and
regeneration.
The only way to have true,
lasting joy is be being born again.
Jesus continues:
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk
cloth on an old garment. If he does, the
new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
If he does, the wine will burst the
skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”
These are vivid
pictures. Let’s take them one at a time.
Remember what Jesus was responding to—the
question about fasting.
Pharisees in particular
believed fasting was a way of pleasing God.
Well, Jesus says, it’s like a new patch on
an old garment.
When it shrinks, the old garment will tear
and be worse.
What he is essentially saying
is that fasting,
even the mourning for sin that is symbolized
cannot make you whole.
You can try to patch yourself
up with religious exercises—but it won’t work.
It doesn’t bring you any closer to God,
doesn’t make you a better person.
Because the problem is your old garment—your
old, sinful self.
He elaborates on this in the
next picture.
New wine, still fermenting
will burst an old wineskin, no stretch left.
But if you put it in a new
wineskin—
flexible, expands with the fermenting wine
and is able to contain it.
Wine in the Bible is a symbol
of joy—Psalm 4:7
“You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.”
Jesus is saying that your old
self is incapable of holding or experiencing
the joy he brings—you must have a new self.
You must become a new
wineskin—
then you will have the spiritual stretch,
then you will be capable of receiving and
experiencing this joy.
First, you must be born again
to truly understand your sinfulness.
That you are sinful, wicked, depraved, selfish,
proud—
That you are not good deep down but hateful
toward God.
That nothing you do is not done with evil
motives.
Those are truths that old
wineskins can’t hold.
Pharisees couldn’t.
That was their essential
problem—saw it last time—
they had a superficial view of sin—it was
the big, notorious sins.
They had no sense of the wickedness of their
hearts.
Because of that—incapable of
understanding the next great truth—
In Jesus Christ you are
completely love, accepted, and cherished by God.
He calls you his sons and daughters as he
robes you in the righteousness
of his Son.
See, that’s the Gospel. That’s the joy Jesus came to bring.
You are more wicked and sinful than you ever
dared to admit,
and at the same time you are more loved and
accepted than ever dared to hope.
When you are born again you
can handle those truths—
as they ferment within you, you have the new
wine of joy.
But old wineskins can’t
handle that message—and so they have no joy.
Ever had a conversation with
someone, then realized later missed something big?
Ran into a neighbor recently
in town—started talking.
Is God going to condemn me for not going to
church?
Somewhat worried.
I said, “Going to church
never saved anybody. Only Jesus saves.”
Are you trusting Jesus?
Acted like he didn’t hear
me. Because started talking about family
business.
Wondered, did he get uncomfortable with what
I said?
OK, I guess he wants to change the subject.
Told me how they had run this
business through years with integrity.
All the people who they had helped.
How hadn’t been extravagant on selves, put
money back into it.
On and on—till I was getting
tired of hearing, said I have to be going.
Then, later in the day it hit
me.
He was answering my question—Are you
trusting Jesus?
What he was saying to me
was—look at my life, I’m a good man.
God won’t condemn me surely—look at all the
good I’ve done.
What he was essentially
saying: I don’t need Jesus.
The old wineskin was incapable of hearing the
message of grace.
And consequently, he was a man without joy,
questions about condemnation.
Is your religion patches of
morality, or new wineskin of new life?
CONC: Well, we barely even touched on fasting.
Let me just say this. Jesus fasted once that we know of.
He doesn’t condemn it, doesn’t encourage it.
Says some other things about it for
direction when Christians do fast.
Fasting is not mentioned a
single time in any of the epistles.
It seems that it was not much of a part of
the very early church.
Of course in later years,
especially by the Middle Ages—
Christian church had as many fasts on the
church calendar
as the Pharisees of old—with same spirit.
This is a picture of the
truly spiritual life.
This is what Jesus wants you to
know—
that whether you fast or not is not the
issue—
what matters is the inclination of your
heart.
Jesus wants you to be full of
joy because he is with you
and he has saved you.
CONC: