A Time to Fast; a Time to Feast

 

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And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (St. John 16:22)

 

 

          Watching your diet and eating healthily is just fine. Really, that’s something all of us should do.

          Just not at a Rolison family gathering.

          As you might well imagine, a Rolison family gathering is quite the festive affair, and the delicacies on the table take center stage. Most of the time, we have to take a decent break between the appetizer course and the main course, because the appetizers are so tasty it’s difficult to refrain from overindulging in them!

          There is a time to eat sparingly (think Monday lunch) and a time to feast (think family gathering). Knowing – and appreciating – the difference is a key ingredient in a well-rounded life.

 

          The Preacher in Ecclesiastes says there is a time to mourn and a time to dance. And in this morning’s lesson from St. Mark 2:18-22, we learn about the ultimate time to dance: the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. Mourning instead of dancing at his advent not only would have been inappropriate; it would have sent troubling signals about the state of a person’s spiritual life.

          Jesus teaches you and me two truths this morning: first, in his presence is the fullness of joy; but second, Jesus – and his resultant joy – can be known only on his terms. If you, then, want to know real joy, you must know Christ – and only as he is offered in the Gospel.

 

          It was the practice of the disciples both of the Pharisees and of John the Baptizer to fast. But in an encounter between them and Jesus, you and I learn that fasting in Christ’s presence was not fitting, because in his presence is the fullness of joy.

          Fasting, or going without food and/or liquids and/or other items for a period of time, is a biblical practice that has had, and still has, a place in the church’s life. In Old Testament days, God commanded His people to fast only on one day: Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. Fasting was a sign of repentance for sin; it turned a person’s focus away from food and from celebration to the Lord and to the need for forgiveness before Him (in addition to reminding the one fasting of his dependence on the Lord for food and life). The disciples of John and of the Pharisees likely fasted more than the Scriptures required because, as one scholar holds, they ostensibly were “renewal movements,” calling the people to repentance. Fasting naturally would have gone hand-in-hand with repentance.

          Yet Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast. Why? Because he was with them – and just as a groom’s friends were not to fast while the groom was with them, so Jesus’ followers were not to fast while he was with them. This was a time of celebration, not of mourning, for the Savior had come.

          But is Jesus doing more here than simply using a metaphor to make his point? I think so.

          Jesus likens himself to a groom. To be sure, as scholars have noted, the Old Testament authors didn’t use the term “groom” to foretell the coming Messiah. Yet recall that Jehovah likened Himself to Israel’s husband in Isaiah 54 and 61, and Jesus plainly stated elsewhere that he and the Father were one. Given the later, explicit description of the church as the Bride of Christ, there can be no doubt that Jesus is speaking volumes about his divinity and mission in this instance.

          St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that Christ loved the church and gave himself for her: so husbands ought to love their wives in this same way. Christ gave his very life and descended into Hell so the church could be washed in his blood and made whiter than snow.

          Jesus also spoke of the Supper that he one day would host – and spoke a benediction on all those invited to that Supper. And in the Revelation, you and I clearly read of Jesus’ Bride, clothed in his righteousness (symbolized by white linen), the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven as a Bride adorned for her Husband.

          It’s not appropriate to mourn at a wedding (even for my Uncle Olon, who of course protected and cherished his daughters!). At a considerably deeper level, it is not appropriate to mourn in Jesus’ presence – either while he was on earth, or when he returns for his church at the Last Day. The Pharisees fasted likely out of a drive for self-righteousness. John’s disciples fasted perhaps because they had not yet fully digested the saving message of Jesus and still were focused on John’s preparatory message of repentance. (Such, of course, was John’s place in the history of redemption.) But the Groom had come, and his Bride was to rejoice. Jesus’ message was of forgiveness for the penitent and healing for the sick, who admitted their sickness. Fasting and mourning, then, were inappropriate until his Passion (which brought their sin into full view) and, later, the time between his Ascension and his Second Advent.

          There is a place for fasting nowadays. Jesus said so in his Sermon on the Mount. Do you fast and repent of your sins so that you might better appreciate the Redeemer?

          More important, is Jesus your joy, or are you trying to find false joy in something or someone else? If he is not your joy, your happiness soon will turn to weeping; if he is, your joy will only grow at that great Wedding Supper to come.

 

          Second, Jesus – and his joy – can be known, but only on his terms.

          As was his custom, Jesus employed two vivid and useful metaphors to further explain the importance of rejoicing in his presence and not “missing the point” on who he was. The common point of both metaphors was that the new and the old don’t mix: an unshrunk patch of cloth would only tear away from the old fabric, making the hole worse; while the fermentation of new wine would cause old wineskins to burst. Jesus clearly was saying that new wine (he) could fit only in new wineskins (the Spirit-renewed hearts of Christians).

          Be careful, though, with parsing the “newness” of Jesus. As we have observed in recent weeks, Jesus is not a “rebel,” as many liberals seek to portray him. He himself said he came not to destroy the law of God but to fulfill it. How could he overthrow his own commandments?

          The point is that Jesus will not be molded to fit into any man-made religious scheme, Jewish or otherwise. Moments before, Christ had enlightened his questioners as to the new era of redemptive history that dawned with his coming. The long-awaited Messiah had come, so the time was not suited for fasting. Here Jesus elaborates on that teaching, showing that he – while fulfilling the Old Testament laws and prophecies – would not have his followers lapse back into Old Testament religion. To lapse would be to ignore the significance of his work under the New Covenant.

          In writing to the Colossians and to the Galatians, St Paul needed to confront Judaizers and other false teachers, who were telling believers that in order to truly be holy, they needed to observe the Old Covenant regulations and to follow man-made rules for living. The apostle wrote that Jesus has brought true freedom for his followers, because he has fulfilled the regulations that taught them about the holy character of God yet also kept them chained. We are not free to sin, of course, but we are free to walk in the Spirit according to the moral law of God, remembering His lavish grace to us in Jesus Christ.

          Most likely, you are not a Judaizer in the New Testament sense of the word. You’re not adhering to the beliefs of the followers of John or of the Pharisees. You’re not that kind of old wineskin.

          But do you try to fit Jesus into your own religious scheme? Perhaps you want religion to be a matter of “live and let live,” and you want to mold Jesus to be your indulgent Friend.

          Or, more probably, you have a Greene County mentality that holds yourself in high moral esteem and finds only a minor place for Christ. Oh, you repeat the mantra: Jesus died on the cross for my sins. In your heart, though, you’re pretty proud that you do this and that for the church, you don’t take part in vices, you vote the “right” way, and Jesus amounts to nothing more than your Friend who commiserates with you about the sorry state of all the young people in the world. He is more of your teammate than your Savior.

          Until you fast, you cannot feast.

          But when you feast on Christ, both now and at his Supper, you will be full forever.