Mark 2:18-22 They Cannot Fast

(remember that you can click on the reference in the title to see the text)

I had my aching, abscessed upper-left wisdom tooth pulled out a couple of hours ago, so I can't eat with the family. I'm fasting! (for another hour), so the numbness can wear off and I won't damage the blood clot where the tooth used to be. That means I'm fasting for my own good, but why were John's disciples and the Pharisees fasting?

I think the preceding three stories at least may hint at the reason.

The leper wanted to be cleansed. Jesus spoke and he was clean! But then was asked to comply with Moses' law for his cleansing. In this case, there was an appropriate law and it should be followed.

The paralytic was forgiven. Once again the power came from Christ's word. (Oh, he was healed too). But here were offerings for forgiveness and Christ did not ask that these be followed, in this case. Why, because forgiveness is invisible so it would be no testimony to the priesthood? And there is no offerings for healing (the visible part) anyway.

The last story is about the sinners and tax collectors feasting with Christ. What was happening here was that Christ, as a physician, was calling them to be healed of their disease (sin). We are now at a meal, getting even further from the temple and its sacrifices. Maybe Mark is writing this progression down.

I thinks John's disciples and the Pharisees are fasting to be:

1. Clean


2. Forgiven


3. Called of God

They are like the people in Isaiah's day who fast so that
God will notice them

The feasting at Levi's would surely make their fasting look pretty ridiculous especially if it was obvious that the leper, the paralytic and the sinners were getting all that the fasters wanted so badly!

"Don't you get it?" Jesus asks them, "the goodies you want are here with me in the kingdom of God. If you are in the kingdom then you can't fast, you are too busy celebrating. This is a totally new thing, you can't drag in the fasting and other things that Moses never commanded, you have to start again. Only the new will do!"

He disconcertingly adds that one day the He would be "taken away", then we will have to fast. Was this prophetic of his crucifixion or was this about his ascension to heaven?

There is a time for fasting, it is when we are separated from Christ. Not for calling, cleansing or forgiveness, they already exist for us in Christ, but for seeking our friend, "the Bridegroom". Fasting is a way of cutting through obstructions. So He doesn't dismiss fasting, just says that the purpose of fasting is different now.

Maybe I should fast from food, TV, when I want more of Christ.

I've enjoyed this Bible study, I didn't understand the "new wine in new wineskins" before...But now its time to test out my remaining teeth.