Fasting & Feasting (Mark 2:18-3:6)

Introduction

When you first take a job, you are taken through training to learn the ins and the outs of the job. Especially your particular job and what all you need to do to be successful in that job. Similarly with sports, early on you are taught the fundamentals of that sport. For example the fundamentals of football are how to properly carry the football, how to line up in your position stance, how to tackle. The plan is that while more training will be required as time goes, these fundamentals in both sports training and job training will have already been established and that you won’t have to cover them for the most part again. However, with some employees and some athletes or teams you have to be taken back to the fundamentals because you are simply not getting the job done. Instead of being where you should be and focusing on the things you need to, you have to be taught a lesson.

This is kind of where we find the Pharisees this morning as they come to accuse Jesus. As they are supposed to be the ones who know and understand the law, Jesus has to take them back to the fundamentals or basics of the law of God. They are taken back to school on the purpose of the law and what it is for. And as they are schooled, we too should pay attention to see where we might need correction as well.

Mark Recap

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been focusing on Jesus and his public ministry. Each week we have seen that Jesus is one with authority. And as he ministers, there are a variety of different groups in how they recognize Jesus. Last week we looked at the crowds and how they swarmed to hear Jesus and his teachings. They saw and witnessed many miracles of Jesus and we will continue to see this. However, they didn’t get it. In fact, as they witnessed these things, they often made it hard for those who actually believed to come to Jesus and get near him. Then we have those that are stumbling along the way, but following Jesus. And then we have the religious zealots of the Scribes and Pharisees. This group isn’t very fond of Jesus, they keep trying to trap him and question him and his disciples as we will see this morning. So, if you have your Bible go ahead and open it to Mark 2:18...

Main Point

As Jesus comes to fulfill the law, he doesn’t merely tack onto the old, it is transformed in and through his life, death, and resurrection. Therefore, behold the Son of God in his glory or we too will miss him as the Pharisees did.

Points

Point #1: The bridegroom & fasting

Point #2: The Son of Man & the Sabbath

Point #3: The Sabbath is to do good

Point #1: The bridegroom & fasting

In January, while we were in Jonah 3, we saw how fasting took place in Nineveh following God’s word proclaimed by Jonah. Today, we open with verse 18 which says, “Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

In the time of Jesus’s coming, fasting is partially a means of repentance, but not personal repentance. Israelites would fast as a means of repenting of their father’s previous sins, along with a means of seeking salvation. And the disciples of Jesus are now being accused of not taking part in this fasting discipline that others practice. However, what is remarkable in our text is not that the disciples of Jesus are being accused for not fasting, but how Jesus responds to this. For in this, Jesus not only tells the true means of fasting, but he reveals more of who he is in identifying himself as the bridegroom here in verses 19-20.

Fasting is not the issue at stake here in how Jesus answers. Jesus doesn’t condemn fasting. In fact, in verse 20 we read, “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” Jesus expects his disciples to fast in his absence. As Christians, now that Jesus is ascended into heaven, we are to practice the spiritual discipline of fasting. We talked about this back in January a bit while we were in Jonah 3. Fasting is the intentional abstaining from food or other objects to show our dependence on God. And it is this dependence on God that both Jesus modeled in his own fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, as well as he is about to teach those who are accusing his disciples for not fasting.

Skip on down with me to verses 21-22 which read (READ)... At first glance, these 2 verses can seem strange here. However, they are revealing much about the practices of old and the new that has come in Jesus. The disciples of John and the disciples of the pharisees think that their fasting provides them with righteousness. And yet, the very purpose of fasting is missed in their question. The purpose of fasting is not intended to be seen as a means to righteousness, but a humbling of oneself in confessing one’s dependence on God. And it is this self-righteous and routine piety that is being described as the old garment along with the old wineskin.

For in the use of these two illustrations, Jesus is showing that the new way that he is bringing can’t simply be tacked onto the old. For with the unshrunk or new cloth being sewn on an old garment and it being told that by doing this as the piece is torn off, it is made worse than before. The new doesn’t merely fix the old, it doesn’t patch it up and hold it together. It’s kind of like when you start having to patch up that favorite flannel shirt or favorite pair of jeans. The new patch might last a bit, but in the end, the tear or rip is much worse than before. Eventually those favorite shirts or jeans will either be tossed out or nothing more than a glorified cleaning rag.

The same thing with the use of new wine and old wineskins. To pour new wine in an old used wineskin isn’t going to work. The new wine will cause the old wineskin to burst and waste the new wine. You put the new wine in a new wineskin to preserve it, to keep it. The new rule of Christ doesn’t blend with the old self-righteous piety of the religious zealots.

In fact, to try and hold to this old system and just tack onto it will burst one’s soul, it will tear it. By holding to religious piety whether by holding to a religious checklist or even for those who reject Christ and think they can stand on their own apart from religion, your end will be to remain separated from God for all eternity. For those who rely on self-dependence and self righteousness, there is no entrance to the kingdom of heaven, there is no salvation. Friend if this is you, spend some time this morning considering your need for Jesus and know there is an invitation for you to come even today.

For the way of Jesus, the way of salvation is an utter dependence on God and his mercy to us in Jesus. The ways of work’s righteousness and dependence don’t go hand in hand. They are polar opposites. Therefore, for disciples of Jesus to fast, it's not going to fit into the old system, it will break that system. For disciples of Christ to fast, it is to humble themselves as they come to remember their complete dependence on God’s grace in salvation. Apart from this grace, there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s favor or our salvation. It is a gift given to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is why we fast Christian, to remember that we are dependent not just on bread for our bellies, but on the mercy of God to us in Jesus.

Now, there is one other thing we need to consider before we move onto what fasting looks like. What is meant when Jesus says that his disciples can’t fast while the bridegroom is with them, but that the day is coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast? Jesus is painting a picture here of him taking the church as his bride, along with alluding to him being taken from his bride on the cross.

Ephesians 5 makes clear that Jesus laid down his life for his bride the church in order to take her for himself. As the bridegroom, Jesus purchases his bride, identifies in being one with his bride, and cares for his bride. Jesus doesn’t just come to give us a get out of hell free card. Jesus takes us and fully identifies with us, giving us all that is his. He makes us his and he is ours. In taking us as his bride, he makes no prenuptial agreements, he gives us access to his kingdom, his possessions, his righteousness.

And he purchases us and makes us his by laying down his own life for us on the cross of Calvary. Jesus goes willingly to the cross to be made sin in our place. He is pierced not for his own sin and transgressions, but ours. He who is innocent is hung on the tree in shame because of our sin and shame. This is the bride price that Jesus paid to purchase us from sin and death, that he might bring us to his Father. This is the bridegroom that was with the disciples and then was to be taken from the disciples. And it is this bridegroom that has purchased those here this morning who have placed their faith in Jesus. It is this bridegroom who we are united too. What comfort and joy should this be to us Christian?

It is because of this truth about Jesus and the fact that he has risen and is with the Father that we as Christians should take part in the spiritual discipline of fasting. Again, not to earn favor or as some means of work’s righteousness, but as the discipline of remembering that we are dependent on the Father for our salvation. That we are dependent upon him for growth in our sanctification. Even that we are dependent upon the Father for his ongoing grace to keep us and hold us fast.

We don’t see in the Bible anytype of regularity for the discipline of fasting. But, we should make it part of our regular Christian discipleship. We should find regular times too fast for the purpose of remembering that we are dependent on God. We can fast from food to do this or we can take breaks from other activities of life to do this. One thing even mentioned to us in 1 Corinthians 7 for this purpose is for a man and wife to mutually agree and take time away from sexual relations to spend that time in prayer, alluding to a fast. I share this example because fasting can look very different for each of us. The point of it is to remind us we are dependent on God and as we fast, doing it for spiritual good.

Point #2: The Son of Man & the Sabbath

The pharisees were taken back to school on the purpose of fasting, are they now ready to proceed onto other matters? Not even close. In our second point this morning, the Pharisees again question the disciples of Jesus. This time, it’s for breaking the Sabbath. Jesus’s disciples are being questioned on matters of the law once more.

So here come the Pharisees accusing Jesus’s disciples for plucking heads of grain for food in the moment of hunger. I’m sure the Pharisees are thinking something like, we got them this time. There is no way of them getting out of this. But notice Jesus’s words in verses 25-28 on this matter (READ v.25-28)

Jesus points back to what David did back in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 as he was on the run from Saul. David went in and ate the unlawful bread in the moment of need. The very one who was said was the man after God’s own heart. The one who served God and whose throne the Messiah King, who has now come in Jesus, would sit on. Once more the Pharisees have missed the point of the law. They assume the Sabbath is about keeping one more law and checking it off their list. Jesus knows this and corrects them in pointing them to the reality that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

The reality of the Sabbath being for man and not man for the Sabbath is nothing new.

In Exodus 31:13 we read, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD sanctify you.” The purpose of the Sabbath was for Israel to know that it was God who sanctified them, made them holy. It wasn’t the people who did this. However, just like with the fasting, the Pharisees had missed the point and made the Sabbath about checking a religious box off the list to deem themselves holy.

Now, the Sabbaths were intended to be kept. For right after the purpose is given in Exodus 31:13 which we just looked at, the following verse, verse 14 says, “You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” The Sabbath was intended to be kept and failure to do so was death.

So, why are the disciples of Jesus not being put to death in plucking grain? Because of two things. For one, the disciples plucked the grain out of need and hunger. Which, according to the law given in Deuteronomy 23:25 it says, “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.” Therefore, they plucked the grain in their hands to eat, not to work. They took part in the Sabbath for spiritual and physical refreshment even by plucking grain to eat.

The second reason is that the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath. We looked at this title last week a bit in Jesus identifying as the Son of Man who is over all things from Daniel 7:13-14. Therefore, if the Son of Man is over all things, he is even lord over the Sabbath itself. So Jesus is stating here that the disciples are nearer to Sabbath rest than the Pharisees, since they are with the lord of the Sabbath himself.

But, what does all of this have to do with us in 2021? The principles very much are still desperately needed. While most circles aren’t debating Sabbath and Sabbath rest, this type of argument often comes with church attendance. There are some camps that don’t fall far from the camp of the Pharisees in checking off these boxes. They see church attendance as a right of passage, a mark of self-righteousness if it is checked off every week. These are the ones who declare they are holy and righteous just because they show up to church each week. Friend, if this is you, I strongly urge you to wake up and see that you can sit in the pew every week and be no closer to the LORD than those who openly reject Christ. It is not your attending church every week that makes you righteous, no more than it was for the Pharisees in keeping the Sabbath.

Gathering as the church is crucial by all means, but it is not what makes us simply righteous by showing up and sitting in the pews, it is the gathering with the saints that helps us grow in Christ-likeness as we participate together. This is why on the front of your bulletin intentionally says that we have gathered on…

Hear the words of Hebrews 10:23-25 which says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Gathering together as the church is an essential element of our Christian lives. And this gathering together has the main focus on the Sunday morning gathering. For Sunday is the first day of the week in which we recognize that Christ has risen. This is why in Revelation 1:10 we read, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet”. It is important for us who are Christians to make a regular habit and practice of gathering with the local church on the Lord’s day to sing the word together, to pray the word together, to read the word together, and to sit under the preached word together. It is this gathering together that stirs us and helps build each of us up in Christ. It is this gathering that is not to be neglected. Sure, there are times you are working, traveling, not feeling well, or there is bad weather and we can’t all gather. And that is okay. It is okay if we have to miss every now and then. However, it should be our normal, default posture to gather together with the saints on the Lord’s day. In particular, the saints who you have covenanted together with in church membership. That is to say, we as members of Central City Baptist Church should primarily gather here together with one another. For we are responsible for encouraging one another here, together.

But notice the difference, we gather together on the Lord’s day for the purpose of stirring and encouraging one another in growing closer to the Lord. We do not gather together to increase our righteousness in building up our self piety, but to stir one another together.

Now, with regard to the physical refreshment part we need to turn our attention. It is actually for our own physical and spiritual good to slow down at moments and find rest. While we don’t have a set Sabbath day as Christians, some argue Sunday is to be that, but there is no scriptural command for this. I will argue that there is a deep need in us finding a day in the week to have regular Sabbaths. To take time to intentionally slow down and rest. Our society regularly is changing and seems to be moving faster and faster. There are never times we slow down to simply sit in silence and reflect on life. Brothers and sisters, we desperately need these moments in our lives. The faster our lives move and the more noise that feels our heads, it is no wonder anxiety is on the rise. For my generation which is a smaller portion of us in the church, we are in great danger of constantly having something on in the background noise wise. Whether it is the tv, radio, podcast, or some other type of sound. Then, add in the dooms scroll of social media in which we endlessly are looking at what is posted there while comparing ourselves to others, we don’t help ourselves with this.

The Pharisees missed the point of the Sabbath by making it an external measurement of self-righteousness. We miss the point of the Sabbath by attending church and seeing it as a mark of self-righteousness and by staying so fast paced moving with little to no moments of any slow down to simply reflect on life, to reflect on God.

I would argue that we need to make it a regular practice to find time each week to find moments of silence and solitude to reflect on all that has gone on in the week, especially in recalling how God has been at work. We need to use these silent moments to process the difficulties and challenges of life and take those to God in prayer. We need to use our Sabbaths to physically rest and recoup before another week. For some, maybe the best day for you to do this is on a Sunday. Go home, have lunch, take a nap, and then either take a walk and reflect on this or sit on the porch. For others, maybe it's a Monday or Wednesday that is your off day, take time to do this then. This is a vital part to being reminded that we are dependent on God and finite human beings.

Point #3: The Sabbath is to do good

Now, there is another part to the Sabbath rest. But it fits into our third point this morning, which is that the Sabbath is to do good. And this is what we see in Mark 3:1-6 (READ).

It still being the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue as was his custom. The Pharisees again look to catch and trap Jesus with failing to meet the law. Here a man with a withered hand is on the Sabbath, the Pharisees scheming and hoping that Jesus will heal him, thus breaking the Sabbath, or so they thought.

But notice there again in verses 3 and 4 how Jesus goes about aiming at the heart of the Pharisees. He calls the man with the withered hand to himself and then asks the question, “It is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” This is a slow straight down the middle pitch, even a Cubs player could connect on it. But instead of answering, the Pharisees remain silent. They let the pitch go by, ignoring it.

The Pharisees have been looking to trap Jesus and his disciples in accusing them of not fasting and breaking the Sabbath, but they miss this easy question in regards to the law of the Sabbath. They are asked is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? And the failure to answer this led Jesus to both anger and grief as seen there in verse 5 which says (READ).

Jesus was rightly angry in seeing the silent response of the Pharisees. He was angry that they were so self-righteous that they were willing to condemn someone for doing good and healing a man. He was angry that they kept seeking to trap him instead of seeing the purpose of the Sabbath. And yet, while he was angry, Jesus was also grieved. He was grieved by the hardness of the heart of the Pharisees. He was grieved that their hearts had so hardened that they would miss this easy and simple truth about God and his law. He was grieved that they did not have a love for both God and their fellow man.

Before our minds go to beating down on the pharisees for not getting it, we must examine our own hearts. Where are we missing the low hanging, easily grabbed fruit of understanding the Sabbath or for that matter the gospel? Where are we holding to the traditions of man rather than seeing the point of the gospel? Last week, I landed on the side warning of the culture that appeals to being relatable to the world in trying to attract the crowds, but miss the gospel. This morning, we need to look more at the side of traditions that are tighter held than that of the gospel.

For example, when did it become the tradition of the church to create a Christian flag and have it standing opposite the American flag in a sanctuary? Brothers and sisters, I am thankful to be an American, but this part of man made tradition that churches have held to. And in holding to such tradition, we actually miss the point of the cross. The cross cuts through every boundary to save sinners of every nation, not just Americans. Even in thinking back to the “Christian” flag, the symbol of our kingdom is not a flag, but the cross in which Jesus shed his own blood for us, wearing a crown of thorns. We further the kingdom not by taking a flag and planting it in soil, but by sharing the gospel of the suffering servant who laid down his life to rescue us from sins. This is just one danger of tradition that has crept into churches.

Another example of traditions that we often hold to is the songs we grew up singing. Make no mistake, I love hymns. But just because a song is in a hymnal doesn’t always mean it needs to stay in the hymnal. The beauty and richness of hymns is to transcend generations and time with the music melody and the lyrics. This is why Contemporary Christian music isn’t the answer for the church in the long run. For most of those songs will fade from one generation to the next. However, there are certain “newer” hymns that will also fade away into the sunset after the older generation is gone. When I was doing nursing home ministry in Louisville for three years, one lady always, I mean always requested In the Garden. I realize that many of you older church members may love this hymn. However, this in the grand scheme of things is still a newer hymn written in 1913. And once your generation is gone, this will probably fade away from the hymnal or at least one that is sung rarely in churches. Why? Because while the melody of the hymn is good, there is something about that hymn that doesn’t just cross generations, it doesn’t stand the test of time from one generation to the next. And yet, it is songs and hymns like this that so many churches have held to that aren’t great.

Again, hymns are wonderful. We have hymns from Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, Martin Luther, and others that have passed through generation to generation that continue to stir our hearts and be songs that we can sing in moments of joy and grief for they resonate within us and point us to the beauty and glory of God and what has been done for us in Christ!

And the reason we have spent two weeks hitting on music applicationally is because I think this is a sore subject within our church. I think we have two camps that are more concerned with having it their way than for the good of the church. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you want it your way, stop at Burger King on the way home from church today. That has been their marketing scheme for decades. The church however is by trying to blend and meet the congregation we have, not the one we might wish we had. We together as the whole make up Central City Baptist Church. And our goal is to love and strive together to build one another up. In holding to traditions, we will miss doing this good for one another. Our traditions and preferences will do evil instead by creating divisions and fractions within our church. We must labor together for the sake of the whole body of Christ if we are to continue standing.

The Pharisees missed this point of the Sabbath and doing good, let us not make the same mistake. Instead, as we labor together to serve the entirety of our church body, let us see the purpose of the Sabbath is to do good. That means both corporately and individually. On your Sabbaths, take some time to read a book that will help challenge you and help you grow in your Christian Discipleship. If you need some recommendations, go to our website listed there on the bulletin and click on the 10ofThose link towards the bottom of the home page. That will take you to our linked partnership page on their website and there are some recommended books on a variety of topics. Spend time reading for your own spiritual good. Spend time doing good by visiting with each other before and after the service. Yes, we are still in a pandemic and need to continue trying to love one another well with social distance and masks, but it doesn’t mean we can’t stop and greet one another with distance. And even on that point, try and do one another good by going to talk with someone you haven’t talked with in awhile. If you notice a visitor or someone you don’t know, go reach out to them. If you are going to see someone else later in the week, don’t go and talk with them after church, go and find someone else you won’t see the rest of the week. This is how we do spiritual good on the Sabbath. We do good by laboring to care for and build the whole of the church, not just those we are besties with.

Conclusion

In doing good on the Lord’s day we follow what Jesus did in healing the withered man’s hand on the Sabbath. And by healing the withered man’s hand, Jesus’s fate was all but sealed with the Pharisees and their hardened hearts. They immediately began plotting how to destroy Jesus by holding to their traditions more than seeing the true purpose of fasting and the Sabbath.

Church members, consider this week what is it that we are holding to for our righteousness. Is it our traditions? Or is it Christ alone? Also, be thinking through how you are laboring to do good for the whole of our church body verse just serving those you like or who line up with you on things. Consider how you can connect with someone who is either in a different stage of life than you, has different interests, and maybe is just frankly different than you. For this is how we do good and honor Christ. This is how we love both God and one another well. Let’s pray...