Fasting for the Great Feast

Matthew 9:14–17 ESV

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Jesus redefines fasting as the joyful longing for His return, a weapon of joy unfit for mournful practices.

If you didn’t know the situation you would assume,

“Jesus must be just like the tax collectors and sinners to be eating with them.”

We understand this in our own day,

“I don’t want to be seen eating with them!”

“I don’t want to be seen eating with those people!”

“What will people think of us if they see us associating with those people!”

The issue ultimately revolved around piety.

Those who looked at Jesus may have wondered,

“Why does he not act pious like we think that he should?”

“If he’s such a holy man, why doesn’t he act holy?”

It makes sense that the first question that the disciples of John wanted to know from him then concerned piety.

Matthew 9:14 ESV

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Many see the disciples of John here referring to John’s disciples that rejected Jesus’s supremacy.

John 1:29–30 ESV

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’

John 3:30 ESV

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

But there were even disciples of John in that day that held that John was the greatest and last prophet.

So these disciples that are coming to question Jesus are pushing against his supremacy.

Fasting was one of the chief markers of a pious life.

Fasting revealed one’s devotion to the Lord.

Fasting stands as an important facet of the life of the Jew.

John’s disciples wanted to know why they fasted so often but Jesus’s disciples did not as often as they did.

Jesus gave guidelines for how to fast earlier in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:16-18).

It’s not that they never fasted.

But they didn’t fast as much as John’s disciples and the Jews.

How was fasting viewed by the John’s disciples and the Jews?

Fasting is to abstain from food (other pleasures) for the purpose of committing oneself to prayer.

It was to artificially intensify the earnestness with which someone prays.

In the OT, fasting was observed for all kinds of occasions.

Prescribed fasts.

Fasts for humbling oneself.

Repentance and Mourning.

Fasts for the death of a loved one.

Fasts to seek the Lord’s face for provision

The reasons for fasting in the OT were various.

The way Jesus answers their question is indicative of the purpose and position of fasting in our own minds.

Matthew 9:15 ESV

15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

In Jewish custom, the groom and bride got engaged and celebrated briefly.

Then, he left to prepare, returning later for the wedding.

Jesus’ Preparation for His Wedding – Joy & Celebration (Matthew 9:14-15a)

The term that Jesus uses there in Matthew 9:15, “the wedding guests” which is specifically those who attended to the Groom.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. νυμφών

the bridegroom’s attendants

It is surprising that Jesus begins talking about a wedding.

He uses wedding illustrations.

It’s no surprise then that Jesus performs his first public miracle at a wedding (John 2:1-11).

He discusses wedding guests, and the bridegroom.

All in anticipation of a wedding coming someday.

All of history is set upon a wedding.

All of history is leading to a great wedding day.

The marriage supper of the lamb at the end of history stands as the great terminus of all of history.

Everything is driving toward or away from that feast.

Jesus is that bridge-groom.

He is the groom that has come to redeem His bride for Himself.

This is why Jesus asks them this question in the way He did.

Jesus is the groom and He is with His disciples.

Engagement entails preparing to feast with wine.  

In modern weddings, the groom will often get ready for the wedding with his buddies.

It’s a time for a great laughter and enjoyment.

The groomsmen will tell stories, have delectable drinks, laugh, and rejoice.

Their best friend is getting ready to have a wonderful day.

Probably one of the best day’s of his life.

So picture with me a wedding, with the groomsmen hanging out with the groom and enjoying themselves.

But within the group of groomsmen, picture, one of the young men being a real killjoy.

Instead of rejoicing and laughing with the group of groomsmen…

Sitting by himself in the corner.

Frowning at every picture.

Somber and sullen.

It’s out of place.

The behavior doesn’t match the situation.

This groomsmen would be referred to as more than a killjoy.

He would be a real bummer to be around on such a happy special day.

Jesus’ answer is,

“Why would you show up mourning to a celebration?”

This would be like showing up at a wedding and wearing all black in mourning.

It would dampen the mood for something that was a cause of rejoicing.

Wine was meant for celebrating.

Wine was meant for rejoicing.

Wine was meant for jubilation.

It’s reminiscent of the problem that occured at the wedding of Cana in Galilee.

John 2:3 ESV

3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

Jesus essentially tells his mother that he’s not ready to be revealed to the people of Israel.

But he goes and takes the ceremonial jars for purification and turns them into wine.

The jars once meant for ceremonial cleansing, have been filled with wine for celebration.

But Jesus brings out the good wine.

He brings out the best wine to display His glory to the disciples.

John 2:10 ESV

10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

Running out of wine would’ve been a great disgrace for the family.

But Jesus covers this family.

Engagement involves celebration with the groom.

Jesus equates Himself with the bridegroom.

The One who will come to redeem the people of God.

The One to whom all the OT pointed to.

The One that will marry His adulterous bride (Jer. 2:2, 3; Hos. 2:2–20).

That One is HERE.

And His disciples cannot mourn while He is with THEM.

As much as she desires to break the covenant…

Jeremiah 2:2–3 ESV

“I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah 2:12–13 ESV

12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Jesus is essentially saying here that they are in this first stage.

The groom has shown up.

The marriage is going to happen and the engagement process is underway.

This is why they should celebrate now!

John 3:29–30 ESV

29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John says right here that he is the friend of the bridegroom, which is Jesus (John 1:6-9, 15, 19-36).

This means that His people are the bride and they are known because they believe in Him.

John the Baptist is this friend of the Bride Groom.

And he delights to watch the GROOM come near to His bride.

It would not be fitting for fasting in a moment of celebration.

Jesus’ point though to the disciples of John about fasting is:

We cannot fast while the groom is with us!

They were celebrating because the groom was with them.

The wedding was coming and it was cause for great rejoicing.

Fasting would not be fitting during this time because fasting represented mourning and weeping.

Fasting was an artificial grieving that was set up.

That kind of fasting was not fitting at a wedding.

Pause for Questions…

Yet He says, there will come a day when the groom is taken away from the disciples…

Matthew 9:15 ESV

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Jesus’ Coming Departure – Departure & Longing (Matthew 9:15b-16)

Matthew 9:15 ESV

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

But notice how Jesus says that the groom will be eventually taken away and will leave the disciples again mourning and longing.

The period of departure is actually the place we are currently in time and space.

During that time of departure and separation, Jesus says His disciples will fast.

But this doesn’t mean that the nature of the fasting will be identical to OT forms of fasting.

The kingdom of God is HERE and yet we wait for it fully.

Matthew 9:16–17 ESV

16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Refusal to apply a new patch to an old garment.

An unshrunk cloth tearing worse.

If you’ve ever had the experience of patching an old pair of pants or clothing.

Especially of the older variety, you know well that the patch doesn’t last long.

The word here for “tear” (σχίσμα) is where we have our word “schism” from.

I don’t immediately get excited when I hear people are fasting.

I want to ask people is, what kind of fast are you doing?

That might surprise you, but it shouldn’t.

Fasting is not inherently a good thing.

Every major religion fasts.

Religions like Islam, practice fasting.

Ramadan

Buddhism, practice fasting.

Modern Judaism (Day of Atonement), practice fasting.

Even secular movements (veganism), practice fasting.

Fasting depends on one’s worldview.

Fasting is an overflow of what you believe about the world, ourselves, and God.

So to just slap fasting that Jesus is talking about here on an old system would create a great tearing away.

We are warned against just slapping Christian on fasting.

Refusal to feast with old vessels and new wine.

New wine in old wineskins.

Wine in our own day is bottled.

But if you don’t have glass, you have to contain the wine in some way.

Fermenting wine produces gases that expand its container.

In ancient times, flexible leather wineskins were used.

But rigid skins couldn’t stretch.

If you placed new wine in them, they would build up pressure and the old skins would tear.

Because they couldn’t handle the pressure.

Jesus is saying here,

“What I have come to bring is far too amazing to be contained in the old forms!”

“What I’m bringing is far too wonderful to be captured in the old ways of doing things!”

The forms and patterns for fasting in the Old Covenant cannot contain what Jesus has brought.

The New Covenant is NEW and far surpassing the old vessels.

You cannot place the new wine into old wine skins.

You cannot place the explosive power of the New Covenant in old forms.

You MUST place the New Covenant in new forms.

Fasting does not gain us more favor with God.

Pause for Questions…

Matthew 9:17 ESV

17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Is there something different about Christian fasting?

In the words of Jesus, we cannot just slap an old garment of Old Covenant fasting on the new garment of the New Covenant.

Just like not all GIVING or PRAYING is the same.

There is a distinctively Christian way to fast.

Jesus’ Invitation to Fast in Light of the Feast – Reunion & Celebration (Matthew 9:17)

As a parent, I like when my children want to be held by me.

I enjoy holding them.

I enjoy the fellowship that we share when I do get to hold them.

But how backward would it be if my children thought that if they stop being held by me that I didn’t love them anymore.

That’s a good parable to describe what fasting like an unbeliever looks like.

“If I’m not seeking God enough, then he really doesn’t love me.”

Come back to the illustration of me holding my children for a second.

One of my children.

Likes to be held more than my other children.

It would be utter foolishness to think that I like the children that want held the most more than any other of them.

I would contend that fasting is like a HOLY Homesickness.

Fasting as a sign of holy homesickness.

The former way of fasting for the Jew was looking forward to God’s redemption of Israel.

The Jew would fast looking forward.

We need a distinctly Christian fasting that looks backward at the cross and forward to His coming.

Jesus has already COME.

He has come ONCE to defeat the Grave.

He has come once to save His people from their sins.

But NOW we wait with an aching longing for the coming of Savior and Lord again.

One of the ways this holy homesickness is expressed is in desiring to see God’s glory spread over the whole earth.

This requires us to consider the necessity of new churches.

Acts 14:23 ESV

23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

The Pauline model for church health is a multiplicity of elders in every church.

Multiple shepherds and overseers in every church to guard doctrine and the health of the body.

New Churches that preach truth and make disciples.

New churches that baptize and make disciples.

New churches that herald the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

New churches that seek to usher in the kingdom of God.

Fasting is not a dour and gloomy thing.

Fasting happens in light of the victory of our Savior.

Fasting aches for the return of the Groom.

The kind of fasting that Jesus expects of His disciples will be fundamentally different than before.

The Jews would fast before because they looked forward in hope and expectation for the kingdom to come.

The newness of the New Covenant is partially that we believe the King has indeed come.

The King has come and brought His kingdom rule and reign.

The King has come and the Spirit has been poured out upon His people as a sign of the full redemption to come.

The King has come and this is partially what Christian fasting celebrates.

The King has indeed conquered and this compels us to ache and yearn for the RETURN of our GREAT KING.

“in this age there is an ache inside every Christian that Jesus is not here as fully and intimately and as powerfully and as gloriously as we want him to be. We hunger for so much more. That is why we fast.” —John Piper, A Hunger for God, 38

We ache because the Spirit within us groans with groans too deep for words.

We ache because we have seen that the KING has come and we desire for Him to be more clearly known in this world.

This is what we do every time we celebrate the Lord’s supper together.

We partake together because our Lord is currently fasting from the table.

He’s currently fasting from the table.

Luke 22:17–18 ESV

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

Jesus looks forward to the day when He will feast with His followers in His kingdom that comes.

In eating the Passover meal, He looks forward to the consummation of the kingdom in the New Heaven’s and New Earth.

But now He fasts.

So when we fast, we join Him in longing to be together.

We ache because of the struggle against sin within our flesh.

We ache because we see the disastrous effects of sin.

Fasting as a sign of dissatisfied contentment.

Fasting at its core is about dissatisfied contentment.

We are dissatisfied with the way the world is.

We are dissatisfied with the sin in our own lives.

We are dissatisfied with what we see.

We are content in Jesus Christ.

And our fasting, then is a sign of the pursuit of finding contentment in Jesus Christ.

Acts 13:2 ESV

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

It’s while the church worshipped and fasted that the Lord heard their request and answered their prayer.

Their prayer being answered is exactly what Jesus will command them to pray at the end of Matthew 9:37-38

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Acts 13:3 ESV

3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

It’s in response to these pleas with fasting that the Lord sends out laborers.

Fasting for the great feast as a weapon of joy.

Fasting is a weapon.

It’s to our great shame that we don’t use this weapon more than we ought.

But just like any weapon we must use it in accordance with how scripture demands us to use it.

A gun is a weapon and if we decide to pick the gun up by the barrel end, it doesn’t do much good as a weapon.

The same thing goes for fasting.

It’s a weapon with great power.

But if we don’t know how to use it properly you’ll either end up hurting yourself.

Or more likely being ineffective in the ends it was created for.

It’s not a weapon in the way you might think.

Colossians 2:20–23 ESV

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

But what fasting does do is starve our self-reliance.

It starves our self-sufficiency.

It forces us to rely upon the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

1 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Training (γυμνάζω) is where we get the word for things like “gymnasium” and invokes the idea of physical training like an athlete.

Paul beats his body into submission into the obedience of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

We are to train ourselves for godliness because it holds promise for this life and the one to come.

How much do we miss out on of enjoying the life in the Spirit because we neglect fasting?

Not as a way of earning anything.

How much fellowship do we forsake for neglecting this artificial crisis?

Jesus redefines fasting as the joyful longing for His return, a weapon of joy unfit for mournful practices.