Fasting & Feasting

Well, good morning, church.

Would you turn with me to Mark, chapter 2, verses 18 through 22?

Mark 2:18–22

That is page 786 in the Pew Bible.

We'll have it on the screens as well when I read it in just a second.

We're continuing in our series in the Gospel of Mark this morning.

Let me pray for us as we come to God's Word, and then I'll read.

Oh, Father, what a powerful prayer that is.

To want and to desire and to long for nothing but the Lord Jesus,

the Lord Jesus above all else, above all the pleasures that this world can offer,

above all the success and fame, and, Lord, all the things that might pull our hearts away.

So we pray as we come to your Word now that you would indeed, by your Holy Spirit,

give us Jesus, present Christ to us with fresh splendor,

so that our hearts might know true and deep satisfaction,

the satisfaction we were created for in our Lord.

Make it so, God, by your grace.

In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

All right, let me read for us Mark, chapter 2, verses 18 through 22.

Mark 2:18–22

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?

Jesus said to them,

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast in that day.

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.

If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

If he does, the wine will burst the skins,

and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins.

But new wine is for fresh wineskins.

New wine is for fresh wineskins.

So at this point in his public ministry,

Jesus seems to have a knack for stirring up controversy.

In chapter 1 of Mark, things seem to be smooth sailing.

Jesus was teaching, healing, exercising,

and the crowds were getting larger every day.

It seemed like this was the Messiah everyone had been waiting for.

But then in chapter 2, the mood starts to change.

Jesus begins talking about his authority to forgive sins,

and the radical welcome of God's kingdom for sinners.

And suddenly, things start to heat up.

These controversies will continue through the rest of chapter 2

into the beginning of chapter 3,

until suddenly Jesus is debating with his contemporaries

one of the central practices of first century Judaism,

the keeping of the Sabbath.

But here, the flashpoint in our text,

in the midst of these controversies,

is the issue of fasting.

Fasting.

But this surface question about fasting

soon opens into a deeper and much more profound question.

A question about who Jesus really is

and what exactly his presence means.

What starts as a conversation about appropriate religious practices,

fasting ends up becoming a question

about the radical turning of the ages.

And Jesus is suddenly talking about new wine,

exploding old wineskins.

The door of redemptive history is swinging open,

and the banquet of festival joy is beginning.

It seems the old garments and the old wineskins cannot contain

the new thing that Jesus is bringing about.

And this is exactly what Jesus has come to bring.

Something new.

The inbreaking of God's kingdom.

The new thing that Israel's prophets had foretold.

The new thing that cannot possibly be contained

contained or restrained by familiar human traditions

or comfortable religiosity.

And all that gives many a deep cause for concern.

Why?

Well, because the familiar ways of doing things

are, well, familiar, right?

They're comforting.

And Jesus seems to be upsetting this familiar,

comfortable, even seemingly pious way of doing things.

But the presence of Jesus means much more

than that the old way of doing things needs to be revised.

The presence of Jesus on the scene,

his arrival, his presence,

means that the whole thing needs to be made new.

That we need to be made new.

So let's look at our passage closely in two parts.

That's how the passage kind of naturally divides.

We see it kind of dividing verses 18 through 20

and then the second half, verses 21 through 22.

And first we see that the presence of Jesus

and the newness of what he brings

has sort of this immediate relevance

to the traditional practice of fasting.

Verse 18 tells us that now John's disciples,

that is John the Baptist and his followers,

his disciples, and the Pharisees were fasting.

Okay, now, biblically speaking, what is fasting?

Fasting is the practice of abstaining from food

for a short period of time for a spiritual purpose, right?

That's how we might just sort of quickly

and easily define biblical fasting.

Lots of people today, right,

fast for all sorts of reasons.

You know, maybe you think about something like

intermittent fasting or something like that, right?

Which is really about the physical outcomes, right?

We're fasting in that sense to sort of, you know,

lose weight or feel better or whatever.

But in the Bible, fasting is for a spiritual purpose.

And that spiritual purpose is almost always

to accompany and to focus the act of prayer.

Fasting is a means to intensify prayer.

And as we look at fasting across Scripture,

we see fasting accompanying prayers of intercession,

asking God for help, for rescue, for deliverance,

or accompanying prayers of confession and repentance,

or accompanying prayers of lament,

or accompanying prayers for the advance of God's kingdom.

So fasting, abstaining from food for a short period of time

as a means of sharpening prayer,

is a regular and healthy biblical practice.

And in the Old Testament, you see,

there was actually only one day a year

that Israelites were required to fast

under the law of Moses.

And that day was the day of atonement.

The one day when the high priest

went into the holiest place in the tabernacle or the temple

to make atonement for the people's sins

before the Ark of the Covenant,

that symbolic place where God was present.

On that holy day, God, under the law of Moses,

wanted everyone to fast and pray

as their sins were symbolically covered and forgiven.

So that was it.

Just one day a year when everyone

under the Old Testament had to fast.

But by the time of the first century,

many, many other practices had cropped up

that prescribed fasting on other days of the year.

Many of these sort of regular fast days

that had developed and been picked up in tradition

were related, a lot of them,

to the destruction of the temple

and the exile in the sixth century.

So they became ways to commemorate

and to remember the fall of Jerusalem

and to express a longing for God to come

and to restore his people.

And you know, even after the temple was rebuilt,

when the exiles returned,

those additional traditions about fasting,

they continued.

They kept going.

And some groups, some movements

within first century Judaism

even went beyond those prescribed fasting days.

The Pharisees, for example,

they prescribed fasting twice per week.

Do you remember Jesus' story

of the Pharisees and the tax collector?

The Pharisee and the tax collector

from Luke's gospel?

What does the Pharisee say

when he's praying in the temple?

Oh Lord, I fast twice per week.

Right?

Do you remember that?

Now on the surface,

this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, many people looked to the Pharisees

as models of piety,

as models of serious godliness.

And the disciples of John the Baptist.

Well, the disciples of John the Baptist

might not have fasted twice per week,

but they probably also practiced regular fasting.

And yet,

to the surprise,

and the scandal of many,

the disciples of Jesus,

they didn't fast like that at all.

They weren't fasting regularly

like John the Baptist's disciples.

They certainly weren't fasting twice a week

like the Pharisees.

Or, you know,

the many people who were attracted

to the model of the Pharisaical spiritual life.

You know, that's probably what

disciples of the Pharisees means here.

Those people who look to the Pharisees

as their model for how to do

their life with God.

And this is the problem, right?

So how could Jesus say,

how could Jesus say that he was here

doing God's work

when clearly Jesus and his disciples

were falling way below the mark

of what serious spiritual people

are supposed to be doing?

Why do John's disciples

and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,

but your disciples don't?

But notice in verse 19

what Jesus' answer is.

You don't fast during a wedding, do you?

And of course the answer was

in the first century,

no, you would never fast

during a wedding, right?

Now if you think weddings today

are a big deal,

they were an even bigger deal

in the first century.

You know, you think about

planning a wedding today

and you're like,

we've got to plan a whole day

of festivities

from early sunrise

till sundown.

We're planning a service

and we're planning a party

and we've got to invite

all of our relatives,

the ones that we like

and the ones we don't like

and we've got to feed them.

You know, this is a problem

and it costs a lot of money

and it's a lot of effort

and it's a huge logistical challenge

to plan a whole day,

a party that lasts a whole day.

But most wedding celebrations

in the first century

lasted a whole week.

They were meant to be times

of celebration and joy.

They were one of the handful of times

in a community

where for a whole week

they would just let down

and celebrate.

Even the serious scribes,

the religious scholars of the day

were willing to give themselves a pass

when a wedding was afoot.

Even they could sort of lay off

their rigorous spiritual routines

and celebrate.

The tables were set,

the wine was poured,

the music was played,

and you didn't fast.

You feasted.

So why don't Jesus' disciples

participate

in the traditions of fasting

of their contemporaries?

Because according to Jesus,

during the time of his earthly ministry,

that's not what time it is.

It's not the time

for fasting.

It's the time for feasting.

The kingdom of God

is breaking in.

The blind are receiving their sight.

The lame are walking.

The prisoners are being set free.

The poor have good news preached to them.

It's like a wedding feast is at hand.

It's time to celebrate.

But notice,

as wonderful as all that is,

Jesus is saying,

it's the time of the wedding feast.

We can't fast.

Jesus is saying something

even more pointed than that.

Verse 19,

And Jesus said to them,

Can the wedding guests fast

while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have

the bridegroom with them,

they cannot fast.

So you see,

it's not just a question of when,

but a question of who.

The bridegroom is here.

And if he is here,

then they simply cannot fast.

And Jesus is obviously referring to himself here,

right?

He is the metaphorical bridegroom.

He's here.

He's with them.

Imagine yourself,

you know,

sitting down at a rehearsal dinner,

right?

In our sort of cultural context,

rehearsal dinners are put on

by the groom and the groom's family,

right?

Imagine you're at a rehearsal dinner.

The groom and his family

have made preparations

for a wonderful meal.

You sit down,

and you say,

oh,

I'm sorry.

I'll just watch you all eat

because I'm fasting,

right?

How silly.

No,

you sit down

and you eat the food

and you feast

because you're in the presence

of the groom.

But you know,

Jesus is saying something

even more pointed.

He's not just saying,

I'm here

and that's why we're fasting.

That would have been bold

and controversial enough

and it would have raised

a number of eyebrows.

But consider Jesus' choice

of metaphor.

Of all the metaphors

he could have chosen

to describe the time

and his identity,

he chooses not just a wedding

but a bridegroom.

You know,

it's interesting that many

of the Old Testament metaphors

for the coming Messiah,

there are a lot of them,

right,

that describe sort of

what this coming king

would be like,

what his ministry

would be like,

what his reign

would be like.

In the Old Testament,

there are a lot of metaphors

for the coming Messiah

but bridegroom

is not one of them.

We don't find

the coming Davidic king

spoken of in these terms.

So what is Jesus doing here

with this choice of metaphor?

Well,

when we look at the Old Testament,

we find

that someone else

is spoken of

in that way.

In the Old Testament,

this metaphor

of a groom

and his bride,

of the husband

and his bride

is used most often

of the Lord God himself.

The Lord,

God,

the creator of all things

is Israel's husband,

Israel's bridegroom.

And the prophets

speak again and again

of when the Lord

will come

and bring his wayward bride

back home.

They tell the story

again and again

of how the Lord

loved his people

and how he took them

to himself

but tragically

how they turned away

and sought other lovers

but full of compassion.

The prophets say

the Lord will remain faithful

and he will bring his people,

he will bring his bride

back to himself.

He'll renew his covenant

with them.

In fact,

he'll even make

a new covenant with them,

one that this time

can never be broken.

Can the wedding guests fast

while the bridegroom

is with them?

Ah,

do you see what Jesus

is doing here

in this early stage

of his ministry?

Slowly,

patiently,

he's trying to get

their minds to open.

He's trying to get

their eyes to see

that his presence

in their midst

is so much greater

than another rabbi

or another prophet

or even another

would-be Messiah.

He is, of course,

all those things,

prophet,

teacher,

king,

but would they be willing

to see

that he is

the Lord

come in the flesh?

And if God has indeed

come in the person

of Jesus

to bring home

his wayward bride,

then indeed

it is time

to celebrate

and to rejoice.

Jesus is in their midst.

The Lord

is in their midst.

It is not time

for fasting

but for feasting.

Is that still the case

for Christians today?

Well, you know,

here in this passage

Jesus acknowledges

that in the future

his disciples

will indeed fast,

right?

Look at what he says.

He says,

the days will come

when the bridegroom

is taken away from them

and then they will fast.

They will fast

in that day.

Jesus speaks here

of the bridegroom

being taken away.

You see,

Jesus knows

that in order

to win back

his wayward people,

he will need

to give himself over

on their behalf.

He will be handed over.

He will be taken away.

He will lay down

his life

for his beloved.

He will be taken away,

taken away to the cross,

taken away to be condemned

and die.

Why?

So that our sins

can be forgiven.

So that our unfaithfulness

can be covered

by his utter faithfulness.

Faithfulness even unto death.

Jesus says,

they will fast

in that day.

And indeed,

Mark tells us

in his passion account

that comes later

in his gospel

how after Jesus' arrest,

the disciples

are scattered

and afraid

and the feasting stops

and it seems like

the wedding is over.

But three days later,

what happens?

Jesus is raised.

Having paid

sin's penalty,

death no more

has dominion over him.

He's raised in power

and he comes

to his disciples

with what?

With a message

of grace

and peace

and the forgiveness

of sins

for all who believe in him.

And then he ascends

on high

and he pours out

the Spirit

at Pentecost

and the church

begins to testify

in his name

with great boldness

and great joy.

And so for the church today,

we kind of ask again,

well,

is it a time

of fasting

or feasting?

Well,

the answer is

both.

Fasting remains

a biblical practice

to accompany

and empower prayer.

And indeed,

we see the church

in the book of Acts

so bristling

and cracking with joy.

What are they doing?

They're fasting

and praying, right?

And we see God

mightily answering

those prayers.

And for us today too,

we still await

the Lord Jesus'

return in glory.

And so our prayers

continue

and at times

we will punctuate

those prayers,

sharpen those prayers

with fasting.

But the church age,

this time that we live in,

this age between

the first and the second

coming of Christ,

is not just a time

for fasting.

It is also supremely

an age for feasting.

The joy that Jesus brought

in His earthly ministry

has been sealed

by His resurrection

and the outpouring

of the Spirit.

We have joy

because our sins

have been forgiven

and we've been reconciled

to God.

Joy because

the new creation

has begun

and we see its fruit

sprouting around us.

Joy because

eternal life,

eternal life

has been secured.

King Jesus

has inaugurated

God's kingdom

and what is

that kingdom about?

Paul will say

in Romans 14,

righteousness,

peace,

and joy

in the Holy Spirit.

If the righteousness

of Christ is ours,

and it is,

then the peace

of God is ours.

And if the peace

of God is ours,

then surely

we must know

the joy

of the Holy Spirit.

And so as Christians,

we make fasting

a practice,

but we also make

feasting,

celebration,

a spiritual practice.

To be a serious

Christian

doesn't mean

wearing a somber face

and never having fun.

a spiritual

thing.

Serious

Christianity

takes serious

the reality

that death

has been defeated

and one day

God will make

all things new.

And so we celebrate.

We take time.

We make it a practice

not only to fast

but to feast.

But you might ask,

you know,

is it right,

I mean,

is it really right

for Christians

to make a practice

of celebration,

of feasting,

when there is so much

going wrong

in the world?

I recently ran

across a statistic

that in 1991,

the National Park Service,

so that's the organization,

the governmental organization

that runs the national parks

all across the country,

I ran across a statistic

that in 1991,

the National Park Service,

after decades

of cutting its budgets

and laying off staff

and closing campgrounds

and buildings

due to disrepair,

they decided

to spend

half a million dollars

on a 75th anniversary

gala

in Vail, Colorado.

Okay,

so like,

clearly everything's

not going great

at the National Park Service

and they're like,

let's spend half a million dollars

on a gala

in Vail.

Was that really

the best way

to spend their budget,

right?

Should they have been feasting

when everything

was going so wrong?

Are Christians

essentially doing

the same thing

if we make a practice

of celebration

in a world

where so much

is going wrong?

Even if we aren't

so financially foolish

as the National Park Service,

is it still just

not the right thing to do?

Should we be lamenting,

not rejoicing?

Well,

to be sure,

there is a place

for lament

in our broken world,

but consider,

consider what

feasting says

in a world

where so much

is going wrong.

Do you remember

the scene

in the line

The Witch and the Wardrobe?

It's kind of

towards the end

of the book

when spring

has just started

to set in

and the snow

is starting to melt

and the white witch

is sort of driving

her sled

through the melting snows

and she's just

sort of plowing along

and trudging along,

probably going out,

I think at this point

in the story

she's going out

to meet Aslan

and do battle

and spread wickedness

and all that sort

of fun stuff.

She's sort of

driving along

and then what happens?

As she's sort of

trudging along,

she comes across

a small group

of woodland creatures

and what are they doing?

She kind of

stumbles across them.

What are they doing?

Well,

they're holding

a small feast.

They're raising glasses.

They're eating together

and the witch

basically says to them,

who told you

you have a right

to throw a party?

Stop it right now

or I'll turn you

to stone.

And what do

the creatures do?

They raise their glasses

and basically say,

turn us to stone.

The king's on his way

and no amount

of evil

is going to stop him

from making

all things new.

So what does

the witch do?

In a rage,

she turns them

to stone, right?

It's okay.

Spoiler alert,

you find out

they get brought back

to like, you know,

fleshy woodland creatures

after Aslan wins.

But what's the point, right?

What's the point?

You see, friends,

in a fallen world,

feasting,

feasting

can be an act of war,

an act of spiritual warfare.

Feasting is a way

of saying to the powers

of evil and darkness,

you shall not win

and you cannot win

because Christ has died,

Christ has risen,

and Christ will come again.

So no matter

what darkness may come,

Christians in this age

can raise a glass

and celebrate our king

with hope and joy

that the final word

over this fallen creation

belongs to him

and to him alone.

So the first point

of our passage

is that the presence

of Jesus

and the newness

he brings

means that we have

reason to feast,

reason to be joyful

and to celebrate.

But the passage ends

with a second point.

In verses 21 through 22,

Jesus gives two quick parables

or metaphors

to point to the deeper significance

of what he's accomplishing.

You know,

this whole thing

isn't just about fasting.

Jesus talks here

about new cloth

and new wine

and even new wine

exploding old wineskins.

Something deeper is afoot.

This is about more

than whether we should fast

or not.

This is about something

so new,

so good on its way

that the old structures

and the old systems

simply won't

and cannot contain it.

Fasting is just

a little sample

of what's about

to be utterly transformed

by Jesus and his ministry.

And isn't that so?

Think about it.

What else

in the practice

of first century faith

would Jesus

utterly transform

when he had finished

his new work?

Temple,

sacrifice,

priesthood,

the whole ceremonial law

that had led

and instructed Israel

for hundreds of years

would pass away

because of the new thing

Jesus was bringing about.

Could the new wine

of Jesus' sacrificial death

on the cross,

the once for all

atonement for sin,

be put back in

to the old wineskin

of the sacrificial system

of bulls and goats?

Could the new cloth

of Jesus' perfect

high priesthood,

standing at the Father's

right hand,

forever to intercede

with us,

be stitched back

into the old garment

of the Levitical priesthood?

With the arrival

of Jesus,

the shadows

of the Old Testament

were giving way

to substance.

The old covenant

was giving way

to the new.

And this is what God

had planned all along.

You see,

Jesus wasn't replacing

the sacrifices,

the temple,

the priesthood.

He was fulfilling them.

He was bringing them

to their completion.

They were signposts

all along,

pointing ahead,

preparing the way

for what He would

ultimately accomplish.

The work Jesus

was accomplishing

through His earthly ministry

wasn't going to go back

into the old bottles.

It was making something new.

But were the people

of His day

ready for it?

Many people

in Jesus' day

wanted His person

and His work

to fit into their agendas

and their expectations.

Right?

The people who came

to Jesus

on this particular day

in Mark 2,

18 through 22,

they wanted Jesus

to look just like

the serious religious folk

that they knew.

Jesus,

You should look

just like the Pharisees.

You should look

just like John's disciples.

That's what we know.

That's what we're familiar with.

That's what we can control.

But it wasn't going

to work like that.

Some of Jesus' own disciples

thought that Jesus' kingdom

was going to bring them

prosperity

and political power.

Jesus,

who gets to sit

at your right and left hand

when you enter

into your kingdom?

But it wasn't going

to work like that.

How about us?

Are we trying

to fit Jesus

into the old clothes

and old wineskin

of our former life

or of the world around us?

Do we think

that we can take

the new wine

of Jesus' person and work

and fit it

into the tired

old agendas

for money

and sex

and power

that are so rampant

around us?

Are we going

to try to take

the new wine

that Jesus offers

and put it

into the old wineskins

of our post-enlightenment,

late-modern,

tired, anxious culture?

Or are we willing

to become something

radically new?

New wine

is for new wineskins.

Friends,

the gospel

is about so much more

than just whether

you fast or not.

The gospel

of Jesus Christ

is about so much more

than just putting

on a few new

spiritual practices here,

doing a little bit

of personal betterment there.

No,

Christ didn't come

to tweak

and to revise.

He came to fulfill

God's redemptive plan

and to make

all things new.

And he wants

to start

with you.

Why did Jesus come,

lay down his life,

and fulfill all the types

and signs of the Old Testament?

Why did he come

to be the true

and better sacrifice,

the true and better priest,

the true and better temple

where heaven and earth meet?

Why did he come

to do all this?

He did it to make you new.

The apostle Paul

puts it this way

in 2 Corinthians 5, 17,

therefore,

if anyone

is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old

has passed away.

Behold,

the new

has come.

And friends,

if Jesus

can make you

and me

new,

what else

could he make new?

If he can take

your life

and my life

and make us

a new creation

by the power

of his spirit,

if he can take

the new wine

of what he's done

and in pouring it

into us,

make us a brand

new wineskin,

if he can take

the fresh cloth

of his perfect righteousness,

throw it over us,

and suddenly we can

be a new garment

altogether,

if he can do that

for you and me,

then what else

could he make new?

Could he make

our churches new?

Could he make

our communities,

our neighborhoods

new?

Could he renew

our marriages

and our friendships

and our schools?

Could he renew

our economies

and political

processes

and the way

we relate

to one another

on the most

meta scale

all the way down

to the most

micro scale?

Could he do

a work like that?

He can make

it all new.

And one day

when Jesus returns,

he'll make even

the fabric

of the material

creation new

and he'll

liberate it

from its bondage

to decay.

You see,

friends,

that's where

the work of

Jesus Christ

is headed.

New wine

is for fresh

wineskins.

Jesus won't be

squeezed into

our old agendas,

but when we come

to him in repentance

and faith,

he promises

not merely

to reform us,

but to transform us,

to make us new.

How about you,

friend?

Do you want

to be made new?

Then come to him.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven,

we pray

that you would

pour out your Holy Spirit,

give us a true

conviction of sin

and a true vision

of Christ our Lord,

crucified,

risen,

reigning,

utterly sufficient.

Oh, Lord,

grant us faith

to be united

to him

and be made new.

Amen.