Fasting and celebrating

6 January, 2010

Read: Luke 5:27-39

Luke 5:34
Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?”

The answer is an obvious NO.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law were upset to see Jesus having a party with Levi and his friends. Levi was a tax-collector and Jews hated tax-collectors. Tax-collectors worked for the Romans and demanded extra money on top of the tax imposed by the Jewish oppressors. They were often viewed as traitors of their own brethren and scorned. Levi probably had no friends outside of his trade.

So here Jesus was having a feast with these dubious characters.

Why? Because these shifty guys were coming to repentance – that’s good news! They were the ones who recognised their need for a Saviour and the Saviour had come for them (v. 31)

When Jesus was crucified, there was mourning and fasting but then after three days, He resurrected. So the party must go on!! Yippee!

The feasting must begin and be the norm because the kingdom and the good news is here. The old order is done with and the new era has come.

John and the Pharisees and their disciples fasted as a discipline to anticipate the coming kingdom and now the kingdom is here – the Messiah they were expecting is now here.

So why fast? Celebrate! Jesus used the wedding illustration to prove his point.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were not ready for that – they refused to accept that. That was the point of the new garment and the new wineskin parable. They did not want the new wine because they hung on to the belief that the ‘old is better’.

They had made up their minds even before trying the new wine!

In doing so, they missed the bridegroom-the Messiah and the healing offered through Him.

Question: in what ways do I cling on to old habits and experiences and thus hinder the Spirit’s work? Am I holding on to forms rather than the Message of the kingdom?