The wedding guests part 1

 The Wedding guests part 1

Matthew 9:14-15 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”  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.”

When Jesus called Matthew (called Levi in Mark and Luke), he held a feast in his home. Matthew and Mark are a bit vague, but Luke makes it clear that Matthew held the feast for Jesus at his home. All three accounts report large numbers of tax collectors (Matthew and Mark add “and sinners” while Luke adds “and others” to the tax collectors) who joined in the feast.

In all three accounts, a group of people confront Jesus with a question. Matthew records the group as being some of John the Baptist’s disciples. The other two accounts do not identify the people as loyal to either group. But in all three accounts, the question is the same.

John’s disciples fast. The Pharisees and their followers fast. Why do you and your followers not fast? The question may have been genuine or it may have been an accusation. I don’t really think it matters either way. Whether it was asked from genuine desire to understand or from a self-righteous sense of moral superiority or from jealousy at missing out on the party, the message in Jesus’ answer is the same.

There is a time for everything. Fasting is an appropriate response to grief, repentance, and a deep hunger for seeing an answer to prayer. Fasting is a sign that our desire to commune with God is stronger than our need for physical nourishment.

But fasting is out of place at a celebration. Imagine going to a wedding and watching the bride and groom cut their wedding cake and then toss the entire thing in the trash instead of eating the slice they cut. Imagine a birthday party where everyone just sits around with somber face and maybe the occasional quiet comment but no food.

That’s the picture Jesus was trying to paint for the questioners. The disciples of John were fasting in repentence and grief over their sin and in preparation for the coming of Messiah. And Messiah was standing right in front of them! Of all people, they should have been joining the feast!

The same with the Pharisees. They were supposedly the religious leaders of the Jewish world. They should have been preparing all of Israel for the coming of Messiah. When Messiah arrived, those who knew the scriptures best should have recognized him first and welcomed him most warmly. And yet both groups not only continued to fast, they seemed to criticize the followers of Jesus for celebrating his arrival.

Soon enough, the time would be coming when the roles would be reversed. When Jesus was crucified, the Pharisees would rejoice and Jesus’ disciples would mourn. But that time was still to come. For now, Jesus was saying, his disciples could do nothing else but celebrate being in the presence of the one for whom the nation of Israel had longed for centuries.