Hebrews 5 : 1- 10;
Psalm 110: 1.2.3.4;
Mark 2:18-22 Full Readings
Feasting and Fasting
The first reading of today teaches us that obedience to God’s word brings about acceptance but disobedience brings about rejection. Jesus' obedience to the Father's will made him the high priest and this teaches us that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, we have to follow God's will and obey his commandments. In the Gospel, Jesus teaches that the presence of the bridegroom (Jesus) is a cause for rejoicing and celebration. However, when the Lord has ascended and the Church, experiencing the descent of the Holy Spirit and carrying out its mandatory missionary work, will of course need to fast for the graces needed for the tasks ahead. We should therefore pray and fast as Christians to be obedient to God’s word always.
Fasting was originally a sign of sorrow and repentance – if you are really upset, as at a death in the family, you don’t want to eat much. Presumably the disciples of John the Baptist fasted also as part of their change of life-style or conversion in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus’ reply shows that the joyful moment of the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the Kingship of God, has already burst upon them. It is a time not for mourning but for an explosion of joy. He appeals to the idea of the splendid wedding-feast, to be celebrated when the sovereignty of God is completed and God’s love for his people sealed in a marriage-bond. But he adds the warning that a time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away. Is he referring to his own passion and death, or to a time of seeming absence of Christ from his Church?
Which comes first, fasting or feasting? The disciples of John the Baptist were upset with Jesus' disciples because they did not fast (Mark 2:18). Fasting was one of the three most important religious duties, along with prayer and almsgiving. Jesus gave a simple explanation. There's a time for fasting and a time for feasting (or celebrating). To walk as a disciple with Jesus is to experience a whole new joy of relationship akin to the joy of the wedding party in celebrating with the groom and bride their wedding bliss. But there also comes a time when the Lord's disciples must bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility and fasting and for mourning over sin. Do you take joy in the Lord's presence with you and do you express sorrow and contrition for your sins?
Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the problem of the "closed mind" that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an image familiar to his audience - new and old wine skins. In Jesus' times, wine was stored in wine skins, not bottles. New wine poured into skins was still fermenting. The gases exerted gave pressure. New wine skins were elastic enough to take the pressure, but old wine skins easily burst because they were hard. What did Jesus mean by this comparison? Are we to reject the old in place of the new? Just as there is a right place and a right time for fasting and for feasting, so there is a right place for the old as well as the new.
Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew 13:52). How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old Testament books of Scripture or the New Testament books of Scripture, rather than both.
The Lord gives us wisdom so we can make the best use of both the old and the new. He doesn't want us to hold rigidly to the past and to be resistant to the new work of his Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants our minds and hearts to be like new wineskins - open and ready to receive the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Are you eager to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God's word and plan for your life?
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I may grow in the knowledge of your great love and truth. Help me to seek you earnestly in prayer and fasting that I may turn away from sin and sinfulness and conform my life more fully to your will. May I always find joy in knowing, loving, and serving You who are My All. Amen
Be blessed
No comments:
Post a Comment