In our last study we looked at Jesus’ ability to forgive
sin. He demonstrated it by connecting it
with healing a helpless paralyzed man and then calling Matthew, a notorious tax
collector, to follow Him and then going to a huge dinner at his house with lots
of Matthew’s tax collector and sinner friends.
He had come to call not the righteous, but sinners who understood their
need for God’s mercy.
In this study we are going to examine one more pericope in Matthew 9:14-17. The ESV entitles it: “A Question About
Fasting.” This question arises because,
to the public eye, Jesus always seems to be eating and drinking and going to
dinners. And it isn’t the Pharisees who
are asking about it. It is the disciples
of John the Baptist. John has been in
prison since chapter 4 but his followers have really taken his message of
repentance to heart. So they come to
Jesus as friends. They know John has
baptized Jesus and identified Him as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world” (John 1:29). They remember
that John has said that he must decrease and Jesus must increase (John 3:30) when
some of his followers noticed that Jesus and his disciples were baptizing more
people than John was. They probably also
remembered that John had said that he wasn’t worthy to even take Jesus’ sandal
off (John 1:27) his foot—normally the job of a household servant. And now in Matthew 9 they have a serious
question. They are not trying to trick
him like the Pharisees and Sadducees always seemed to be doing. They really want to know.
‘Why do we and the
Pharisees fast (some translations say, “fast often”), but your disciples
don’t?’ By the way, we can always take
honest questions to the Lord. They
wanted to understand and they trusted Him so they came and asked the question,
‘How come?’ We already had a small
sidebar where we discussed fasting back in chapter 6 in the ‘Sermon on the
Mount.’ There Jesus had talked about three external deeds of righteousness
(giving, praying, and fasting) which He said were not to be done so as to cause
others to praise you or to make you look good.
So, by all means, do them but remember God looks at the heart and sees
in secret but He will reward you later openly.
And also recall that in chapter 4, when Jesus was tempted by the devil He
first fasted for forty days and nights.
So, why aren’t Jesus disciples fasting?
Some might think that maybe they were doing it secretly like Jesus
taught although notice that they aren’t accusing Jesus here! But Jesus’ answer is very intriguing (vv.
15-17).
There are three figures or analogies that Jesus uses to
explain: a wedding feast, repairing old clothes, and recycling wine skins. A wedding was a time of joy—not a funeral—and
totally incompatible with fasting. You
can’t fix old clothes with a piece of unshrunk (new) fabric. You don’t put fresh wine in old stretched out
wineskins. So in each of these
analogies, there is nothing wrong with the old but it is incompatible with the
new in some way. Joy and fasting are
incompatible. The old way must give way
to the new way of joy. The Messiah (the
bridegroom) is here choosing His bride. What is this old way? And the new way?
Now understand, the only record we have of God commanding
Israel to “fast” (Leviticus 16:31) literally says to “afflict your soul.” This is in connection with the celebration of
Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement. On that
day, the Jews were to abstain from food and sexual relations and instead seek
God’s face and pray. Sometimes they
would even tear their clothing or wear old clothes and put dust and ashes on
their head as a way of demonstrating their humility and abasement before
God. This practice of self-abasement was
also found among other peoples of the ancient world. Thus the people of Nineveh did this when
Jonah marched into town (finally) proclaiming their doom. In the Psalms, we read about David doing
this, etc. But eventually, the practice
became for many people a mere ritual—as if it were magic.
We fast and God takes pity on us.
So Isaiah 58—the entire chapter—deals with the right way to fast. Cf. Isaiah 58:6-8. If you are truly sorry you would change your
ways! Just going through a ritual
without an inner reality is a mockery of the whole idea.
I remember driving in Tokyo some years ago looking for a
parking spot. I found one and pulled
just past it to parallel park like I learned in driver’s education. But a nimble little Toyota just
drove straight into the spot behind me and luckily I spotted it before I began backing as
I turned my head to look. I was
shocked. Then the driver got out, locked
his door, put his hands together and gave me a humble bow! It was a meaningless ritual. Like fasting without any real change inside.
So fasting had become a meaningless cultural norm to most
people. And in the Roman world, it had
no meaning whatsoever. The time would
come when the followers of Jesus would suffer for their faith but right now, they
were to experience the joy of the Messiah—a little foretaste of the joyous
fellowship in the kingdom of heaven.
One last sidelight.
In Colossians 2:16, Paul talks about how some followers of Christ would
have different customs concerning what we can eat or drink and have different
customs regarding festivals or what day to worship God. He goes on to say that the Old Testament
record of how they did these things are a “shadow of things to come, but the
substance belongs to Christ.” Fasting
was one of those “shadows.” The inner
change that was supposed to accompany fasting is the “substance” – the reality
– which belongs to those who follow Christ (vv. 18-23; 3:1-10).
The old way of external rituals once had some value in
helping people to visualize their sinful degradation but a far better way is
now possible for those who are “in Christ.”
So, should Christians ever fast?
Note that it is never commanded in the New Testament although it is described
in the Gospels and Acts always in connection with people from the Jewish
culture. If you do fast, remember that,
even in the Old Testament, it is the inner change that affects the outward
behavior towards others that God is actually looking for.
Some Christian groups down through the centuries have valued
what is called “asceticism.” Paul calls
it “severity to the body” (Colossians 2:23).
The thought is that “the spirit is good and the flesh is evil. We have to afflict the flesh.” But Paul goes
on to say such practices “are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the
flesh.” This is because the sin is in
our heart and mind before our body ever acts.
This is why in Col. 3: 2 Paul tells us to set our minds on things
above. This is where the battle really
is.
Finally, some might note that still, both Paul and Jesus practiced
fasting. But, also note that they did so
in the context of ministry in the Jewish culture. They did NOT do it to gain control of their
body but to demonstrate that their body was in compliance with the commands of
God.
In our last study, Jesus talked about God’s overriding concern
with mercy instead of animal sacrifices and today with real behavioral change
instead of with fasting. Nobody wants to
be a sad miserable wretch of a sinner—though that once may well have described
us. God, too, wants us to live in His
new joy—joy like new wine—new wine that cannot be contained in the old ways.”
© 2018 Eric Thimell
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