Flashback Episode — To Fast or Not To Fast: Mark 2:18-22

One characteristic that virtually all humanity shares is identifying differences between ourselves and another person or group of people. Sometimes, this difference is a desirable one, and we want to change ourselves in whatever way is needed to then share that characteristic. Whether the characteristic is lots of money, a big house, a nice car, or even an incredibly humble spirit, whatever the characteristic happens to be, we see what someone else has and we want to have that as part of our lives as well.

On the other hand, often times when we compare ourselves to others, we can see differences that we are happy are not part of our lives, and in these cases we are motivated to move further away from the difference, and maybe even take extra precautions to keep ourselves away from experiencing the same. A characteristic in this group that many people can relate to is the desire to not go to prison. While there may be some people who want to go to jail, most people don’t, and the desire to not be locked up inspires us to obey the laws of the place where we are living.

Early on in Jesus’ ministry, we see two different groups of people coming to Jesus and His followers with a peculiar difference they have noticed between their respective groups and Jesus’ followers. While they know the scriptural basis for their side of the question, they are perplexed that Jesus’ followers don’t do the same things that they do.

While this event is in three of the four gospels, we will be reading about what happened from the gospel of Mark, chapter 2, using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 18, we read:

¹⁸ John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples don’t?”

¹⁹ Jesus replied, “Can wedding guests fast while the groom is still with them? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.

Let’s pause reading here to draw our attention onto an interesting distinction. John the Baptist’s disciples fast, and the various Pharisee groups fast as well, but they have noticed that Jesus’ followers don’t fast, or at least they don’t fast like they do.

This difference makes them curious, so they ask Jesus why there is this difference, and in Jesus’ reply, we find a hint at something profound. Jesus answers their question by saying in verses 19 and 20, “Can wedding guests fast while the groom is still with them? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.”

What is amazing in my mind about this answer is not only does it answer their question that Jesus’ disciples’ lack of fasting is only a temporary thing, but we also see a hint that Jesus will not be with His followers forever. In other words, Jesus says openly that there will be a time when He is taken away from them. This could reference Jesus’ death or, more likely, Jesus’ ascension and return to heaven.

Here in the early portion of His ministry, Jesus begins hinting at what was to come. Jesus facing the cross and His return to heaven were both not a surprise to Jesus. But these two events, especially the cross, were unexpected in the disciple’s minds.

But Jesus hasn’t stopped speaking His response. In verse 21, He continues by saying:

²¹ “No one patches an old coat with a new piece of cloth that will shrink. Otherwise, the new patch will shrink and rip away some of the old cloth, and the tear will become worse. ²² People don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine is to be poured into fresh skins.”

In many ways, this is a peculiar thing to say when talking about fasting and the temporary differences between Jesus’ disciples and these other two groups of disciples.

But it is possible that in these verses, Jesus is hinting at something bigger as well – specifically that His mission is going to appear like a new piece of cloth on an old coat, or like new wine in an old wineskin. The truth that the Jewish leaders were unwilling to admit to was that they had drifted culturally, spiritually, and doctrinally away from the path that would have recognized the Messiah for who He was. They had emphasized certain prophecies that seemed good to them, and minimized or ignored prophecies that didn’t seem to fit with their idealized picture.

I don’t believe that Jesus came with the goal of replacing Judaism with Christianity. It was only after being rejected by the Jews who were unwilling to discover how far they had drifted that Jesus decided to start small and with a group of unlikely people as His first disciples. In the years during Jesus’ ministry prior to the cross, and in the years following His return to heaven, many of these leaders ultimately realized what God was doing and they joined His movement. These people were leaving the old wineskin and moving to the new one – because they had been reborn spiritually.

However, what prompted this statement regarding old and new was a simple question on fasting differences, and the response to this question was that this difference was only temporary. Following Jesus being taken from His disciples, whether through His death on the cross or His return to heaven, Jesus’ followers would reincorporate fasting as a spiritual discipline.

This means that even today, over two thousand years later, as followers of Jesus, we can incorporate fasting into our spiritual lives. Just because John’s disciples and the Pharisees fasted while Jesus’ disciples didn’t at that time, Jesus shares in His response that fasting isn’t a negative activity. Fasting is going without for a time so that we can draw closer to God and focus better on Him. Sometimes fasting involves avoiding food, but it could also be avoiding or eliminating television, movies, or other forms of entertainment.

In this passage, we see the difference between these groups of disciples being temporary, and less than five years after this question was asked, the early disciples would be found fasting, praying, and engaging in other spiritual disciplines like these to help them continue growing closer to God. If the early disciples brought fasting into their spiritual lives after Jesus had returned to heaven, nothing should stop us from adding it into our own spiritual lives as well, provided that we fast with the goal of moving closer to God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we come to the close of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

If you have not fasted recently, and there isn’t a significant health reason why you shouldn’t, consider fasting for a short period of time and doing so on a regular basis. If you regularly read and study the Bible first thing in the morning, consider skipping supper the night before as a mini-fast you could do without impacting your schedule too significantly. While I wouldn’t recommend doing this every night, once or twice a week are definitely doable.

Also, while you spend time praying and studying, be sure to be studying the Bible and not focusing too significantly on anything that doesn’t draw you to reading the Bible personally. While devotionals and other study tools are good, they are only as good as their ability to draw you into reading and studying the Bible for yourself. While being a part of a spiritual community is vital for spiritual growth, so is being involved in personal Bible study. I want to help you have a personal relationship with Jesus, and that only happens through personal prayer and personal study.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!