Showing posts with label Fasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fasting. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

#40 John's Disciples Question Jesus About Fasting


#40 John’s Disciples Question Jesus About Fasting
New Doctrine; New Gospel; New Revelation; New Church
Please first read: JST Matthew 9:15-23; Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39

Note: The King James’ version is incomplete, missing some verses. That version implies that Jesus’ remarks about new cloth and new bottles have to do with fasting. The JST adds several verses of scripture that clarify and show Jesus was talking about baptism, not fasting. We also learn that Jesus is the author of the law (of Moses,) that the law is about to be fulfilled in Jesus; and that the Pharisees’ baptism is now useless because the old dispensation is coming to an end. The people need to be baptized into the new dispensation by the proper authority.

“The disciples of John come to Jesus and ask why do not the disciples of Jesus fast as do they and the Pharisees; Jesus answers in parables – children of the bridechamber, a piece of new cloth in an old garment, new wine in old bottles, and new wine against old wine.” John still languishes in prison.

As is quite often the case in an event in the life of our Savior, we need to see it in the eyes of the viewers at that time. We must understand that this Jewish audience has a more negative mind-set about fasting than we do.

The following material deals with fasting as understood and practiced by the Jews in New Testament times, with corrections by Jesus regarding what true and proper fasting should have been. Jesus then includes teachings about fasting within the new Gospel, new Church, new Revelation, and new Doctrine He is bringing.

Edersheim:

Fasting, both public and private, has been a part of evolving Jewish history for many centuries.
Regarding public fasts, “there was only one Divinely-ordained public fast, that of the Day of Atonement. But it was quite in accordance with the will of God, and the spirit of the Old Testament dispensation, that when great national calamities had overtaken Israel or great national wants arose, or great national sins were to be confessed, a day of public fasting and humiliation should be proclaimed.  (Judges 26. 1 Samuel 6; 1 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 20) To these the Jews added, during the Babylonish captivity, what may be called ‘memorial-fasts,’ on the anniversaries of great national calamites.” This created an unhealthy religious pattern/movement of both private and public humiliation.

In contrast to this there were four other Great Fasts that were observed going back well before the Babylonian captivity to the days of Zechariah (early 700’s BC) … fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months. Through the prophet Zechariah the Lord told the people these fasts “shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.”

It was customary to fast during certain weeks at the time of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles on Mondays and Thursdays. People appeared in public in sackcloth and ashes. “In order to be a proper fast, it must be continued from one sundown till after the next, when the stars appeared, and for about twenty-six hours the most rigid abstinence from all food and drink was enjoined. Most solemn as some of these ordinances sound, the New Testament shows how sadly it all degenerated into mere formalism; how frequent fasting became mere work and self-righteousness. Instead of being the expression of true humiliation and the very appearance of the penitent, unwashed and with ashes on his head, it was even made a matter of boasting and religious show.” (Matthew 9:14; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33; Luke 18:12; Matthew 6:16)
                                                                              

Apostle Bruce R. McConkie:

Jesus has been eating at the home of his newly called disciple, Matthew, the publican.
He is now teaching an audience of his followers, disciples, Pharisees and others. Some of John’s disciples come and with the Pharisees ask Jesus why he and his disciples do not fast. Fasting is a fetish with the Pharisees and they attend to every sacrificial detail. Jesus will now address this and several other matters he is trying to teach. Fasting as such is not to be condemned. There is a proper time, purpose, mind-set, and procedure that is to accompany one’s fasting, and the Jews have lost sight of this. Their fathers had been condemned for fasting for evil purposes. Isaiah rebuked them saying “Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.” Jesus teaches they should fast “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke … to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house.” (Isaiah 58) How far away from this the leaders and people had strayed.

In all of this the Lord is presenting new doctrine, a new gospel, new revelation, a new church … the law of Moses is now fulfilled. New revelation will not fit in an apostate church. Jesus now uses parables:

·         A new gospel: you do not put a new piece of cloth in an old garment. (Luke 5:36)
·         New revelation: you do not add to a dead religion … new wine must go into new bottles. (Luke 5:37-38)
·         New church, New doctrine: it is difficult for John’s disciples (and others) to switch. (Luke 5:39)

Jesus now uses a word picture, something they are very familiar with: The Bridegroom and his friends. John’s disciples are as friends of the Bridegroom. Jesus asks, “can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the Bridegroom is with them?” And then answers, “as long as they have the Bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.” Jesus, the Bridegroom is with them; why should they mourn or fast? Is it not, rather, a time to rejoice? Then Jesus said, “But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken from them and then shall they fast in those days. But their fast will not be to smite with the fist of wickedness, but rather, to draw near unto that Lord who has gone, for a moment from them, but who will return in power and great glory at the appointed time.” There is a proper time for fasting but now is not that time.
                                                                                 

In the Bethany Commentary the author writes:

John’s disciples and the Pharisees may be boasting a little about themselves, and criticizing those who do not fast as they do. Christ defends his recently called disciples … for some of them fasting and other spiritual activities are new experiences … they are just learning. They are babes in Christ, and not grown men.

Ausubel:

The writings of Isaiah were well known and used by the Jewish people. Isaiah, the prophet of the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BC, defined what fasting should not be: “Is such the fast that I God have (not) chosen, The day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?” (Isaiah 58:5) And what it should be: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the fetters of wickedness, To undo the bonds of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, And that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?” (Isaiah 58:6-7) Jesus now cites both of these in his teachings.

Brown:

Fasting was used with purification rites, in preparing to converse with God, by the nation in danger of war and destruction, or plague; at times of exile and mourning the dead. In the course of time the deeper meaning of fasting, as an expression of man’s humbling of himself before God, was lost for Israel. Increasingly it came to be regarded as a pious achievement. The struggle of the prophets against this was without success.

The entirely new view brought by the New Testament to the question of fasting is most clearly expressed in the words of Jesus, “How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” The irruption of the Kingdom of God, the presence of the Messiah, the good news of salvation not dependent on good works – all this means joy which is now something excluded by fasting in the Jewish sense. In the light of the Messiah-center preaching of Jesus, such fasting is a thing of the past, belonging to a bygone era.

Howick:

The Law of Moses prescribed only one official fast day, the Day of Atonement, but the rabbis had added many public and private fasts. The public fasts generally commemorated the calamities of Israel’s past but the question posed to the Savior was centered around the private fast days wherein the Pharisees aimed at the highest degree of merit obtainable under the observance of their law.

The Pharisees, however, had enlarged the fast even beyond this. They celebrated it for many occasions, believing that fasting would give them lucky dreams and the interpretation thereof, or that it would allow them to receive revelation, avert evil, or procure some good. They reasoned this way because of their concept of hostility between body and spirit. They believed that the spirit could be exalted only by suppressing the body.

To their questioning Jesus responded with another question: “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?” Jesus had come to liberate the Jews from the yoke of the Mosaic ordinances and the bondage that had been placed upon them by the traditions of their fathers. His answer also proclaimed that he was the Messiah who had come to declare a new law, not merely reform the old one. The gospel that Jesus taught was a new and everlasting covenant. The old ceremonial law could not be patched.

Additional Notes:

·         There were many instances of individual fasting under the influence of grief, vexation, or anxiety.
·         Even among many of the Jewish leaders fasting as a practice had been relegated to secondary importance.
·         Pride was a real problem for the Pharisees and influenced their fasting practices. Some Pharisees fasted often for very selfish reasons.
                                                                               
Glenn R. McGettigan
September 2015; Revised November 2015

References:

“The Temple.” Edersheim
“Doctrinal New Testament Commentary.” McConkie
“The Mortal Messiah.” McConkie
“Bethany Commentary.”
“Dictionary of New Testament Theology.” Volume 1. Brown
“Sermons of Jesus the Messiah.” Howick
“Life of Christ.” Farrar
“Gospel of Luke.” Volume 1. Fitzmyer
“Life of Christ.” Geike