#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
