STILL PREPARING WHEN THE PARTY IS OVER
My youngest grandson had his first birthday recently. My daughter wanted to make it special for him and she invited all her friends with young children to come. SHE SPENT WEEKS PLANNING THIS PARTY. We spent a good week just setting it up. We wanted it to be a PIRATE PARTY. The girls would come as fairies (I don't know how that relates to pirates,... probably through the Peter Pan story. He also featured. We kind of mixed things up a little).
I painted a pirate boat on a large cardboard box, used the clothesline as a mast and put a children's slide at the back of the boat. My daughter made a cake in the shape of a pirate boat. We had a plank at the front door, a treasure map, a treasure chest, eye patches, plastic blowup swords (yes blowup swords! They are amazing). All the kids dressed up as pirates. The house was decked out with skull and crossbone flags and all kinds of pirate paraphernalia. We had to keep the kids away from the food until the day came.
It took weeks to plan, but when the time came, the kids were allowed to break their fast from junk food and in a couple of hours the guests with their gifts had come and gone and it was all over bar the cleaning up! It was over! We were exhausted! My grandson had celebrated the party. He was officially one year old.
We didn't go on painting flags and making more pirate ships as if it hadn't happened yet. It was done! Finished! Over! NO MORE PREPARATION WAS NEEDED. The food was eaten. The presents were opened. The decorations were no longer relevant.
So why in Matthew 9:14 do DISCIPLES OF JOHN THE BAPTIST turn up to Jesus and ask Him about fasting. What gives? Why are there still disciples of John the Baptist when John made it clear way back in Matthew 3:11 (NLT) that "...Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am-so much greater that I'm not worthy even to be His slave and carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." He was referring to Jesus of course.