The Jewish New Year 5774 began this year on the evening of September 4th. Ten days later, just before sundown on September 13th, Jews worldwide gather in their homes to eat a final meal together before they embark upon a 25-hour period of fasting and prayer on the holiest, most solemn day of the Jewish year - Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.
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In Mark 2, Jesus and his disciples had just come from the feast in Levi’s house, and this seems to have been a day when the disciples of John thought that they had to fast, and the scribes likewise (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel (pp. 118–119). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.)
Given the practices of Jesus, and the times where some fast and some do not, how do we decide when or if to fast? Should it be on regular intervals, or special occasions?
Jesus is going to answer these questions in the context of the Gospel and New Covenant itself. In this answer, he is going to explain the purpose of fasting and the nature of His atonement. The fast in Mark 2, provides an opportunity to show how the old covenant fast is now fulfilled in Christ and his atonement, and how fasting now remembers that atonement. He shows this through:
1) A Critical Accusation (Mark 2:18), 2) A Corrective Answer (Mark 2:19-20), 3) The Clarifying Analogies (Mark 2:21-22)
Jesus is presented with the opportunity to clarify the purpose of fasting, first through:
1) A Critical Accusation (Mark 2:18)
Mark 2:18 [18]Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" (ESV)
Aside from this passage and its parallels in Matt 9:14–17 and Luke 5:33–39, the New Testament says little about fasting. The only passages are Matt 6:16–18; Acts 9:9; 13:2–3; and 14:23. Fasting is a matter of Christian freedom, not obligation. On some occasions fasting is inappropriate, and on others it is appropriate. The nearness of the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus was not a fitting time. During his absence fasting may be desirable. (Brooks, J. A. (1991). Mark (Vol. 23, p. 64). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.).
For the situation in verse 18, the topic of fasting is the context of the exclusivity of the gospel, about the incompatibility with the gospel, the inability of the message of Jesus Christ to be mixed with apostate Judaism or any other false religion.
Frequently, conflict with Jesus and the leaders of Israel, the Pharisees and the scribes, is built around questions. Those questions seem most of the time to have to do with Jesus' contrary behavior. Either He's violating one of their laws, traditions, or He's doing something on the Sabbath that, in their minds, He shouldn't be doing, or there's some behavior in which His disciples are engaged, which is a breech of their tradition. This launches the conflict, and that is the case here.
In this case, "John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.". John’s disciples were those followers of John the Baptist who did not transfer their allegiance to Jesus (cf. John 3:30; Acts 19:1–7). At this time John was in prison (Matt. 4:12). Their question indicates they were observing the Pharisaic traditions (cf. Matt. 9:14) (MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1462). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.)
Both groups are dutifully observing the religious traditions regarding fasting...fasting means going without food. It is probable that John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting for quite different reasons, and that it is the fast observed by the disciples of John which particularly interested Mark, who mentions this group first (Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 108). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
Both groups are deeply disturbed that Jesus' disciples aren't doing this. They aren't fasting. In fact, they look like they're partying. They just came out of a big banquet. Verse 16, Jesus is there with His disciples and they're eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. This is such outrageous conduct in the eyes of the Pharisees and the scribes.
Why aren't they fasting? How can they be celebrating? And how in the world can they be celebrating so happy, so joyful, feasting with those kinds of people? The question is really not intended as an objective question, it is really a severe criticism. And they want to put Jesus and His disciples on the hot seat. Why is Jesus running so contrary to the current religion? Who does He think He is? Why does He ignore the required separation from sinners? Why does He ignore the required fasting?
In Luke's version, Luke says John’s disciples often fast and offer prayers and the two were linked together. And the disciples of the Pharisees do the same. Why don't you do that? But the truth of the matter was, there was only one fast in the Old Testament required. According to Leviticus 16:29-31, it was required that on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, they fast. In fact, it says in that text, "You're to humble your soul, or afflict your soul, and the Hebrew word used there is commonly used of restraining or refraining from eating. Only one fast is prescribed, only one fast is demanded.
However, there are many occasions in the Old Testament where people fasted voluntarily, and always connected with sorrowful, heart-breaking prayer. You read about that in Esther 4. You read about it in Isaiah 58 and I'll refer to that in a little bit. You read about it in 1 Kings 21; Joel chapter 1. And through the years, the Old Testament and the intertestimental period, and up until the time of Jesus, people did voluntarily fast to pray, as people do even now. Christian people do when they are exercised over something that captures their heart to such a degree that they have no interest in eating. But in the Jewish history, you can find a one day fast, you can find three-day fasts. You can find seven-day fasts. You can find twenty-one day fasts. You can find even 40 day fasts, such as Exodus 34, Deuteronomy 9, and 1 Kings 19, and that's what Jesus did. He was fasting 40 days when He was tempted in the wilderness. So there are examples of voluntary fasts.
Please turn to Matthew 6 (p.811)
The Pharisees, had gone beyond the voluntary fasts and had designed a twice a week fast day...Monday and Thursday....Monday and Thursday. And you remember in Luke 18 the Pharisee went into the temple to pray, he said, "I thank You that I'm not like other men, like this Publican, I fast twice a week." That was their prescription. Not in the Old Testament, not in the Scripture, but they required it. They were in to external behavior. In fact, the three major things that they did publically, was give their alms, money, to the poor, pray and fast. It was ostentatious, it was public, it was hypocritical. Jesus addressed the hypocrisy of it in His great Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6. He says:
Matthew 6:16-18 [16]"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [17]But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, [18]that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (ESV)
• What can we then determine from what Jesus said about fasting? The timing and frequency is not specified, but Jesus assumes that His disciples will fast. Jesus does not regard fasting as a mechanical arrangement that is to be practiced merely on fixed days. As such it is valueless. To fast or not to fast is determined by the conditions in which we find ourselves (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel (p. 120). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.)
• As with prayer, it is not about appearances, hence the warning on appearing gloomy and the requirement for hygiene. It was for people to humble themselves by praying and mourning. The purpose for the fast was explained in the old covenant.
Please turn to Isaiah 58 (p.617)
As fasting was misunderstood then, so it is misunderstood now. It is a common misconception that fasting is a personal choice for religious honor. But fasting is not for personal benefit but for a time of change. It is useful at a time of crisis, spiritual difficulty, or a key time of seeking direction, it can be a means of inquiring of God so as to be heard by him.
In Isaiah 58, Isaiah here is commanded to confront the hypocrisy of God’s people with boldness and to clarify the true path to God’s blessing:
Isaiah 58:1-7 [58:1]"Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. [2]Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. [3]'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. [4]Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. [5]Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? [6]"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? [7]Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
• The main purpose of fasting is clarified in v.2: To delight to draw near to God that we may be heard by Him. Hunger reinforces our need for dependence on God, and can help focus the mind to seek God’s will (Barton, B. B. (1994). Mark (p. 62). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.).
• From v.3-4, at a time when the false pleasure of religion does not work, in v.5-7 God calls on His people to repent of their false religion through true fasting: To seek him by fasting through humility, genuine repentance, and righteous action for others.
Illustration: 4965 Lincoln Proclaims National Fast Day
There are particular times of trial where fasting is appropriate. Abraham Lincoln wrote an address to the nation during the Civil War that was at least as important as the Gettysburg Address. It was his proclamation for a national fast-day, by which he did designate and set apart Thursday the 30th day of April 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer.
Lincoln wrote: “It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. The awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” (Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times. Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.)
Jesus clarifies the purpose of fasting through:
2) A Corrective Answer (Mark 2:19-20)
Mark 2:19-20 [19]And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. [20]The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. (ESV)
The critical accusation of verse 18 deserves an answer, so you get a corrective answer from Jesus in verses 19 and 20. The interrogative particle ìÞ assumes a negative answer as self-evident (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel (p. 120). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.)
This is our Lord's interpretation of the disciples' action with regard to not fasting. Fasting in the Bible is generally connected with mourning, or deliberately humbling yourself before God, or else it is a response to disaster. Jesus is saying, ‘Why should my friends fast at all while I am here? That would be like starving at a wedding!’ (Wilmshurst, S. (2011). A Ransom for Many: The Gospel of Mark Simply Explained (p. 58). Darlington, England: EP Books.)
He gives a simple illustration for them which they would all understand to make His point. The rhetorical question: "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” is quickly followed with the obvious answer: “they cannot fast”. There was no reason for Jesus’ followers to mourn and fast while enjoying the unique reality that He was with them (MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1462). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.).
Everyone who would be familiar with first century wedding practices would understand that. You don't fast at a wedding. A wedding is a celebration. The wedding guests would be the best man and the other attendants. The best friends of the bridegroom, the ones responsible for the wedding plans, the ones responsible to carry off the event, to make all the arrangements, and all of that. Matthew adds, "They don't mourn and fast because mourning and praying was connected with fasting."
This is not a time for mourning. This is not a time for sorrow. Yom Kippur was a time for sorrow over sin, the Day of Atonement, but a wedding, by the way, lasted up to seven days. Once the bridegroom arrived with his attendants, the wedding was launched. Fasting was out. Drop an E into the word, feasting took over. There were even ancient rabbinic rules forbidding wedding guests to fast. Why? Because these people who were such hypocrites who wanted to put on their display of spirituality would even go to a wedding and say, "Well, I'm sorrow, I can't eat, I'm fasting." So the rabbis had to make rules that you couldn't fast at a wedding. That is why it is so emphatic in verse 19, that they cannot fast and then repeat it at the end of the verse, "They cannot fast." It's emphatic, you can't do that, it's not acceptable, it's not allowable.
This is not a place for a broken, grieving heart, for sorrow. Even Scripture says, "Rejoice with those that rejoice, Ecclesiastes 3:4, the familiar...there's a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. So the Pharisees and the scribes that fasted for show, the disciples of John were part of that as well. As we have seen from Isaiah 58:There was no true brokenness over their sin. There was no real compassionate prayer for those who suffer that sort of pushed away the desire for anything to eat. This kind of phony fasting has nothing to do with what's going on in the lives of these disciples because they are in the presence of the bridegroom.
But, verse 20 says, "The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day”. There will be a time in the future when the wedding joy will end. To put it simply, the bridegroom will be taken away. What does that mean? The verb epairo for taken away conveys the idea of a sudden violent snatching away. The Messiah will be snatched away. What does that refer to? Well Isaiah said the same thing in Isaiah 53:8, listen to what Isaiah said. "By oppression and judgment, He, the Messiah, is taken away," same expression. Cut off out of the land of the living, that means killed for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. He will be taken away, He will be killed in our place. This then is the first reference by Jesus to His death in the gospel of Mark. When that happens, then they will fast...then they will fast. And it won't be a ritual, and it won't be a Monday, Thursday show, it will be heartbreak, it will be grief. This is a FUTURE ACTIVE INDICATIVE (a statement of fact), not an IMPERATIVE (command) (Utley, R. J. D. (2000). The Gospel according to Peter: Mark and I & II Peter (Vol. Volume 2, p. 35). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.).
Please turn to Ezra 8 (p.395)
At a time when the people of God were in exile, the prayer of the people sought to publically express their trust in God as they sought to demonstrate God’s reality to the Persian King. Their prayer and fasting revolved around a collection for the rebuilding of the temple
Ezra spoke:
Ezra 8:21-25 [21]Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. [22]For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, "The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him." [23]So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. [24]Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. [25]And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. (ESV)
• In key ministry times seeking to demonstrate the nature of God, in the face of danger or in a period of rebuilding, a time of prayer and fasting is a unique time to ask for something special of God. God will respond when we humble ourselves before Him. The moment we become presumptuous or want to display our own piety, like the disciples of John and the Pharisees, then God will humble us in painful ways.
Illustration: We cannot fast to make God do something. Fasting is for the purpose of realizing that He already did everything in the person of Christ. For us believers on the other side of the Cross and Resurrection, the application for this is hugely encouraging. We are not just “guests of the bridegroom”—we are the Bride of Christ! This is more than metaphorical language—it is reality. It speaks of the deepest intimacy and exchange. We actually have the “Spirit of God” (Romans 8:9). Therefore, we are to outdistance the attendants of the bridegroom in the intensity and continuance of our joy.
Christianity brings perpetual joy for those who will take it and cultivate it. The early Christians were even accused of being drunk. The first Franciscans were reproved for laughing in church because they were so happy. The first convents of the Reformed Carmelites were most happy places, because they insisted on musical instruments and a jolly time in the house of recreation. The first Methodists stole some of their hymn-tunes from operas and set the songs of Zion to dance music. The first Salvationists jumped for joy because General Booth always told them that if they felt the spirit move them, they could leap in a hymn or a prayer, and they did! There is perpetual wedding joy with Christ for those who will have it (Clyde E. Fant, Jr. and William A. Pinson, Jr., Twenty Centuries of Great Preaching, Volume 11, “Drunk and Mad” by W. E. Sangster (Waco, TX: Word, 1971), pp. 341, 342.).
Jesus illustrates the purpose of fasting through:
3) The Clarifying Analogies (Mark 2:21-22)
Mark 2:21-22 [21]No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. [22]And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins--and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins." (ESV)
Lest we think that religious activities themselves, like fasting, merit with God, Christ is going to clarify the purpose of them. In His inimitable way Jesus uses analogies that His audience would readily understand that need virtually no explanation. Anybody who washes anything at any time that is made out of a natural fabric whether it's linen, cotton, or whether it's wool, some other form of animal hair woven together understands that things shrink. Since there is no synthetic products in the ancient world, things shrink. So everybody would know that if you take a piece of unshrunk cloth, you don’t cut it into a patch. You don't do that to sew it into a new garment, otherwise the patch when it is washed, or becomes wet and dries out will pull away from it, the new from the old and a worse tear results. This is a foolish mix. You can't mix a new patch, unshrunk with an old piece of cloth. Apostate Judaism's rituals and ceremonies are a worn-out old garment and you cannot patch the holes in it with a piece of the gospel. It's not compatible. Jesus didn't come with a message to patch up the old system. He came with a message to replace it all together.
He brought a new internal gospel of repentance and forgiveness by grace that cannot be mixed with the old Judaism of tradition and self-righteous works, or with any other religion. The old garment in this analogy, by the way, is not God's Law, God's holy Law, it's not the Old Testament, it is the religion of Judaism and the pieces of the gospel can't be stitched into it.
Finally, Jesus gives them another illustration in verse 22: "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins - and the wine is destroyed/lost and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins." This is restating the previous principle because it connects it with the previous one because the statement starts with “And”. This second illustration completes the thought. The old cannot be kept by adding a little of the new, still less by combining all of the new with it. In this respect the thought is parallel. Both illustrations speak of conserving: in the first, the old robe, in the second, the new wine. The old robe cannot be conserved by adding the new patch; the new wine cannot be conserved by pouring it into old wineskins. In this respect the illustrations are opposites. The second, however, ends in a climax—both the new wine and the old wineskins are lost (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel (p. 122). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.).
This is the process described in Joshua 9:4, 13. They would take a goat, they would kill the goat, take the hide of the goat, use the neck as a spout, sew up the places where the legs were and any openings and then they would have a big, big goatskin kind of pouch, fresh leather, and they would fill it with new wine. They would leave it there for a period of time and the bitterness of the dregs would go to the bottom and settle in the bottom and they would pour it out of one skin into another new skin and they would keep pouring it and pouring it and each time they would pour it they would do this time and time again, more of the dregs would be out and remained in the bottom, and from that they would make vinegar and things like that. But eventually they would get a clear wine with no dregs left. That was the process. It was really important that these skins be supple and that they be able to contain the wine.
If you used old wineskins that had been used and reused and reused and were lying without being used for a period of time, they would crack, they would become brittle and when they were used again they would break open, all the wine would be lost.
That “new wine is for fresh wineskins”, points to the fact that newly made and unused wineskins provided the necessary strength and elasticity to hold up as wine fermented (MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1462). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.).
Our Lord is saying you can't pour the Christian gospel into the wineskins, the old brittle, cracked, split useless wineskins of Judaism, the new wine of the gospel is incompatible (cf. Gal. 5:4). To become right with God by a religious work like fasting, is incompatible with the Gospel. Everything in the old covenant, like fasting is to bring us to Christ. That closeness must result in repentance and faith.
Our Lord gave a third illustration and Luke records it, and it's connected to the idea of the wine.
Luke 5:39 [39]And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.'" (ESV)
Jesus said it's very natural for people to hang on to their familiar religion. The Jews with their old and ancient traditions, passed down generation to generation, to generation, father to son, on and on and on and on, so deeply ingrained, all the rituals, all the ceremonies, all the behaviors to which they had clung so tightly, they don't release them easily. It has become such a part of their lives. They have cultivated such a taste for their own religion that if you offer them something else, they're not interested in it. They're so self-satisfied with the familiar. They've been drinking a certain religious wine for years and they're not at all interested in some new kind, no matter what it promises. This is such a deadly thing, a cultivated, deeply cultivated love of false religion is so hard to break. In fact, they see another religion, even the truth as a threat. The Judaism of Jesus day, boy it was strongly satisfying to the flesh, as false religion can be, usually is. And they wanted nothing new.
Any religious work will not bring someone to Christ. You cannot patch old religion onto Christianity. But for those who desire to drain out the dregs of your Christian life, things that are impurities, fasting can be an excellent way.(Format Note: Outline & some base commentary from John MacArthur http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/41-10/the-matchless-distinctiveness-of-the-gospel ..)
