Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.

Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"   And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

- Mark 2:13-22

Yesterday we read that Jesus entered Capernaum again after some time spent only in deserted spaces, where people would come to Him.  It was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."   And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.   Levi is also Matthew.   Specific areas were assigned to Jewish tax collectors by Roman overlords.  These tax collectors were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  They collaborated with the occupying Romans, frequently committing fraud and extortion as they were backed by the state authority.  Other Jews hated them and considered them unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Here we see Levi/Matthew called by Christ, and he responds, leaving the tax office.

Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Levi invites his friends, celebrating his Teacher, and the finding of salvation with Jesus.  He apparently draws other tax collectors and sinners to Christ.  For the scribes and Pharisees, it is all shocking.  But Christ's defense is quite simple.  He goes where the need of the physician is the greatest.   His medicine is repentance, made possible through mercy.

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"   And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."   In Jewish practice, fasting was typically done two days a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.   (In the practice of the early Church, this was changed to Wednesday and Friday.  See Didache, chapter 8.)  In addition, there were public fasts that were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15).  Fasting was essential on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But the time of the Messiah was a completely different reality -- the opposite of times of mourning.  The day of the Messiah is a wedding feast, a time of joy and gladness.  Jesus proclaims that that day is here, and declares Himself to be the Messiah or Bridegroom.  My study bible adds that for Christians, fasting (such as is traditional in this period of Lent) is not gloomy but rather desirable.  It is a "bright sadness," because by fasting we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast. 

"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."  The old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, according to my study bible.  These are viewed as temporary and imperfect, while the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit which dwells within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law. 

If we simply think "legalistically," that is, simply according to a law-like structure, then once a sin is committed, it remains a stain.  But love and mercy work differently.  It's not that the law is unimportant or that values and codes are unnecessary.  But mercy becomes a primary focus of Christ's ministry.  Repentance becomes a key to healing.  Love focuses on a goal, a place of being.  It asks us to come into right-relationship, it pulls us toward something.  It is not merely a set of ideas or principles.  The tax collectors of Jesus' time were vilified in their communities, and with rightful cause.  They were seen not only as sinners, practicing extortion, but also traitors to their own people.  But Christ is a physician.  He sees redemption as the healing of sickness, repentance as a cure.  With Christ, with love, there is a chance to return, to do better, to dwell in a place where love can work through our lives.  It is not a question of finding a formula for this to happen, but a work of the heart that can expand and grow and change.  Here is the real key to the metaphor of the wineskin:  Christ asks us to expand and grow and change.  He asks us to make a commitment for the longterm, that where this communion with Him leads us, we are willing to go.  We're willing to repent -- to literally "change out minds" in whatever direction He as physician will lead us.  There's little question that to change one's life or lifestyle is not necessarily a simple thing, but faith comes into it.  In faith, we trust that Christ will help us to find a way to remain in communion with Him, to find a way to be in the world which does not ask us to sin.  For these tax collectors, to become disciples of Christ could not have been easy, but it was worth what it takes to be with the Bridegroom and to dwell in the place of love and communion the Kingdom offers.  Not only is it necessary for us to expand out of legalistic thinking to live in this place, but we will need a way where we expand to follow Him, to find the places to which He leads us, the life He offers.  Matthew/Levi becomes one of the Twelve Apostles.  He goes from tax collector to the author of the first Gospel in the New Testament.  Without the physician's medicine, how would this be possible?  Without the communion of the Bridegroom, where would such inspiration come from?  Only faith can do this for us, and life becomes a kind of continual repentance, always taking us to new places, asking us to change our ways of thinking and being, to adapt and expand like the wineskins filled with the new wine of the Holy Spirit.  Repentance isn't just about regretting past actions, it's about opening up to new ways of being and thinking which are better for us, and allow the Spirit to work through us.  It asks us to remember that in the original language of the Gospels, disciple (Greek μαθητης) means "learner."  None of what would result from Christ's ministry was predictable, but in all ways asked His followers to continue forward, to expand and to change.  So He continually asks of us in our lives, if we respond to His call to the wedding feast and the work along the way.  We will be not just invited, but remain with Him as the friends of the Bridegroom.