Thoughts for the Day

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Small passages of our scriptures hold myriads of meaning, and this is one such, so let's look at the question of fasting.
For Jews, fasting along with giving and prayer, were core elements of their life, however Jesus and his disciples are not fasting. Jesus equates himself to a bridegroom and his disciples as the wedding-guests. Couples who married stayed at home for seven days feasting and welcoming all their friends. It was not a time for fasting! But Jesus says the time will come when he will leave them, and then they can fast.

For a number of years I have had a book on my shelves by Richard Forster called 'The celebration of discipline' that I valued. It was a helpful manual on how to live the christian life, and I enjoyed the chapters on worship and on prayer, before discovering a chapter on 'Fasting'. As a diabetic I didn't get much further, though I kept the book as a challenge.

But the point for us is that there is a time for feasting and celebration, but there is also a time for fasting - a time to be in control of our food and our body, for the sake of our spiritual life. We might start by cutting out one meal, or cutting out carbohydrates say. It's not something just to do in Lent, and it's not for all of us. The discipline of fasting can help to bring us closer to God, by testing us to do without.

Lord Jesus,
You fasted in the wilderness,
overcoming temptation
and drawing closer to God.
Show us how to go without food
for the sake of our souls
as well as our bodies.
Amen.