Matthew 9:14-17 (ESV)
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" [15] And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. [16] No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. [17] Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, 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."
Fasting, the topic comes up now and then, typically around Lent. Jesus believed his disciples would fast when he was no longer with them. But it was not right for them to fast when he was with them, any more than it is right to fast at a wedding. The New Testament doesn’t prescribe any fasts or days for fasting. One is free to choose. You are even free to choose to fast over Lent if you like. I have tried it a few times.
But one might ask? Is Jesus not with us? Is he not the one who says he will be with us always? Has he abandoned us? We have every reason to celebrate even today. Our God, our Lord has not abandoned us, he has not left us. He may not be with us in the same way he was with the disciples when the disciples of john asked him this, but he is still with us with his forgiveness, and he comes to us in a special way when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This is why Christians do not fast on Sunday, Sunday is a feast day if there ever was one, a day of celebration. It is the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And feasting is pleasing to God too.
Yes, for some reason we think that it is only pleasing to God when we somehow beat ourselves up, withhold ourselves from the gifts of God. I suppose there is a place for that. Repentance is part of the Christian life. Often times when convicted of sin, a person loses appetite altogether for anything. But when we realize the forgiveness and salvation we have in Jesus Christ, the joy of his salvation returns and there we will be given to feasting with joy.
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