GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 5:33-35
A Question About Fasting
(Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22)
33 Some men said to him, “John’s disciples fast and pray often, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
The men mentioned here seem to have asked their question at the same time that the Pharisees asked about Jesus eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. In Matthew 9:14 we learn that the men in this verse were actually John’s disciples, yet it’s clear from their question that these disciples also sided with the Pharisees in certain things, especially in the question of keeping the traditions of the Jews, the things that went beyond the law of Moses.
Fasting was only required for the annual festival of the atonement. God commanded: “The tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire” (Leviticus 23:27; cp. Lev. 16:29 and “the Fast” in Acts 27:9).
Additional fasts were introduced when disaster struck the people. Zechariah is told that these would all reverse: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace” (Zechariah 8:19). The “fourth month” fast was because the Babylonians captured Jerusalem on the ninth day of that month, killed the king’s son, blinded the king, and took him captive (Jer. 39:2-7; 52:6-11). The “fifth month” fast recalled the destruction of the temple at the hands of the Babylonians (2 Kings 25:8-9; Jer. 52:12-13). The “seventh month fast” might refer to Atonement, or it might be an additional fast which sadly remembered the assassination of Gedaliah, the king’s relative and governor of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:25; Jer. 41:1-2). The “tenth month” recalled the beginning the siege of Jerusalem when the Babylonian victory was inevitable (1 Kings 25:1; Jer. 39:1). The Pharisees added two weekdays as permanent fast days: Thursday, to remember Moses ascending Mount Sinai, and Monday, to remember the day he came down again. Perhaps John the Baptist had personally adopted these as a part of his extreme asceticism, anticipating the coming of the Messiah, but his disciples misunderstood and assumed that Christ would continue the practice.
34 Jesus said to them, “Can you make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. In those days, they will fast.”
Jesus uses the image of the wedding to explain how Israel should have celebrated his arrival. “Today we should be celebrating like they do at a wedding, but you treat it like a funeral!” And yet, seizing on the opportunity to proclaim the reason for his coming and the full truth of the gospel, Jesus added, “But there will be a funeral—and my disciples will fast then.”
This is the first of three or four symbols or parables Jesus uses to answer the question. Tow others are the new patch sewn on an old garment (verse 36) and new wine poured into old wineskins (verses 37-38. A fourth is the preference for drinking one wine over another because it is superior (verse 39).
This is the first time in Luke in which Jesus mentions his approaching violent death (“the bridegroom will be taken away.” With these words, Jesus announces (1) that he will be killed, (2) that there would be a plot, a planned execution, (3) that the disciples will be present to see him seized, and (4) that the disciples will mourn for him. In addition (5) the words “in those days” (ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις) imply that the fasting would also come to an end. This could be considered to be a veiled reference to the resurrection.
We will see all of these things fulfilled.
1, Jesus’ crucifixion is described in detail in Luke 23:33-46.
2, The plot against Jesus is well documented in the Gospels (Matthew 12:14; 26;4; Mark 3:6; Luke19:47; 20:19; John 11:53).
3, The disciples were indeed present when Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane overlooking the temple, and even tried to prevent it (Luke 2:46-54).
4, They grieved for him privately in the upper room, very much afraid of the Jews (John 20:19).
5, Their mourning came to an end when they were given many proofs that he had risen from the dead, not least of which was Jesus’ own offer to Thomas to put his fingers into the nail holes in his hands (John 20:27-28).
We will meditate more on the application of Jesus’ words about fasting as we read the remainder of the chapter (5:36; 5:37-38 and 5:39). For now, we will let the proclamation of the crucifixion fill our hearts with love for our Savior. He willingly laid down his life, enduring scorn, abuse, pain and even death, to atone for our sins and make us right with God. When the Bible places the cross of Christ before our eyes, we should always stop and thank him, and confess our faith with joy. What does it mean to be forgiven? We confess in the Apology:
“Faith alone justifies because we receive the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit by faith alone. The reconciled are accounted righteous and children of God not on account of their own purity but by mercy on account of Christ, if they grasp this mercy by faith.” (IV,86)
Our joy is that this has all been accomplished already by Jesus, and we have received this forgiveness as a gift. We are unworthy, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t received the gift. So we praise God, worship him, and give him whatever service we can with our lives.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota