Mark 2:18-22 Fasting, or Feasting?

First Things: Devotions in Mark’s Gospel

Mark 2:18-22 Fasting, or Feasting?

I’m not sure how many conscious decisions you make about eating, or not eating. It seems we eat all the time. We eat if we are hungry, and we eat even if we are not. Speaking for myself, I often eat without thinking. Sometimes I eat without even tasting.

But in our passage, eating, or, not eating, seems to be more intentional. Fasting, or feasting, depends on what is going on around you, or, what is going on in your heart.

Mark 2:18   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?”

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Biblical fasting is most often associated with prayer, and is a recognition that things are not as they should be. Their heritage was not right. They were under Roman rule. And, for some, their hearts were not right. They recognized that they were in the predicament they were in because they had disobeyed God. Fasting goes along with pleading for mercy. Fasting is an act of humbling. As your stomach shrinks, so should your pride. Proud fasting indicates that you are not doing it right.

Jesus’ disciples, on the other hand, were feasting. The Pharisees took this as an indication that Jesus’ disciples were not very spiritual. Spirituality and misery are often, wrongly, associated with each other. But Jesus says, “the bridegroom is with them.” Who is the bridegroom? It’s Jesus, of course. When you are in the presence of Jesus, it is the time for rejoicing and celebration, for feasting. It is time for enlarging, expanding. 

So, are followers of Jesus presently in a fasting or feasting mode? Are things as they should be? Do we miss Him? Or, is He present with us? I think the answer is: yes, we miss Him, and yes, He is with us - not face-to-face with us, but with us through His Spirit who indwells us. And so, do we fast, or feast? I think we do both. Things are not as they should be, nor what they will be. But also, things are not as they once were, when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, godless, and without hope in the world.

And so I ask myself, do I need to shrink, or expand? Is it time for mourning, or rejoicing? And again, it’s both, but it does indeed need to be both. Different streams of Christianity seem to emphasize one over the other - some focus so much on sin that they are constantly miserable - some only do “praise and worship” and focus on the bright side. Both are needed; both confession, and celebration. What do you need today? What would be best for your soul, and for the glory of God? Ask the Lord to direct you.