“On one occasion the
followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting.
Some people came to Jesus
and asked him, ‘Why is it that the
disciples of John the Baptist
and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?’” (Mark 2:18,
GNB).
Jesus was offending the
teachers of the Law by claiming that He have authority to forgive sins
(2:9-10), He casually eat with sinners (2:16) and now He break the religious
customs, namely – fasting (and later, Sabbath). Why Jesus doesn’t obey the rule? For some of us, this look like bad
example.
We must understand that by
the time of Jesus the discipline of fasting had developed into a compulsory,
external and complicated ritual. In the Old Testament, fasting was officially
instructed to take place on the Day of
Atonement (Leviticus 16) every year. But the Pharisees religiously fasted
on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the year. They added the Law. And for your
information, these days are to be market days in Jerusalem. I assume that they
fast to show off. Hypocrites! That is why Jesus taught His disciples to fast quietly,
with humble heart and in private (Matthew 6:16-18). So, was Jesus showing a bad example? Absolutely no!
“Jesus answered, ‘Do you expect the guests at a wedding party
to go without food?
Of course not! As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will
not do that.
But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from
them,
and then they will fast” (Mark 2:19-20,
GNB).
From fasting to wedding,
Jesus uses these everyday examples to illustrate His point. He is referring
Himself as “the bridegroom”
in the wedding ceremony. As long as He is here they don’t need to fast because
the Messiah, the suffering Messiah (Isaiah 53), “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) was in
the midst of them. Therefore, at least for His disciples, they don’t need to
fast. They should rejoice! It is a time of feasting not fasting. “But the day will come” when Jesus will be taken away to
die on the cross for them, and then “they will fast.”
This is appropriate because fasting is an expression of sorrow. But I wonder; do the Pharisees understand His reply this
way? No, maybe not. Perhaps the message for them is simply: “My disciples are different. They will
surely fast once I am no more in their presence.”
This interpretation about
fasting is totally new to everyone. Does Jesus forbid it or command it? Both. He forbids external and legalistic approach
to fasting. He commands purposeful and intentional fasting. Martin Luther,
the reformer, writes: “It was not Christ’s
intention to reject or despise fasting. It was his intention to restore proper
fasting.” The Jewish Laws (at that time have become legalism) is like an old
wineskin; and the Kingdom of God – its loving commands and lifestyles – is like
new wineskin. And so Jesus continued,
“No one uses a piece of new
cloth to patch up and old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off
some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole. Nor does anyone pour new
wine into used wineskins, because the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead,
new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22, GNB).
The New is in the Old contained,
The Old is in the New explained.
The New is in the Old latent,
The Old is in the New patent.
This is the Kingdom of God under Christ.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
#ServeToLead #InjilMatius
episod podcast kali ini tentang berpuasa 
#ServeToLead #InjilMatius 
