The Question about Fasting

Today's Reflections 
 
                                                             

The Question about Fasting 

http://graceandspace.org

Mt 9:14-15

¹⁴The disciples of John approached [Jesus] and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast [much], but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵Jesus answered 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.”

THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH THEM. Marriage and the love of the groom and the bride are favorite symbolisms among the sacred authors. Human reality mirrors divine reality, and in this case, the love of God for his people. The prophet Hosea calls the Lord the husband of Israel (cf 2:18). The love of God for his people is celebrated in the Song of Songs, a poetry of immense beauty.

In the Gospel, Jesus responds to the question about fasting by saying that it has no place while he is with the people. Since Jesus (the bridegroom) has come to claim the new Israel (the bride), the disciples (the wedding guests) should share in the joy of the feast (the wedding banquet). Fasting and mourning are not appropriate for Jesus’ visible presence among the people.

Jesus does not deny the importance of fasting, and he himself fasts, beginning his public ministry with 40 days of fasting and prayer. Time will come when the disciples will fast. But because fasting looks forward to God’s gift bringing joy and happiness to people, and Jesus is doing precisely this, his Gospel does not focus on fasting but on joy, because he, as the Messiah, has come to bring “glad tidings” to all. He is the bridegroom who invites everyone to the joy of the wedding banquet.

Though associated with penance and sacrifice,

Lent is a season that fills us

with the Lord’s peace and joy.