Friends,
in today’s Gospel, disciples of John the Baptist wonder why Jesus and
his disciples do not fast as John and his disciples do. It is true that,
by comparison, Jesus had a freer, more worldly, less obviously
“religious” style. He didn’t sequester himself like the Essenes; he
didn’t insist on ritual and legal purity like the Pharisees; and, it
seems, he didn’t fast and live a life of austerity like John and his
followers.
And
so they ask why he doesn’t encourage fasting among his followers.
Jesus’ answer is wonderful: “How can the guests at a wedding fast while
the groom is still with them?” Could you imagine people fasting at a
wedding banquet? Could you imagine going into an elegant room with your
fellow guests and being served bread and water? It would be ridiculous!
This great image of the wedding feast comes up frequently in the New
Testament, most obviously in the wedding feast at Cana narrative.
That’s
because Jesus is, in himself, the wedding of heaven and earth, the
marriage of divinity and humanity; he is the bridegroom and the Church
is the bride. In him, the most intimate union is achieved between God
and the world.
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
"Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?"
Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus 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."
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