The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
How can the bridegroom be taken from us? He promises to be with us always, even unto the end of the age (see Matthew 28:20). Yet we ourselves can draw near to him on the one hand or allow ourselves to drift away on the other. His presence is always available. It is not always experienced. When he is gone we mourn for him. At these times we grow in holy desire. Our hearts begin to learn what is the one thing that can truly satisfy. When he comes to us again we rejoice. This cycle of desire and satisfaction draws us onward and upward.
Fasting is a strategy we can use to draw near to the bridegroom when he seems distant. In this sense, it means to remove distractions that compete with Jesus in our desires. It means to focus on and experience the longing for him rather than turning to cheaper satisfactions to distract ourselves from our true longing. Fasting, then, isn't merely a scientific program for weight loss. Nor ought it be a work we do simply because we think we should. This new fasting makes sense only in relationship with Jesus.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
The paradigms and ways of thinking that mark the Kingdom do not make sense according to earlier paradigms. Before programs and strategies were easier to establish. Things could simply be done, without much reference to the inner life. But now, everything has a new and deeper value in its relation to the bridegroom. Only by attentiveness to the inner life, to his being taken from us and to his drawing near, can we make good decisions.
One thing we learn from paying attention to the bridegroom is that he wants to bless us. We don't have to trick him into giving us a blessing.
"Yes?" replied Isaac. "Which of my sons are you?"
Jacob answered his father: "I am Esau, your first-born.
Clearly, this deception is possible because the relationship is marked by externals. If Jacob puts on the right show he receives the right blessing. It is not so for us. Jesus knows who we are (sometimes more deeply than we might wish). He loves us in spite of our flaws. He knows are names and desires to give us his blessing. He has chosen us.
Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, which we love;
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel for his own possession.
Low audio quality, but no Tetragrammaton:
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