5 July 2014 - bridegroom with us

5 July 2014 - bridegroom with us

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?

This makes sense when we hear it.  But Jesus is claiming a centrality that might be shocking to his listeners.  The metric for whether or not it is time to fast doesn't have anything to do with old cloaks or old wineskins anymore.  It only has to do with how close he is. 

Before Jesus there may have been any number of reasons to fast.  People might fast in order to try to grow in holiness, to acknowledge God, to move toward the various aspects of virtue.  Each reason implicitly chose some greater good over lesser ones.  But now, with Jesus, the greatest good of all has come. 

The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.

He himself brings our joy.  The rhythms of fasting cannot make sense without reference to him.  Indeed we read yesterday about a famine of the word of God.  So when the word of God is present in all of his abundance we obviously need to take advantage of that and feast.  Yet he does provide that there is a place for fasting in the Christian life.  In our lives and in the liturgical life of the Church we live out a rhythm of greater and lesser distance from him.  And it is appropriate to acknowledge his supreme good by fasting from lesser goods at those times when he is distant.  We don't try to partially assuage the gap his distance creates with lesser goods.  We let ourselves hunger for him, knowing that he will fill us.

Without him at the center no other goods we choose will restore us in the way that we need to be restored.  Only Jesus sees that full blueprint for creation.  Only he sees the entire plan.  He knows just where to store the new wine he brings.   He doesn't clothe us in patched robes of the Old Covenant.  He clothes us in new baptismal garments.  We are clothed with Christ himself (cf. Gal. 3:27).

I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;
they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine,
set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.

The LORD is speaking to us of peace.  It isn't a peace we can create in ourselves, no matter how well we practice asceticism.  Let us listen so that we can receive all he wants to give us.

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.