The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
These disciples of John were no doubt asking a sincere question. After all, they had presumably been led to the practice of fasting by John the Baptist himself and had therefore exerted great strength of will to pursue it. It seemed to be the sort of thing that most people with religious fervor of any sort seemed to do. Yet the disciples of Jesus did not fast. No doubt it was difficult to look across group lines and see others apparently having it easier than oneself.
Christians, even well meaning ones, often seem to ask questions of a similar sort. Why does not the whole world follow the precise devotional schedule he or she has set? Clearly the schedule demonstrates fervor, devotion, and piety. How can the absence of any item from the list be anything but a lukewarm lack of commitment? But the response of Jesus teaches us not to assume that every situation is the same, or that one approach to practice is appropriate everywhere.
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.
Jesus did not say a) that fasting was bad for the disciples of John or the Pharisees, much less b) that fasting was always and everywhere bad. Rather he said c) that his disciples had the unique circumstance of the presence of the bridegroom and nothing but unmitigated joy and celebration was the appropriate response.
The disciples of Jesus would also eventually engage in the practice of fasting. But they would not do it according to an older paradigm. It wasn't going to be so simply as a strategy of doing it as much as was humanly possible, or when it felt appealing, or even the contrary of when it didn't feel appealing. Rather the new schedule of fasting was going to be determined by the presence or absence of the bridegroom. Disciples would celebrate his presence with joy and feasting. But they would mourn his being taken from them in his passion by fasting.
Both of these poles, fasting and feasting, now mark the liturgical life of the Church, centered around the mysteries of the life of Jesus himself. There was just no way to infer the details of this new way of life by studying the old. It wasn't just a new piece of cloth that could patch an old cloak. It was new wine which would burst out from older paradigms that tried to contain it.
Christians can learn from this teaching of Jesus to enter more deeply into the liturgical cycle. But although the need to embrace this new liturgical life is necessary we ought to also learn the lesson not to impose paradigms which are merely personal devotional best practice on others. We ought to avoid making a law out of things that are meant to be freely embraced. And we shouldn't readily allow others to impose their own laws on us out of some misplaced need to keep up with them.
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
Christianity is a life that is marked more by joy than by mourning. The bridegroom was taken, and we do still regularly commemorate that fact. But he is with us, always, and unto the end of the age, just as he promised (see Matthew 28:20).
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