As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
In yesterday's Gospel we saw a particular instance of the necessity of the wedding guests to feast in the presence of the bridegroom. In the wedding feast at Cana a human bridegroom was nearly embarrassed as his wine supply ran dry. But Jesus was the divine bridegroom who was about the business of espousing humanity to himself. And though the hour at not yet come from the consummation of that feast it was nevertheless a close enough parallel that he refused to let even the earthly image of the future heavenly feast fall short. Jesus the bridegroom was present and it was therefore appropriate and necessary to celebrate with superabundant joy. The amount of wine he provided was probably far more than enough for the guests over the remaining days of the celebration, just as when he later multiplied the loaves there were many baskets left over. Perhaps events like this are what led others to criticize Jesus for being "a glutton and a drunkard" (see Luke 7:34). But this apparent excess was predicted by the prophet Joel when he said, "in that day the mountains shall drip with sweet wine" (see Joel 3:18).
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
Just as the presence of the bridegroom called for celebrations far surpassing anything of a natural order so too did his absence demand something deeper of his disciples than merely routine and ritualized fasting. Human celebrations, by being properly ordered to God, could take on greater characteristics than what they could possess naturally. But what would this mean in the absence of the bridegroom, when his presence, which, though never truly gone, became obscured? His Passion would be the first instance when he was taken from us. And suffering of all sorts is now meant to be a participation in his Passion. This means there are times when to indulge in extreme celebration would actually obscure the truth of redemption. We won't say that there are ever times when we ought to lose our peace or underlying joy. But we will say that sometimes our motives for indulgence are to be a distraction from something to which God would have us pay attention. We can't participate in redeeming the suffering of the world by ignoring it. But at such times we can take comfort knowing that God saves the best of the wine of his joy, peace, and presence for last.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Jesus is more than a mere update or addendum to the Old Testament. He is not merely one consideration among many. He is now the interpretive paradigm by which the whole thing must be understand. We see this borne out when these disciples of John and of the Pharisees try to understand Jesus and his relation to fasting without seeing him at the center of the question. It just leads them to confusion. Still, how wonderful that his creatures come to him with questions about how they ought to more perfectly practice penance and yet Jesus responds with an invitation to a wedding feast, a heavenly banquet, and a cup overflowing with joy (see Psalm 23:5).
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