Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
This time we have a sincere question. It appears to be public knowledge that Jesus and his disciples didn’t fast. Also, we know from the other synoptic gospels that Jesus had a reputation as a ‘drunkard and a glutton’ – because he didn’t fast, yes, but also because he ate with tax collectors and sinners (see the previous passage). Jesus obviously claims to be a religious leader of sorts, so the questions seems natural enough: why don’t your disciples fast as John’s do and as the Pharisees do?
Jesus’ reply is that fasting is nullified in the presence of God and his kingdom. What was the purpose of fasting? Partly to move closer to God through rejection of earthly things, partly as an act of contrition for sin, and partly – and for a zealous Jew perhaps especially – to solemnly prepare for the coming of God’s messiah and the day of salvation. As such, it was inexplicable that a highly religious group such as Jesus’ disciples did not fast.
But they don’t. Why? Because Jesus’ disciples, ordinary and unimpressive as they are, are already in the presence of God and already participating in the feast of God’s kingdom. We have noted that to fast was essentially to mourn the absence of God and his kingdom. With Jesus, God and his kingdom are made present. Such an event merits a feast, a celebration. Hence Jesus’ use of wedding imagery – why forego food in the presence of the bridegroom?
This episode acts as an illustration for the previous one, where Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. For the Pharisees, fasting was a means of purification in anticipation of the coming kingdom of God. It was a way to usher in the promised kingdom. But in Jesus, the kingdom of God has arrived, and belongs not to the worthy but the sinful and unworthy. Jesus’ disciples do not fast to bring the kingdom because the kingdom is already present; and Jesus explicitly welcomes the unworthy by ‘feasting’ with the tax collectors and public sinners. This indicates a kingdom of grace.
Finally, there is an assumption here that after Jesus is ‘taken away’ fasting will once again be an appropriate discipline. The ‘days’ when he is taken away probably refer principally to the holy days of Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday, and secondarily to the ‘days’ of the Church (even up to now) after Jesus’ ascension. As we await the final ‘feast’, then, fasting remains for us a legitimate spiritual practice that anticipates what arrived in Jesus but awaits its full consummation at the time of his return.