Observing how the disciples of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees are accustomed to fast, some people object and ask Jesus why his own disciples do not. The pious Jews fast twice—at the beginning and middle part of the week. They would declare a period of fast every time the nation faces grave dangers and calamities. They fast on Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, the most important holy day in the Jewish faith. For some rabbis, fasting would hasten the coming of the Messiah.

Jesus’ disciples have caught the attention of certain Jews since they behave differently. While the disciples fast on certain occasions like other people normally do, they are not exactly known for being ascetics. Jesus—and surely also his disciples—is even called “a glutton and a drunkard” (Mt 11:19) by his detractors because he joins people in table fellowship. Jesus clarifies his position by revealing himself as the bridegroom among the wedding guests. A grand wedding between God and his people will take place in heaven, and for now the bridegroom—the Messiah— tries to woo the bride. With Jesus’ coming, the joy of the wedding is being symbolized and anticipated.

Samuel said to Saul: “Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” Saul replied, “Speak!” Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem, are you not leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’ Why then have you disobeyed the Lord? You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the Lord.” Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the Lord and fulfill the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban. But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the Lord their God in Gilgal.” But Samuel said: “Does the Lord so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams. For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

“To the upright I will show the saving power of God.”

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 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. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2026,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.