NEW FASTING: OUR HUNGER AND THIRST FOR CHRIST

So here's a brief summary of last week's sermon. In today's passage, Jesus is confronted by his opponents. Apparently, Jesus' diciples failed to practice fasting like the disciples of John and the Pharisees. Fasting as we know is abstinence from some, or all, food, or water, or both. So then why didn't the disciples fast? And further, why do we fast as believers and what is the goal behind our fasting?

Christ here does not prohibit fasting. In fact, he tells us that his diciples will fast later on. The issue at hand was not fasting itself but it was the way the Pharisees and the disciples of John fasted. Jesus refutes the fasting of the Pharisees b/c of their self-rigtheousness. The Pharisees fasted voluntarily on Mondays and Thursdays as a way of attaining righteousness. Here Jesus condemns thier self-righteous attitude and their hypocrisy.

But what about the fasting of John's disciples? In all likeness, the fasting of John's disciples refers to the fasting of the old covenant. As we have learned, John was the last representative of the old covenant (chapter 1). If so, then we have to ask what was the fasting in the old covenant? In the OT, fasting, particularly on the Day of Atonement, calls for a need for repentance. The saints of the OT fasted in fear of God's judgment as they repented for their sins before the Lord.

But Jesus' disciples do not fast like the Pharisees and they do not fast like the OT saints. Their fasting is different. And this is the point! In today's passage, Jesus does away the old and he gives us something new: The old fasting is gone but a new fasting is given. Consider the analogies given by Jesus in today's passage: Wedding feast, a new cloth and a new wine. What is the common thread? There is an element of 'incompatibility." Wedding feast and fasting are incompatible; a new cloth and old garment are incompatible; a new wine and old wineskin are incompatible. Yes, the old fasting and the new fasting are incompatible.

Our Christian fasting has a different dimension. The goal of fasting is not to earn righteousness or to receive forgiveness but rather it is Christ and Christ alone. Jesus says, "They (his disciples) will not fast when they are with the bridegroom but they will fast again when he is taken away." The phrase 'when he is taken away,' has two-fold meaning. One, it refers to a time when Jesus is arrested and tried and crucified on the cross. And there on the cross, Jesus ultimately fulfills the old covenant fasting. Yes, he hungers and he thirsts and he fasts for the sake of our sin on the cross, does he not? Jesus says, "I thirst" on the cross so that he may take away our sin once for all. And this is why we fast as believers in the Lord. We fast so that we may now come to confess our faith in the One who is the Bread of Heaven and who is the Living Water. We fast so that we might be drawn to Christ; we fast so that we might eat of Him and we might drink of Him.

And this is the second meaning of "when he is taken away." Here we refer to our condition as a church of Christ in between comings of Christ. Yes, Jesus is with us in the Spirit but he is not with us in the flesh. So we fast as a church of Christ b/c we believe in the Son of God as our Saviour. We fast as a church b/c we know that one day we will be with the Lord in heaven. John Piper said, "We hunger so that we'd know what it means to hunger after Christ who is the Bread from Heaven. We thirst so that we'd know what it means to thirst after Christ who is the Living Water." Do you see how radically different our fasting is in the Lord?

So do fast, but more so, do hunger and thirst after your Lord. Are you truly content in the Lord? Is He sufficient enough for you in your life? How many of us are willing to say, "I need not food and water as long as I have Christ"? May the Lord bless you and challenge you.

PB