14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
Following the calling of Matthew the Tax-Collector to become Matthew the Apostle, the Pharisees question why he eats with such people, tax-collectors and sinners. The Pharisees were the largest “sect” if you could call it that of Second Temple Judaism. They were at odds with people like Saint John the Baptist and his disciples. Todays readings now show that Jesus is not on any human side, yes he has much in common with all these different sects but he is here in representation of the God the Father, not man. Saint John the Baptist was sent to be his forerunner but many of his disciples did not understand this.
There is in fact an enduring group to the modern day who claim to be disciples of John the Baptist, they call themselves Mandaeans, originally living in Judea, they were driven out to Ephesus but modern political conflicts in and around the middle east have caused them to live in the large quantities in Europe.
So despite their large differences with the Pharisees, the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees fast. Meaning they deny themselves of food as a practice of piety. This confuses the John’s disciples so they ask Jesus why this is so. We should understand that this isn’t just an act of piety practiced by these two groups but was a universal concept among Jews going back through Old Testament literature. Fasting was a work of penance or mourning of death or sin. Everyone did it but Jesus during this part of his ministry does not. We should also remember that before this ministry of his began he did fast for 40 days in the desert. So it’s not that the act shouldn’t be done but in this exact moment, Jesus is not whereas the other groups are.
15 And Jesus said to 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 responds with rhetorical question with parabolic language, that explains more than just why he and his disciples are not fasting but what the nature of his earthly ministry is really about. First of all we have stated that fasting is about denying oneself for sake of mourning a death or penance for sin. Both these things are related to the Fall. Death came into the world through Sin. Fasting is a human act that conforms oneself to God in the hope of being free of these things.
Jesus starts talking about weddings. He talks about what he is doing here as if it is all apart of a wedding preparation and that his disciples are the weddings guests with himself being the Bridegroom. A wedding is of twofold importance, it is covenantal in nature and creates life. Sin is a breaking of covenant, Jesus is making a new covenant. All the while that the Bridegroom Jesus is here, they should not fast because they should enjoy his company but soon he will give himself entirely to his bride the Church, he will say from the cross “It is consummated”. They will not have him like they did before and they will fast.
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