Matthew 9:14-17 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Fasting was a very big part of the Jewish religion. Everyone fasted annually on the Day of Atonement and Israelites were commanded to fast when dire national circumstances were involved, when solutions were needed, such as in times of drought, epidemics, war, or crop failures. Private fasting and some religious fasting carried on by the Pharisees happened twice a week: Monday and Thursday. These fasts might be perfunctory or sometimes based on serious needs such as sickness. Most of the time they were discretionary, not a part of some dogma or regulation. But for the Pharisees and the hyper religious, fasting became a custom for them. This act indicated they were more religious than the average person, holding a special position with God because of their dedication to him. The Pharisee praying in the Temple believed he was special to God because of his religious activities. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: "God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” (Luke 18:9-12) The Pharisee believed his religious activity brought righteousness to him, but the tax collector, a well-known sinner in the Jewish community, placed his life on the altar in desperation to the God of the living and dead. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (13) He placed his life on the altar, pleading to God for mercy and grace. His heart was completely involved with his prayer, but the Pharisee placed his deeds on the altar, his perfunctory service, as acceptable to a righteous God. Who went away justified before God and who went away without God’s blessing? God accepted the humble man who laid down his life and rejected the man of fasting and tithe giving. The Pharisee’s life was filled with religious fervor and discipline, but his heart was in it for his own justification and not God’s glory. Fasting was an important exercise in the Old Testament, mentioned many times, demanded of the people many times, but fasting in the New Testament is hardly mentioned. When it is mentioned, fasting is often during times of great transition. We see Jesus fasting in the wilderness before his ministry. We see leaders of the church praying and fasting before sending Paul and Barnabas out for ministry. Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:1-3) This is the beginning of Paul’s dynamic ministry to not only the Jews but to the rest of the world: the Gentiles. God had already decided Paul’s ministry, declared to him at his conversion. But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16) But now, the Christian leadership needed affirmation of his call. Paul’s call was affirmed in prayer and fasting in the city of Antioch. They sent Paul and Barnabas out on their first missionary journey. Fasting is a powerful way of knowing God’s voice, for it is laying aside the concerns of the body for the will of God. We do not see fasting as a great concern in the nascent church, but fasting is mentioned in selecting leaders of the early church. These leaders were pathfinders for the Christian work who needed God’s direction in their words and activities.
Christianity is not a religion of rituals, regulations and laws but involves an intimate relationship with God himself. This relationship is implemented through the power of the Holy Spirit who closely interacts with our own spirits. He has come to abide in us, to make a permanent home in our beings. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. (1 John 4:13-16) In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was not an abiding Spirit, except for a few such as the prophets that He came upon to speak for God, but his presence is in us who name the name of Christ. We do see his presence in the Old Testament with the tribes of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness: in the fire by night and the cloud by day. But his visible presence stopped when they went over Jordan to the Promised Land. But for us who are IN CHRIST, his presence is in us every minute of the day. His voice is real, and his reflection comes out through our lives through justice, love, mercy and grace for others. If we fail to image God in our lives and words, we are walking in disobedience and open to discipline. In that case fasting might be necessary to redirect our paths and change the direction of our lives. The aspect of fasting is not a substitute for being sensitive to the voice of God. Religious activity does not replace obedience to the Holy Spirit inside us. We should do what we know is right. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. (James 4:17) If the voice of God is telling us to be kind, generous, full of mercy and grace, and then we reject that compelling voice and turn back to the flesh and its spirit, we will be bitter, angry, judgmental, and troubled, producing a well of sin not the refreshing works of God. The water we spew out from us will be black with the darkness of sin. If we are imbued with the well of the Holy Spirit, we will have living water flowing out of our innermost being. The Spirit is God in us and it is the living water that people need for their souls, not the water that comes from fleshly pursuits and ideas. The latter is dead, produced by dead men and women. The former is eternal life. Jesus told the woman that He asked for water, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. (John 4:13-14) The wilderness dwellers of this world need that water of hope, of abundant life: eternal life. As sweet water, not bitter or alkaline, we have something that will refresh the souls of men. Fasting will not give us that; laws and regulations will not give us that. Only the Spirit of God in us will make us a fountain of sweet, drinkable water for a thirsty world.
Jesus fulfilled the old way of serving God by laws and regulations. He is the only one to completely satisfy the holiness of God, that which the laws and regulations reflect. He is the Son of God—the complete man. After his resurrection, Jesus is the first fruit from death to a new life with God. We who are in the raiment of finite flesh will follow him from death to resurrection. He is our elder brother in this act, and He is not ashamed to introduce us to his Father. As He is in the family of God so also will we be known as God’s children with new names. All of this requires a new creation, a born-again experience. The old garment, the old wineskin will not hold the new work inside of us. The powerful kinetic Spirit of God will tear the old garment or explode the old wineskin. When the people of old met the Spirit of God or the Lord, they fell down in fear. Their old selves could not face the holiness of God. They fell in fear because flesh is too weak to hold the presence of God. The priest fled the Temple when the Holy Spirit entered. No flesh can face God in its sinful form. Jesus said that we must be new creatures. He said that no man is good, for the flesh has been permanently damaged. The old will go down to the grave, for it has no ability to hold the presence of God. Jesus said that no expert in sewing or no winemaker would put the old with the new. They do not go together; there is no harmony between the old and new. No, the new work of Jesus abiding in us must be put in a new creature. His voice must be put in the newly born, alive in Christ forevermore. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. Fasting does not make newborns; regulations do not make newborns; laws do not make newborns; only the blood of Jesus makes newborns. He spilled his blood for every man and woman. He has life gushing out of him for all people. All we need to do is believe that Jesus’ blood is for our cleansing, for our new life. He gave up his perfect life as a sacrifice so that we might be made perfect through his work on the cross. IN HIM, we have found perfection: the old is put away for good; the new is for everlasting life in the presence of God. As children of God with the voice of God in us, we need to listen attentively to everything God says. Of course, we do not go outside of the scriptures, for the scriptures are the parameters of God’s voice. But his will should be our will, his life our life, his service our service. We might need to fast to focus more clearly on God and his will in us, but because of the Holy Spirit in us, we have every opportunity to know God and his ways. The new cloth has come, the new wineskins have arrived. As born-agains we have the Spirit of God present in our lives. Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:5-7) Yes, our flesh will give way to death, but our new life IN CHRIST will never give way to death. We will enter the kingdom of God under the precious auspices of Christ’s work for us. An eternal solution has been made for us as children of God, not of the flesh. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55)
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