The Gospel of Mark 2:18-22
18 And John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the attendants of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, that patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
After Jesus had confronted the Scribes of the Pharisees
about His purpose, that He came to save sinners others came to Him to ask
another question regarding fasting. Jesus' disciples were seen not fasting as
the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees ritually do and so it was
asked by these disciples, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the
Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus’ response to them has two parts, first He asks and
answers, “Can the attendants of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is
with them? So 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 in that day.” For while Jesus is with them, that is God incarnated,
there is no reason for them to fast.
For what is the reason to fast? “fasting is an exercise
suited to afflictive dispensations of Providence, and ought to be proportioned
to its season.” (Poole) meaning those who fast afflict themselves from that
which they have, to achieve greater discipline spiritually, physically, or
mentally. In Christ, we fast to bring ourselves closer in relationship to Yahweh
and strength in our faith to believe His word. Got Questions.org explains it
this way, “the purpose of fasting should be to take your eyes off the things of
this world to focus completely on God. Fasting is a way to demonstrate to God,
and to ourselves, that we are serious about our relationship with Him. Fasting
helps us gain a new perspective and a renewed reliance upon God.”
Jesus is with His disciples, and you can’t get more focused on
God outside of His physical presence. But Jesus goes on to say that the day
will come when He, the Bridegroom will be taken from them. Jesus is talking
about the days of His death, burial, and ascension to the Father. When Jesus
leaves His disciples, He ascends to heaven and sits at the right hand of God
with all authority in all of Heaven and on Earth. Fasting is usually associated
with prayer and thus, the disciples of Jesus from the Apostles to today will
fast combined with prayer to focus their relationship on Jesus, the bridegroom.
Second, Jesus explains to them that such requirements are
not to be placed on new believers. “We should not expect to find new wine in
old bottles, or old wine in new bottles. “A place for everything, and
everything in its place,” is not only a rule for the home and the merchant’s
counting-house, but it is also a rule which should be observed in the Church of
Christ; for God, as a God of order, always puts things in their proper places,
and in due order.” (Spurgeon) This is the same with cloth, you don’t sew a
patch on your old acid-washed jeans with new material because it will just rip
off, and you don’t put weakened old material on a new pair of jeans because it
will wear through and fall apart.
Using these examples, Jesus explains that both John’s disciples
and the Pharisees' fasting rituals and traditions cannot be done while He is
present and that He will not burden His disciples because they are new to the faith.
Not to mention that the rituals and traditions of the Pharisees tend to burden people
with unrealistic expectations.
I recently watched a comedy sketch that explains this
unrealistic expectation today. When you know the truth and it’s right in front
of you it is insane to expect a person to lie just to appease a personal desire.
It’s not just burdensome, it’s immoral and unkind. Placing expectations upon
people to lie and disregard the truth is tyrannical.
The ideologies of today barge in and demand that they take
precedence over truth and state “Let us take counsel together against Yahweh
and His Anointed and tear that which binds us apart and cast those cords away
from us.” In their logic, they define what is right by their consensus only to
discover that with our truth, they only devise lies that enslave all of mankind
as they force you into their image.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus
said, “Come to me those who are heavily laden and overburdened for my yoke is
light.” Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me
to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the
captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are
oppressed,” and Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly
My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Therefore, as it is written in Galatians 5:1 “It was for
freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, stand firm and do not be subject
again to a yoke of slavery.” What are you a slave to? What lies have you
believed? How can you look in a mirror and say to yourself I am not a slave? Jesus
said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of
sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son does remain
forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Do you consider yourself a good person? Do you say to
yourself, “I have not sinned.” Understand this, Jesus came to save the lost, to
save sinners. Sinners are people who know in their hearts that they are vile,
rebellious, haters of God who are lost and in need of a savior, because their
sins will send them to hell where they will burn for eternity in the lake of
fire, they know they need Jesus.
And upon the calling of Christ who seeks you this day, He
can forgive you of your sins and restore you whole again, for He has the
authority and the power of redemption. You who are lost in the ideologies of
this world, imprisoned by the doctrines of men, slaves to your sexual desires
and perversions, and pursuits of the flesh and mind, who rebel at the created
order of God and make yourselves the determiner of your death and destruction.
Jesus seeks you right now and brings life to all who repent
and believe. Jesus the Messiah has risen from the dead, conquering it, and
lives. He is in your midst with us, but you cannot see. You are blind and your
heart is darkened thus we bring the light that we proclaim.
Death will soon take you and when you die you will face
judgment for your sins. God is just and cannot by His nature abide by sin nor
dismiss it. Every act of rebellion and transgression against God is wrapped up
in sin, yet you have foolishly chosen to do it because you love your sin, rather
than follow Christ and His righteousness that would truly enrich you.
From the Ten Commandments, we have false worship,
idolatry, misusing God’s name and living vain lives, violating the Sabbath,
dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying/false witness, and
coveting.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5–7), Jesus took some of these same sins to a new level. Regarding
murder, Jesus said, “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to
judgment.... But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of
hell” (Matthew
5:22).
Regarding adultery, Jesus said, “Anyone who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
This includes men lusting other men and women lusting other women.
In Galatians
5:19-21, we are told, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
In addition to the
various lists that can be found in Scripture, we are told in 1 John
5:17 that “all wrongdoing is sin.” Not only does the Bible tell
us the things not to do, but in James 4:17,
we are informed that anyone “who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do
it, sins.”
God is just and He must bring recompense to every sinner,
and you are that sinner, and you cannot comprehend your sins to root them
all out and make yourself right with God. Neither by obeying the Law nor by deciding
that you are right with God. Only God can make you right with Him and He sent
His son Jesus to live that perfect life without sin, die, and rise on the third
day alive to atone for your sins.
Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all the sins of all who
believe in Him. He suffered the totality
of God’s Wrath upon Himself that every sinner deserves, willingly, so that
those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God.
As it is written, “God, being rich in mercy because of
His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been
saved—and raised us with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches
of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been
saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not of
works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:5-8
Turn away from your unrighteous sinful ways which lead to
death and turn toward and follow Jesus which leads to life.
Comments
Post a Comment