SCRIPTURE: Mark 2:18-22 (ESV)
DATE: 3-29-18
It’s good to be with all of you at Gateway Church this Maundy Thursday. And one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too.
ANNOUNCE THE TEXT
And we’re going to continue in the gospel of Mark together this evening. So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to Mark chapter two. We’ll be looking at verses eighteen through twenty-two together.
Here are the words found in Mark chapter two — beginning in verse eighteen.
“Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people 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 wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 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. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins — and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22 ESV)
SERMON INTRODUCTION
So in our text we have a short exchange between Jesus and some people who ask Him about fasting. And what’s interesting is that — though this story starts out about fasting — fasting isn’t really the point of the story. So we’re going to learn a little bit about fasting, but this isn’t a sermon on fasting.
And really the plot line of our story includes the question we have from the people about fasting, Jesus’ answer to them, and then an illustration that Jesus gives to emphasize the point of His answer.
There’s a question. An answer. And then an illustration Jesus gives to make His answer very vivid and memorable to the people He’s talking with.
And let me just give you the bottom line — the big idea — the main point of what we learn from this story.
PROPOSITION
Feasting on Jesus leads to living a completely different kind of life. Feasting on Jesus — and by that I mean having an encounter with Christ that opens your eyes and heart and mind — to see the truth of who He is — feasting on Jesus leads to a completely different kind of life.
Let’s begin by looking at the question the people ask Jesus. Let’s look at verse eighteen.
MAIN POINT 1
“Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him (the “him” being Jesus and they asked him…), “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” (Mark 2:18 ESV)
So let’s talk about fasting. A basic definition of fasting is “to go without food as a sign of repentance, grief, or devotion to God.” And it’s usually done in connection with prayer — fasting and prayer usually go together in the Bible.
In fact — in our country — our National Day of Prayer — was originally a National Day of Prayer and Fasting. In the spring, our country set aside a day to pray and fast and then — in the fall — we set aside a day for prayer and thanksgiving — which we all know as Thanksgiving. Something I find interesting is that we’ve taken fasting out of our National Day of Prayer and have taken prayer out of our National Day of Being Thankful. But enough about us.
In the Jewish tradition — which is the tradition of the people who are asking Jesus this question — the Jewish tradition demanded a fast once a year on a day known as the Day of Atonement. So all Jews were required to fast on this day of the year. But by Jesus’ time — more devout Jews would fast twice a week — on Mondays and Thursdays — and these fasts would last for twelve hours — from sunrise to sunset.
Something else interesting about fasting is that it doesn’t come up all that often in the Bible. For instance, the only mention of Jesus fasting is in the story of Him being tested in the wilderness by Satan. Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days — there wasn’t any food around for Him to eat — so He fasted while He prayed in the wilderness — as He prepared for His encounter with Satan.
But as our story tells us, fasting was seen as a common enough religious activity that His disciples’ lack of fasting caused the people to ask Jesus: Why don’t Your disciples fast?
And truthfully, we can’t tell if it’s an honest question or one with an ulterior motive, but we do know — that for Jewish people — fasting was very important. It was one of the three pillars of their faith along with prayer and almsgiving.
And though many Christians today pray, fewer give financially to the church, and even fewer practice fasting. Now there’s no command to fast in the New Testament, but Jesus did say — while talking to His disciples — “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18 ESV)
And with these words Jesus implies that His followers will fast even if it’s not commanded of them. And history tells us that early on — in the Christian church — devout Christians would fast twice a week — just like their Jewish counterparts.
So to summarize what we’ve just learned about fasting — fasting is the act of going without food as a sign of repentance, grief, or devotion to God. And it’s usually done in connection with prayer. It was an important part of the Jewish faith and Jesus Himself implied that His disciples would also practice fasting.
So now let’s look at Jesus’ answer to their question. And His answer is what shows us that this story isn’t really about fasting, but about something else. Look with me in verse nineteen.
MAIN POINT 2
“And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” (Mark 2:19-20 ESV)
So Jesus answers their question with a question of His own — a genius way of getting His point across. And if you’re familiar with the gospels, you know this is something Jesus does all of the time: He answers a question with a question of His own.
And here He uses a common experience to drive home His point — Jesus uses a wedding. Now weddings are still a special event in our culture — even with the division we have in our country over who should be married — there’s still something special — something seemingly sacred — about a wedding.
But for all of the hoopla that goes into weddings today — well — we hardly compare to weddings in Jesus’ day.
It all began with the engagement, which could be years long. And during these years there would be a building up of anticipation to the wedding feast. And when the wedding finally arrived — it wasn’t just a day long activity — the wedding feast lasted a week.
Today, we sit through a few hours — with a ceremony and reception — so the bride and groom can quickly run off to their honeymoon. But not in Jesus’ day. The wedding would last a week — it was a spectacular time of celebration and joy — it was a week of feasting — not fasting.
And the wedding was an occasion to wear special clothes and for the drinking of lots of wine. As one Bible commentator put it, “In a hard wrought life, the wedding week was the happiest week in a man’s life…There was actually a rabbinic rule which said, ‘All in attendance…are relieved of all religious observances which would lessen their joy.’”
Now remember, the Rabbis were some pretty strict religious dudes, but even they took a religious timeout for weddings. “Don’t let anything hold you back from experiencing the joy that’s found in the feast of a wedding.”
And this is the imagery Jesus uses in order to answer the question He’s been asked — why don’t your disciples fast?
“Fast,” Jesus thought. “How can they possibly fast when I — the groom of the most important wedding of all time — is here present with them? This isn’t a time for fasting — this is a time for feasting!”
“But a time for fasting will come,” Jesus says — as He alludes to His death. “The day is coming when I will be taken from my disciples and on that day they will fast.”
Now in some ways this has confused many Christians — because we’re not sure if we’re living in a time of feasting or fasting. I mean, Jesus isn’t here with us — like He was with the twelve disciples — right — or is He?
It’s important to understand that the early church didn’t view Jesus as being taken away from them. Yes, Jesus was taken from them and crucified on the cross, but three days later the tomb was empty — for He had risen from the dead by the power of God — so the early church saw their time of fasting as lasting only three days.
A few weeks after His resurrection, Jesus’ disciples are with Him and they see Him ascend to Heaven — that’s why we call it His ascension — He literally rose into the air as He departed from Earth to go to Heaven.
But Jesus gave His disciples a promise — a promise the readers of Mark’s gospel would’ve remembered. And the promise was this — though He would depart from them physically — Jesus would always be with His disciples spiritually. And He promised to send the Holy Spirit to be with them as their Teacher, Helper, and Guide.
So — and this is important — the early Christians didn’t view Jesus as being taken away from them once He was in Heaven. They didn’t live in sorrow and fasting due to His absence physically. No, they lived in great joy as they feasted upon His continual presence with them.
The time for fasting — because of Christ’s absence — came and went with His death and resurrection.
Christians no longer need to fast as they mourn that Christ is no longer with them. Instead Christians are to feast — even when they go without food — and rejoice because Christ is always present with them.
And this really is the heart of the story we’re looking at. For those of us who are believers — we’re to be feasting on Christ. We’re to be joyful because Christ is present with us. He hasn’t abandoned us. He hasn’t left us on our own.
Will there be times in our life when we hunger for God? Absolutely! But we hunger for God not because He is absent from us. We hunger for God precisely because we’ve feasted on the presence of Christ and desire greater joy in Jesus than we’ve ever experienced before. We have an appetite for connecting to Jesus. We have a desire to experience His presence — in a greater and richer way — in our lives.
And this feasting on Christ — and the joy it gives — should be evident to people all around us. There should be a drastically different posture for people who are feasting on Christ compared to those who are spiritually starving for Him.
As an example, imagine how feasting on Christ should change our view of our time of gathered worship. Having feasted on Christ all week long, we come together to celebrate — to combine our collective feasting on Christ and finding greater joy in Him — as we gather in anticipation of the great wedding feast we’ll experience for all eternity. And we get to do this week in and week out — this gathering to worship God. So who would want to miss out on an opportunity of feasting like that?
That’s why we’re celebrating communion more regularly this year. Communion is a time for us to gather together and spiritually feast on Christ’s body and blood as we remember what He’s done for us — and experience His continual presence with us — as we look forward to His promised return to us.
But how different is this picture than what’s so often experienced in our churches?
Columnist Erma Bombeck once told of an experience she had while sitting in church one Sunday.
A small child turned around and began to smile at the people behind her. The little girl was just smiling — not making any sounds. But when her mother noticed, she said in a whisper, “Stop that grinning — you’re in church,” and she gave her daughter a swat, and said, “That’s better!” And Erma concluded that some people come to church looking like they had just read the will of their rich aunt and learned that she had given everything to her pet hamster!
That’s a good picture of how many people come to church — stupid aunt — she gave the inheritance to her hamster! But that’s not how you come to church if you’ve feasted on Christ all week long — no when you come to church — you know you’re more like the hamster who’s received an infinitely valuable inheritance that you could not earn and do not deserve. And somebody’s thinking, “Did Hanson just call me a hamster?” Yup.
But because of Christ’s presence in our life, we’re to be people who are spiritually feasting — not fasting.
And now to prove His point — to drive it home — Jesus gives an illustration of how different the lives are of those who are feasting on Him compared to those who are starving for Him — between those who are feasting on Christ and those who are fasting from Him.
Look with me in verse twenty-one.
MAIN POINT 3
“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins — and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:21-22 ESV)
Jesus ends the conversation with two illustrations and He’s very clever in His choice of illustrations.
Remember earlier when I told you that wedding feasts were an important occasion — so important — in fact — that they were an occasion to wear special clothes and where there would be drinking of lots of wine?
Clothes and wine, which just so happen to be the two illustrations Jesus uses to emphasize the truth He’s teaching the crowd — that feasting on Him drastically changes how a person lives. It changes their entire outlook on life. They’re no longer spiritually fasting — they’re spiritually feasting on the eternal joy and strength and hope that’s found in Him.
So — Jesus says — you don’t take a new piece of cloth and use it to patch an old pair of clothes. The reason being is that when the patch is washed it will shrink just like new fabric does. But the fabric in the old garment has already done all of the shrinking it will ever do. So when the patched up garment is washed, the new cloth in the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole into the garment than the hole it was covering up.
Same with wine. The reason why you don’t put new wine into old wineskins is because new wine will ferment. And as it ferments it will expand the wineskin. And an old wineskin is dried out and unable to handle the expanding that new wine will do. So you put new wine into new skins that haven’t dried out yet and are able to withstand the expansion that the fermentation process will cause.
And here’s His point. Jesus is the new patch. He’s the new wine. And when He comes into a person’s life, He can’t just patch up your old life like it’s an old garment full of holes. And He can’t just kind of fit into your old life because — like new wine — He can’t fit into dried out old skins — He needs something that’s going to expand and grow with Him.
So the truth Jesus is teaching is pretty obvious, right?
Jesus isn’t a patch job on your old messed up life. He isn’t Someone who will fit neatly into your life either. With Jesus it’s all or nothing. Jesus is going to tear up your old life — throw out your old clothes — and give you brand new ones — all so that something new can begin in you. He’s not going to expand your old life, but He’s going to give you a completely new one, so you grow into the person God has created you to be.
So don’t think that following Jesus doesn’t mean change. It’s old to new. It’s like comparing a dried up old wineskin to a new wineskin kind of change. It’s an old raggedy torn up garment to a new elegant garment kind of transformation. It’s the difference between spiritually fasting for Christ and spiritually feasting on Him.
And so the point of Jesus’ answer isn’t to try and convince us to make a little room in our lives for Him — but — as it’s been said,
“The question is whether Christians will forsake business as usual and join the wedding celebration; whether they will become entirely new receptacles for the expanding fermentation of Jesus and the gospel in their lives.”
CONCLUSION
Feasting on Jesus leads to a completely different kind of life that’s lived for God. It’s a life of joy. It’s a life of hope. It’s a life of love. It’s a life of selfless service. It’s a life of gratitude. It’s a life of generosity. It’s a life that’s eternally focused. It’s a full life because your soul is satisfied having feasted on Christ — because you’ve found your soul’s fulfillment and delight in Him.
So I have to ask. What’s the state of your soul’s satisfaction this evening? Is your soul feasting on Christ or fasting for Him? Are you spiritually full or spiritually starving? Has your soul nibbled at the cheap food this world offers — while you’ve ignored the wedding feast you’ve been invited to?
Jesus is inviting everyone here to feast on Him. It begins by admitting that you’ve been trying to satisfy your soul in places other than Him — but know this — He’s willing to forgive you.
Maybe you need to trust God’s Spirit who’s working in you right now — that small voice telling you that your soul can find satisfaction in Christ alone. And then receive the gift of life God is offering you. A new life lived for Christ. Where Christ has your affections, is the primary influence over the decisions you make, the words you speak, and even the things you do.
But please remember that Christ isn’t satisfied with being just a patch job on your old life. And — honestly — when you really encounter Jesus — you won’t want Him to do a patch job anyway. You’ll willingly die to that old life so you can be raised to a new life — a life focused on, living for, and finding satisfaction in Christ alone.
So let me ask again. What’s the state of your soul? Is your soul feasting on Christ or fasting for Him?
Christ offers Himself to all of us — all of us are being offered an invitation to the great wedding feast of Heaven. All of us are invited to celebrate who Jesus is and what He’s done — all while anticipating His victorious return. All of us are being invited to feast on Him. Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I pray that everyone who hears my voice will be receptive to what You’ve said to us through Your Word. I ask You to remind us often that we are free to feast on Christ. That we’ve been offered the satisfaction for our spiritual hunger. That we’ve been invited to celebrate in the great wedding feast. So Father — I pray that we — Your people — would find freedom as we feast on this Good News. In Jesus’ soul satisfying name we pray. Amen.
BENEDICTION
May you go with a satisfied soul having feasted on Christ. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.