Mark 2:18-22 Don’t fast when the bridegroom is here!
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 4, 2018 Mark 2:18-22
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees would fast regularly. Some people came and asked Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” Jesus replied, “The wedding guests can’t fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they can’t fast. But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.” “No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth. If he does, the patch pulls away from it—the new from the old—and a worse tear is made. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
(Revelation of God) John was popular, yet he was the doom and gloom type of preacher, telling people to repent because they were sinful and having his disciples frequently fast and dressing strangely and publicly condemning a leader for adultery and calling the scribes and Pharisees vipers. He was not soft and cuddly, yet people flocked to him. On the other hand, Jesus’ message was about loving God and our neighbors. He healed people. He performed miracles like feeding the 5000. He ate with sinners and forgave them, yet many people were uncomfortable around Him, perhaps more so than with John. Why? Could it be that it is easier to accept that we are terrible sinners than it is to accept that God loves us and wants us to return to Him? Is it easier to say that I’m rotten and that’s just the way I am than to say God loves me and wants me to be more than I am. When people looked at John, they saw a strange funny man who told them specific actions to do in order to gain success (triumph over their enemies, the Romans, through the Messiah). When people looked at Jesus, they saw more than they expected and could not come to terms with it. They saw a carpenter who was also a teacher. They saw a dirty sweaty man who was also the Son of God. He was a contradiction of every stereotype and expectation that they had, and His very existence forced them to rethink everything they had taken for granted in their lives. Then, His message turned upside down all the scriptures that they thought they understood. His representation of God collided with their understanding of who God is, and they just couldn’t come to terms with the fact that He was right, and they were wrong. They had grown so comfortable with the old imperfect flawed ways that they resisted Jesus’ healing which could make them whole. They would rather be sick than be made whole.
Jesus viewed Himself as the groom. He saw himself as someone who spread joy. He thought that being with Him would be a cause of happiness, and being without Him of sadness. While Jesus was alive with them, the disciples were with the source of light and life.
(Understanding the Passage) F. F. Bruce’s commentary says “Jesus incurred further criticism on the grounds of His disciples not joining in with other pious Jews who were observing a fast (although not one prescribed in the law of Moses, which only ordained fasting on the Day of Atonement)” (page 1160).
We often think of fasting and prayer together, but Jesus separated the two. While he was with His disciples, He never exhorted them to fast, but He always pushed them to pray to the Father. Prayer is communication that should be done whether happy or sad, or any other condition. Fasting is a technique to make us physically more open to and aware of God, but it is not the communication itself. Somehow, this makes me associate fasting with negative feelings-sadness, loneliness, and feelings of separation. Fasting prepares us, but prayer sustains and strengthens us.
I have wrong ideas associated with fasting from history. Historically, fasting was a way of punishing ourselves before God did. If we treated ourselves badly enough, God would forgive us. We are sinful and feel bad about it mentally, so we fast to punish ourselves until God will accept us again. It’s sort of like the little boy holding his breath to make the parent sorry. I know these ideas are totally wrong, but they color my emotional reaction to fasting. My other problem is that because of my low-blood sugar, I have never been able to think clearly when I don’t have food, so I don’t understand the idea that fasting makes us closer to God. I don’t know if I am missing something, or if my physical issues simply do not result in the same reaction that normal humans have when they fast. I need to talk to someone who fasts regularly for religious regions (but not the Muslim kind of fasting) to understand the benefits better because right now all I truly know personally are the downsides of fasting.
(Application) Jesus did not oppose fasting. He actually said that there would come a time when His followers would need to fast. However, He also showed that there are times where fasting would be wrong. As a Christian, I have to be careful to see the situation as it is and react appropriately. Too many Christians have pat answers that they spout out in all situations without seeing if it is the appropriate response. When God is filling us, it is not the appropriate time to fast. However, I think that when we cannot seem to connect to God, we should fast in order to place our body and mind in a place where we are ready to connect with God.
Jesus compares acting inappropriately to using the wrong patch on a garment which ends up making a bad problem even worse. Sometimes when there is a bad situation with a person or in the church, we make the problem worse with our solution instead of better. Jesus also compared putting new wine into old wineskins to acting inappropriately for the situation. The new wine is great, but if we package it in the same old ideas and theories, we will ruin it. Just as the new wine will break out of the old wineskin, fresh, bubbly, exciting ways of connecting with Jesus, will not mix with tired old messages. There will be an explosion. Another way of looking at it is that we have to be renewed when we connect to Jesus. If we try to remain the same old person, the message and our self will conflict, and the message will be ruined by our inability to be flexible and transformed. We must be open to God’s transformation.
(Prayer) Please help me to be open to Your leading and willing to change as You introduce new ideas and ways of being into my life. Help me to give the appropriate response to those around me rather than pat automatic answers and ways of acting. I ask to receive those bubbly, fresh, exciting ways of connecting with You rather than staying with the tired old worn-out methods and attitudes that I have leaned on in the past. Be with me in all that I do.