[QTVOTD] What is Fasting?

“Then the disciples of John [the Baptist…who is currently in jail] came to Jesus, inquiring, Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, [that is, abstain from food and drink as a religious exercise], but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus replied to them, Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is still with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Matthew 9:14-15 ->me: I have spent considerable time on this passage today and have even spent time in the prayer closet asking the Lord to give me wisdom and understanding through His Holy Spirit to take away application. What Jesus is saying here is that Fasting is an act of mourning; the disciples of Jesus need not mourn because Jesus is right there with them. Additionally, Jesus is bringing a new economy of relationship with Himself. It is no longer necessary to perform the ceremonial acts of fasting for atonement or anything like that as the new life in Christ will come upon His death and resurrection. What I am led to believe, through reading other passages like Acts 13:2-3, is that fasting is now an act of mourning/distress OR can be used to acknowledge our weakness before our Almighty King to petition the Holy Spirit for His wisdom and guidance in the face of a big decision (like the elders in Acts 13). Jesus went on to say in verse 16 that trying to attach a new piece of unshrunken cloth to a tattered and worn garment will only cause the tear you are trying to mend, to only get worse…meaning don’t try to intermix the new relationship through Jesus with the Jewish traditions and rituals of the Mosaic/Levitical Law. Just make a new full garment out of the new cloth God provides us through His Son Jesus…so, I carry on in my desire to glorify and reflect Christ and in so doing, I receive the sanctification God gives as a new garment to enter heaven with.