Gospel Meditation #178

GOSPEL MEDITATION #178

Mark 2:18-22 – A Question About Fasting

  1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. The Day of Atonement – Leviticus 23:26-32 – was a day of fasting. For how long and both food and drink or food only – we do not know the actual nature of the practice.
  8. Fasting took on a life of its own and became so strange that Jesus commented on in Matthew 6:16-18 and pointed out that it had became a religious show.
  9. The Prophet Isaiah, 58:1-14, had done much the same nearly 8 centuries earlier.
  10. The Pharisees and John the Baptist’s followers fasted. Jesus’ followers did not so came the “WHY? Question.
  11. It was intended to fix blame, but Jesus gave three quick answers.
  12. He, the bridegroom was with the guests and a celebration was underway – no fasting.
  13. Unshrunk cloth is not to be put on old clothes as a patch when washed, a tear will be the result– Jesus’ words and deeds are unshrunk or new cloth.
  14. Old wineskins, already stretched by fermenting juice, must be used only one time. New wine requires new wineskins.
  15. Fasting was something that developed over the centuries and is not among the commandments. But religious people like rules and rituals so fasting took on a life of its own.
  16. Jesus points to a time, verse 20, when His followers will fast. That fast is described in Mark 8:34.