Luke 5:33-35

³³ Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?” ³⁴ And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

Commentary

The scribes and Pharisees having failed to find just grounds to accuse Jesus of wronging doing for eating and drinking with sinners who want to eat and drink with Him. Now change the unsettling subject of their own need for salvation born out of their own accusations to Him, to that of “religious service.” By asking Jesus why he and his disciples eat, while the disciples of John the Baptist and those of the Pharisees fast often and make prayers (vs. 33). Now Jesus’ acquaints His Person being with his disciples as that of a bridegroom with his friends, and so Jesus asks them, can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them (vs. 34). Obviously, you can not, because that is a time of great celebration and joy and fasting then would be completely out of place. Equally then when Jesus’ disciples have the Person of God with them, fasting would likewise be completely out of place for them, just as it would be for us all at the Great Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God. Now fasting at its heart is to be a means by which one draws near to God; whether out of contrition over ones sins, or sorrow over a loss, or simply as a means to draw nearer to God; true fasting at its heart is seeking the heart and will of God, and thus as one draws nearer to God one is very often moved with a greater sense of compassion towards the needs around them, consider Isaiah 58), and thus it is never meant to be a means to try to impress Him, as the Pharisees were so accustomed to try to do, to make themselves appear more contrite before God then other men. None of which draws one any nearer to God, or moves God any nearer to you, if that is why one is fasting. Because obligatory fasting rarely if ever draws anyone any nearer to God, or makes one anymore compassionate towards others, as they clearly demonstrate. Jesus then having defended His disciples right to eat and drink, and thus enjoy themselves with Him, while He is with Him, also says that: “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.” Thus, in a veiled prophecy, Jesus foretells His own arrest and death at their hands, and thus He says that in those days the disciples will fast, for that will not be a time of joy and celebration, as it now is, but a time of great sorrow and mourning.

Scripture Quotations

New King James Version. (1982): Thomas Nelson