#39 Lu. 5:33-35 JESUS QUESTIONED ABOUT FASTING AND PRAYER

Introduction:

    In our previous text Matthew gave a great banquet in honor of Jesus.
Jesus was the guest of honor and the disciples of the Lord were present.
The large number of publicans were his guests.  The scribes and Pharisees
were not present at the feast, but apparently they heard about it.  They
were quite critical of Jesus for eating with the publicans with whom they
themselves had no social dealings whatsoever.  Jesus silenced their
criticism by responding that He had not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.
    Now somewhat as an aftermath of that banquet certain ones came to Jesus
with a question about fasting and prayer.  Mark tells us that this time the
scribes and Pharisees brought some of the disciples of John the Baptist
along with them to present the question to Jesus.

I.  Jesus questioned by the disciples of John along with the scribes and
    Pharisees

    V. 33, "And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often,
and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat
and drink?  I think that in order to better understand the question from the
standpoint of John's disciples, we should understand that some of John's
disciples did not know that Jesus is the Christ.  They had all been told
about the soon coming of the Christ, but they had not all been told that
Jesus is the Christ.  They had all professed to believe in the Christ, but
they had not all come to understand that Jesus is the Christ.  They did
know, however, that Jesus had a great following of people and they
considered Him to be a great man of God.
    There was one thing that had always puzzled them about Jesus and this
banquet at the home of Matthew had called it to their attention once again.
They had wondered why Jesus did not require His disciples to fast often.
They thought that He ought to fast and pray real often and that He ought to
require His disciples to do the same.
    Now Jesus did fast once a year and His disciples fasted with Him.  The
Law of Moses required the people of Israel to fast once each year on the Day
of Atonement.  Since Jesus kept the law we know that He fasted on that day.
He would most certainly require His disciples to also keep that fast in
obedience to the Law of Moses.
    However, Jesus did not fast often as did the disciples of John the
Baptist.  I am not certain just why the disciples of John fasted so often.
The law only required them to fast once each year.  It is likely that they
also fasted on the five additional times per year that had become
traditional days of fasting in Israel.  Even that, however, could not truly
be said to be often and Luke said that John's disciples fasted often.  Some
have supposed that they were fasting because of their grief at the arrest
and imprisonment of John.  That could be the explanation.  I do not know.
    At any rate, Jesus did not fast often.  So far as we can tell the only
regular time He had for fasting was on the Day of Atonement  as required by
law of Moses.  Neither did Jesus teach His disciples to fast often.  So far
as we can tell the only regular time they had for fasting was on the annual
Day of Atonement.
    Now the question is:  Why would Jesus do any different than what those
before Him had been doing?  Why did He not fast often and why did He not
require His disciples to fast often?  The disciples of John were making and
honest inquiry because they really wanted to know the answer.
    The Pharisees likewise fasted often.  They, too, observed the annual
fast on the Day of Atonement as required by the Law of Moses.  They, too,
observed the five additional annual fasts which had been added by tradition.
In their thinking, any tradition of the fathers was just as binding as the
law of God.  But in addition to all of that, the Pharisees fasted twice
every week.  They fasted every second and fifth day of the week.  With them,
this too, had become tradition and to them was just as binding as the law of
Moses.  To them it was unthinkable that Jesus would dare to do differently
than they did.  They took it as a personal insult that Jesus would dare to
follow any other procedure than that which they followed.  So since they
fasted often, they thought Jesus and His disciples ought to do the same
thing.
    So while the disciples of John were making an honest inquiry, the
Pharisees were more or less asking, "Why would you dare to do different than
we do?  Don't you know that if you do things different than what we do it,
that you are wrong?  It's wrong to do things different than what we do it."
That was their attitude.  I know a lot of people today who still have that
same attitude.  If you do things a little different than they do then
something has got be wrong with you because they just could not possibly be
wrong.

II.  The answer that Jesus gave to their question

    V. 34, "And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the
bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?"  Jesus used an
example from every day life to answer the inquirers.  He used an example
from a wedding.  It was the custom in that day that when a wedding would
take place, a group of young men would serve as attendants to the bridegroom
and accompany the bridegroom to the home of the father of the bride to get
the bride.  There they would then be joined by a group of young maidens
serving as attendants to the bride and they would all go together to the
home of the bridegroom where great festivities would continue for several
days.  No sadness of any kind would be expressed during those days of
festivity.  The only thing that could bring an expression of sadness was a
grave sickness or death in the immediate family of the bride or bridegroom.
But as long as everything was well with the bride and bridegroom, it was
considered inappropriate for anyone to express signs of grief.
    The idea is that even so it would be just as inappropriate for the
disciples of Christ to show signs of grief as long as He was right there
with them.  Being in His presence daily, seeing Him do miracles almost
daily, hearing Him preach and teach daily was such a blessed privilege and
such a happy time for them that it would be inappropriate for them to fast
except on that one day per year as required by the Law of Moses.
    The time would come when His disciples would fast.  There would be a
time when it would be appropriate for them to show grief.  V. 35, "But the
days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then
shall they fast in those days."  Now what Jesus is talking about here is His
arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion.  The disciples of Jesus would be
truly grieved then and it would be impossible for them not to express their
grief.  It would be in that time and the days immediately following that His
disciples would fast.
    Now this statement of Jesus is the only evidence that we have that they
fasted after His arrest and crucifixion.  We have no statement in the
records which deal with that period of time showing that they actually did
fast.  But Jesus said that they would and that is all that we need.  We can
be absolutely certain that they did because Jesus said that they would.

III.  An explanation about the bridegroom and about prayer

    Now let me say just a word about the term "bridegroom."  A lot of people
take this term and immediately assume that this passage is making a
prediction about the Marriage of the Lamb to the Glory Bride as referred to
in the book of Revelation.  Let me say that this passage has nothing to do
with the Glory Bride.  In this text Jesus calls His disciples "the children
of the bridechamber."  He is talking about those young men who accompany the
bridegroom and the bride.  He does not refer to His disciples as being the
Bride at all in this passage.  This passage has absolutely no reference
whatsoever to the Glory Bride of Revelation.  All that Jesus is doing here
is answer the question that was asked Him about fasting and prayer.
When the time would come that Jesus is arrested, brought to trial and
crucified, then the disciples of Jesus would be deeply disturbed and they
would fast.
    Now let me observe that Jesus says nothing here in His answer about
prayer.  The question did not deal with prayer in general.  Jesus did pray
and He prayed often.  He taught His disciples to pray often.  But He did not
teach them that they had to fast in order to have their prayers answered.
The kind of prayer that Jesus was being asked about was fasting in
connection with the prayer in order to bring about the desired answer to the
prayer.  The Pharisees would fast and paint dark shadows on their faces and
make themselves look very haggard.  They would do this to impress men.  If
you want an answer to your prayer, it is not men that you need to impress.
You need to impress God.  God is the One who can hear and answer your
prayer.  No man can do that.  So fasting the way the Pharisees fasted was
nothing more than hypocrisy.  It was to make a show of sincerity when there
was no sincerity in the heart.

IV.  The crux of the whole matter

    But let us get down to the heart of the whole matter.  The point is that
both the disciples of John and the Pharisees were wrong in what they thought
God required of them.  They thought that God required them to keep the Law
of Moses.  Yet the law which they were trying to keep was not the Law of
Moses.  The law, as they thought of it, was a polluted law.  The law of
Moses only required fasting once each year.  The disciples of John and the
Pharisees thought one was required by the law to fast often.  The law they
were trying to keep had the traditions of men added to the law and they were
considering the traditions of men to be a part of the law of God.
    The point that you and I need to see is that men cannot be accepted
before God by the keeping of the law.  What men need is a Savior and that is
why God has sent Jesus into the world.  Jesus made a reference to His death
when He talked about the bridegroom being taken away from His disciples.  He
would be taken away and crucified.  To be more specific He would die on the
cross of Calvary.  He would shed His blood as a sacrifice for the sins of
men.  Men will never be accepted before God by the keeping of the law.  They
need a blood sacrifice for their sins.  The Scripture says that without the
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.  It also says that the blood
that is shed under the law of Moses cannot take away sins.  The blood of
bulls and goats cannot take away sin.  It is the blood of Jesus Christ which
was shed on Calvary's cross that can take away sin.
    When a lost sinner comes to realize that he does not deserve to be
accepted before God and that he cannot be accepted before God by his own
works of righteousness, it is then that he can be saved.  It is when he
turns to God and trusts in Jesus Christ the Son of God who died on the cross
that he will be saved.
    Now what I want you to see is that God did not put this passage of
Scripture in the Bible just to fill it up and give us something to read and
talk about.  God is trying to get us to see how lost sinners can get right
with God and stay out of the fires of hell.  God is trying to get lost
sinners right here in this congregation to see that the Law of Moses is not
going to get them into heaven.  You can try to keep the law all you please
and that is not going to work.  God loves you and wants to save you, but
there is no way in the world that He is going to save you as long as you try
get to heaven by keeping the law of Moses.  He wants to save you, but there
is only one way for you to get saved and that is by trusting in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
    I am going to ask a few questions that I want you to answer, please.
First of all:  Do you really want to be saved?  Do you really care whether
or not you die and go to hell?  Does it really bother you enough that you
really want to be saved?
    Now if you want to be saved ........ if you REALLY WANT TO BE
SAVED ..... you can be.  But you have got to want to be saved badly enough
that you will stop haggling with God about what you thing ought to be
required of you and you will simply let God tell you what He does require of
you.  Now here is the second question:  Are you ready to listen to God and
let God tell you how to get saved?  If so, here is the answer as found in
the Bible.  The Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I
do to be saved?"  They answered and said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved..."  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting
life." Rom. 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved."

Conclusion:

    Now here comes the punch line:  Are you ready to call on Jesus and trust
Him to take care of your soul in all eternity?  If you are ready to trust
Jesus then I am going to ask you to step out and come forward during this
invitation hymn.  You can actually be saved right where you are, but if you
will step out and come forward you will publicly give honor and glory to the
Lord for saving your soul.  Won't you come?
    There may be those who are already saved who wish to unite with this
church and give your life to Him.  We invite you to step out and come
forward and present yourself to this church for membership.  Won't you come.