Friday, March 7, 2003
Friday After Ash Wednesday

1st Reading: Is 58:1-9
Gospel: Mt 9:14-15

The disciples of John came to Jesus with the question, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?”

Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast.”

Commentary

There is a time for everything-this, the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament tells us. It could very well have been what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples of John the Baptist who asked why his disciples weren’t fasting. Jesus in turn responds by reminding them that everything they do, religious actions included are done for a reason. Fasting is a sign of mourning, a manifestation of sorrow because of the absence of someone one holds dear, or the loss of something one regards as valuable. The one whom the disciples hold dear—Jesus himself—is still with them, and thus they have no reason to mourn, and no reason to fast. But with words that forebode the ominous events to come, Jesus also says, “time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast.” But that was yet to come, for the moment, he and his disciples had to live each moment in joy and friendship.

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