ON YOUR MARK: WEEK 2 DAY 5

MARK 2:18-22

A QUESTION ABOUT FASTING

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

The other day, I was officiating a wedding, and right before the ceremony began, a beautiful bald eagle flew right over the lake in front of where the ceremony was happening. We joked that America was in full support of this new marriage.

Like you and I, Jesus loved His family and the people of His nation. In this text, Jesus was telling the people of his homeland that what was happening with His ministry was a new thing, the old covenant was being fulfilled and change was here whether they wanted it or not. The people of Israel would need to let God do this new thing His way or else their relationship with God would rupture, and they would tear away from Him. Have you ever had something that you were more loyal to than God? When God calls you, if you do not submit yourself to His plan, that will be the rupture point in your relationship with Him. God will not force you to this new place, but as we see with Jesus, He warns us when change is coming and reminds us that His ways are higher. Will you trust Him?