At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?” Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast. “No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes because the patch tears away the cloth and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wineskins would burst, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, people pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are kept safe.” (Matthew 9:14-17, CEB)
So we can not mourn while the groom is with us, and we can fast when Jesus is no longer with us.
But is not Jesus with us even now?
So there were 3 days, from the time of his crucifixion until Easter, when we could have fasted and mourned. Jesus told the disciples on the mountain that he would be with them always until the end of the age, and he sent us the Spirit and is always with us.
So, can/should we fast?
Jesus is always with us, so we should not mourn but rejoice always.
aSacredRebel 