+ The days of the bridegroom being taken away are fast approaching and the disciples will know full well the meaning of what Jesus is saying here – and so will the Pharisees who are posing the question. But this is an unusual Bridegroom and this will be an unusual fasting and the result will be an unusual experience of loss followed by a profound experience of joy!
The Bridegroom is the Son of God / Son of Man who has chosen to make mankind his Bride. The fasting involved means the denial of anything that would interfere in that process – anything that would make the bride less than perfect, anything that would make the bride less desirable to the groom, anything that would jeopardize the eternal salvation of the bride which hangs in the balance.
A great but temporary loss would occur on a Friday afternoon in April when the Bridegroom would apparently be dead; the groom the man would indeed be dead, but the groom the God would still be alive, visiting the dead, the just, the sinners and freeing those eligible to be freed.
Then on the third day the dead God / Man would be raised by his heavenly Father and our life would be restored, our sins would be forgiven, our lives would now have enormous meaning – if we so choose to live them as such.
The fasting that we can do as we watch Jesus go through what he went through for us this Lent is to do his work: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked, and not turning our backs on our own. This is the kind of fasting that will please the Lord and will make what he went through for us have value and meaning!
Let us this day of Lent seek good and not evil so that we may live and the Lord will be with us.
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