Mar 2:18-22

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him,
“Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

“But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast in that day.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment;
otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

The fact that the disciples of John and the Pharisees were concerned (irritated?) enough to ask the question is interesting.

Their hearts were being revealed.
The Pharisees fasting was but a religious ritual.
Perhaps John’s disciples were sincere…or getting “caught up” in the resentment.

Either way, they wanted to know why “Your disciples do not fast”.

Jesus’ answer?

Profound.
Destructive of the religious norm and standard of the day.
A subtle profession of Who He was/is.

As Jesus often (usually?) did, he answered via example.

The attendants of the bridegroom do not fast when the bridegroom is with them? No?

As fact, as long as the bridegroom is with them they cannot fast.

Jesus was declaring Himself to be the Bridegroom.

But, Bridegroom of what?

The balance of the Word reveals it to us, though the disciples at that moment did not know.

2 Co 11:2
For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself.
I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.


Rev 19:7
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

Rev 21:9-11

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain,
and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone,
as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

Well that is interesting.
Jerusalem, the bride.

The church, the bride.

If you believe, you are the Bride…

…to be continued…

The Word Podcast - Today’s Episode…
https://dalemoore.podbean.com/