In the last teaching we learned that fasting came out of original sin and the examples we looked at were all Old Testament, so you might say that now Jesus has died on the cross, forgiven our sin, why do we still fast? Therefore let’s see what Jesus himself and the New Testament say about fasting. In Mark 2:18-22 Jesus is asked by the Pharisees why His disciples do not fast and His reply really is quite startling.
"Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."
Mark 2:19-20
Jesus was referring to His death and that after he died then His disciples would fast, therefore as was alluded to before there is great significance in fasting which doesn't just have to do with sin and contradiction to original sin. We see in 1 Corinthians 7:5 that Paul talks about fasting, it is obviously not a practise or a tradition that went out with Jesus’ death but one that is to be continued in line with the Spirit of God and His prompting.
Sara Jukes
2006-02-27