About Mark: This section illustrates Mark's fascination with food and eating, that we see throughout his Gospel. If, as many think, Mark was the son in the house of the Upper Room (see Acts 12:12), then the last supper may have been the one time that Mark saw Jesus in person with his disciples. Certainly Mark continually keeps track of the eating needs and habits of his characters. The previous story told of a dinner at Matthew's house. The next story is again about the hunger of the disciples and how it is satisfied.
Bible: Mark 2:18-22, The 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 Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? 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 on that day. 21 "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."
Comment: A WEDDING NOT A FUNERAL
Christianity is like new cloth, and new wine. Jesus explains that Christianity is NOT a patch-up of Judaism, nor a fill-up. That would not work (2:21-22). It must be a new thing altogether. The form that Christianity will take will not be a national institution like Judaism. It will be a totally new phenomenon, an international family.
A wedding feast is the best image to sum up Christianity (2:19). Think of it. The celebration, the enjoyment, the feast, the fellowship, as well as the more sombre moments when serious commitments are made or absent friends remembered. New family relationships are explored and enjoyed. Family, fellowship, feast! These are the authentic characteristics of Christian discipleship.
Discipleship today: Putting this in today’s setting, we are all well aware of the killjoy image that many attach to Christianity. But that is not how Jesus described it. Yes, there would be times of mourning. But just as the Jewish Festivals in the Old Testament were intended to be festive (what "festival" means), they could too easily be turned into dour dirges. Relating to God should have all the features of healthy celebration. It cannot be legislated and enforced, as the Pharisees might have preferred.
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