Lenten Meditation: Friday, March 3, 2023
Matthew 9:10-17
Today, the disciples of John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, ask Jesus why they and the Pharisees fast, while Jesus’ disciples do not fast. (The Pharisees were a rigorous Jewish “denomination,” to use a modern term.) Jesus gives them an analogy. He says that he is like a groom and his life with his disciples is like a wedding reception. A wedding reception is not the time to fast. The time to fast is after the groom leaves and the party ends.
We modern-day disciples of Jesus believe that he is alive and with us always. He will never leave. Why then do we fast during Lent? Shouldn’t we treat every day like a wedding reception?
During Lent, we fast because we know that we can get so caught up in the food and drink and dancing that we lose sight of the groom. We can forget why we’re having the party in the first place. Lent is like a time out. A time when we let the glass go dry, when we push the chair away from the table, when we stop the music, when we look for the groom. He hasn’t left. He will never leave. Sometimes, though, we lose track of him, and we lose track of why we’re having the party.
Is there something that you might fast from today— an activity, an object, a mental process — that is distracting you from the groom rather than helping you to celebrate his presence with you?