You Can't Fast at a Wedding

The sermon explored Mark chapter 2, verses 18 through 22, where Jesus was asked why his disciples did not fast like the disciples of John and the Pharisees. Rather than answering the surface question, Jesus answered the deeper one -- the question underneath the question. He revealed himself as the bridegroom, the one for whom all the waiting and longing had been preparing. His presence, not a calendar or a religious tradition, is what determines the character of true devotion. Through three vivid images -- a wedding feast, a patched garment, and new wine in fresh wineskins -- Jesus called his followers away from devotion built on waiting or earning, and toward devotion shaped by his very presence with us. As we came to the Lord's table, we were invited to receive that truth afresh.