In Luke 5:33-35 the Pharisees approached Jesus with questions about the behavior of His disciples. “And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. When we read this passage we think immediately about the up coming death of Jesus. He will be taken away from them. His reference to fasting may, however, be a little more veiled. To understand fully what Jesus is talking about, we need to look at John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” Jesus is clearly making the connection between Himself and the Life giving power of God. We see in Matthew 4:4 that Jesus puts forth a similar comment as He combats the wiles of Satan in the wilderness. Jesus answered Satan saying, It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He is the son of God, the Bread of Heaven, who has been sent to give new life to mankind. John 1:1-4 crystalizes the picture. “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus is the Word of God; He is the Bread of Life. We must partake of His Word, His Life, His presence in our life daily or we die. The disciples of Jesus did not fast because He was with them daily. They were feeding on His words and basking in His example for Life every waking moment of every day. They were revived, energized and given new hope for the future. They were learning and thriving under the Lord’s direction; but Jesus knew that at His death and for the 10 days following His ascension from the earth, they would be fasting because He would be gone. Jesus (the Word) would not be in their hearing and that silence was, in deed, a fast. To be coninued........
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 01:03:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015