NOTES for Mar 2:19-20

Apparently, Jesus is against “the calendar” of devotion, against the reduction of cheerful relations with God into the execution of preset schedules. From this point of view, fasting has value only when we feel that Christ’s presence is insufficient in our live, and fasting is senseless when the presence of God near us becomes clear. Such as the Sabbath was established for Man, and not Man for the Sabbath, so fasting is made for Man, and not Man for fasting. But, on the other hand, can we ever say that His presence is sufficient to us? “Wait moment, you are wonderful “? Then, it comes out that fasting can be meaningful in any moment. The Church’s experience which helps us to establish a certain rhythm to our hesitation “fasting- no fasting” brings us out of this paradox. The Church preeminently helps, and it is necessary not to perceive it somehow differently.

In speaking with the Pharisees, who considered themselves guardians of tradition and champions of strict observance of all religious norms and rules, Jesus constantly returns them to the true, original meaning of those norms. The same is true of fasting.

Indeed, the original meaning of fasting in the Semitic world, and therefore among the Jews, came down to mourning, whether mourning for a deceased relative or mourning connected with some tragic event on a national scale. Later, already in the postexilic period, fasting in Judaism also became a sign of repentance for one's personal sins. Still later it turned into a kind of pious religious custom.

Of course, formally the connection between fasting and repentance was preserved in Gospel times, but by then it was precisely and chiefly formal: special days were established for fasting, two during the week, and practically everyone was expected to fast unless he wanted to be known as an impious person and a violator of religious traditions.

Jesus, as we can see, returns fasting to its original meaning: one can and should fast when God leaves and the Kingdom grows distant. But for the inhabitants of the Kingdom, when they experience its life in fullness, fasting is out of the question. The point here is not piety or impiety, but the fact that in this case fasting simply loses its real meaning. What remains is only an external, purely religious formality that in essence has no relation to spiritual life.

But religious formalities are not needed in the Kingdom: by themselves they are spiritually fruitless, and the life of the Kingdom cannot fit into them, just as new wine cannot fit into an old wineskin. The wine ferments, and the worn-out wineskin cannot withstand it. The life of the Kingdom will find new forms for itself on earth, in the world being transformed, in place of the old ones, and there is nothing tragic in this: after all, tradition too has meaning only as an expression and embodiment of spiritual life and spiritual experience. Fasting too is appropriate in its own place and in its own time.

Of course, in a world that is being transformed but has not yet been transformed completely, the inhabitants of the Kingdom will have not only joys, but sorrows as well. There is a time for everything, including fasting. The main thing is that fasting not turn into an empty formality. The same is true of all other religious traditions.

Most Old Testament mentions of fasting tell us the following. First, it is a way to preserve purity, that is, a way to be perfected and become better. Second, and this appears much more often, people fasted in order to turn away coming misfortunes from themselves. We may recall the residents of Nineveh, who heeded the preaching of the prophet Jonah (Jonah 3:5), and Queen Esther (Esther 4:16), who asked the whole Jewish people to fast together with her. Both of these meanings bring us back to the idea that fasting was a sacrifice to God, undertaken with a view to one outcome of events or another. But most importantly, fasting, like everything else any Jew did, was meant to bring the coming of the Messiah closer.

But Christ's preaching, His death on the cross, and His Resurrection renew the words of the prophet Isaiah about the true meaning of fasting (Isa 58:6-7): mercy and love. Because only such a fast returns us to Him, makes us at least a little like Him, and restores the image of God to the human person.

Now the promise has been fulfilled and Christ has come to humanity, and every action of ours is filled with another meaning. The old wineskins of waiting for salvation burst from the wine of the new Good News: yes, salvation has come; yes, Christ is with us. For our sake, out of love for people, He endured suffering on the cross in order to redeem us from slavery to sin.

And then something altogether different is required of us Christians: to become His presence in the world, to loose the bonds of injustice, to show mercy toward others, to forget ourselves, and to live in love.

Why does the evangelist Mark, writing down for Romans the content of the apostle Peter's preaching, transmit this conversation of Christ with the Pharisees? And why did Peter tell about it? Clearly, the point is that the subject of the discussion is characteristic not only of the Pharisees, but belongs to the religious consciousness of humanity as a whole.

The point is that in any spirituality, besides God's revelation, which may in fact be absent, for example in some cannibalistic orgiastic cults, there is a human element. First, it includes what we did not hear clearly in Revelation or were unable to understand in it and therefore fill in by our own reasoning. And the Almighty said that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. An example is the petty vindictiveness that is often attributed to the Deity. Second, in any spirituality, including biblical spirituality, both Old Testament and New Testament, there is what God determines in order to help us grow, in the apostle's words, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. This includes various means of spiritual life, as well as a noticeable share of ritual practice.

But a human being is inclined to deify these human components of religion. Therefore Christ's words, "No one pours new wine into old wineskins..." in today's Gospel reading are not so much a rebuke to the Pharisees as a warning to us when we lack the courage to worship in spirit and truth.

If we listen carefully to Christ's words, it becomes clear that the new wine of the New Covenant differs in principle from the old wine of the Old Covenant: the form of worship of Christ's disciples is determined by the fact that the whole fullness of the Godhead has been revealed to us bodily.

Using a modern example, one can put it this way. A person who pours new wine into old wineskins, to whom shall we compare him? He is like a driver who carefully watches the speedometer, the fuel and temperature gauges, and listens to the engine. But he is not looking at the road...

Today's reading is a short but rich description of Jesus' preaching in His native Galilee, where He, as is clear, often preached not only in houses and synagogues, but also in the open air (v. 13; by "sea" here is meant not the Mediterranean Sea, but Lake Gennesaret). People whose reputation in the society of believers was not very good often found themselves in the same house with Him and at the same table (v. 15).

In the Gospels, "tax collectors" are collectors of taxes and tribute, like Levi son of Alphaeus, who is mentioned in the passage (v. 14). In Jewish society they were considered traitors, because they collected taxes for the treasury of the Roman Empire, under whose power Palestine was at that time, and many regarded them as accomplices of the occupying authorities. It is no wonder that such respected people among believers as the scribes and Pharisees did not care for this kind of company (v. 16).

In the Gospels, "Pharisees" are members of special religious brotherhoods that existed at that time around the synagogues. They were the most active part of the Synagogue; the Pharisees devoted much time to preaching, not only among Jews but often among Gentiles, to charity, and to religious education. With good reason they considered themselves the core of the synagogue community, and being near people who, from this point of view, had no standing, people known for an obviously unrighteous way of life, of course had to offend them. Besides, they did not consider such people worthy of fellowship with a Teacher like Jesus, and they considered it shameful for Him to sit at one table with them.

As for Jesus Himself, on the contrary, He considers such people worthy not of rejection, but of help: each of them can repent of his sins and turn to God (v. 17). And He does not treat religious life as formally as many religious people did at that time. For Him both fasting and the Sabbath are not ends in themselves, but means for establishing a relationship with God, so necessary for the human person, who always remains the main goal (vv. 27-28). Such a position, of course, inevitably had to lead to conflict with religious formalists, for whom any departures from established norms and rules are unacceptable by definition. So the image of new wine poured into an old wineskin, or skins (v. 22), could hardly have produced anything in them except irritation.

In today's passage, three episodes can be distinguished: the calling of Levi son of Alphaeus, the conversation with the disciples of the Pharisees and of John the Baptist about fasting, and the conversation with the Pharisees about keeping the Sabbath. In all three episodes, the growing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees is shown. The Pharisees cannot accept the newness in relations with God and with people that Christ offers them. In their view, the main thing is the letter of the law. They condemn Jesus because He associates with tax collectors, who collected taxes for Rome. Such people were considered traitors and great sinners. For a pious person, it was considered unacceptable to sit at the same table with them. But for Christ something else proves important: the thirst for salvation that makes many tax collectors and sinners follow Him. Levi leaves his profitable place and immediately follows Jesus.

Jesus' attitude toward fasting is also incomprehensible to the Pharisees. Fasting is an ascetic means to which ascetics have resorted since ancient times in the hope of drawing near to God. But Christ's disciples cannot fast, because the One toward whom they strive is already with them. The time for fasting will come when Christ is no longer nearby. Christ compares the Pharisees' lack of understanding to the way old cloth cannot be mended with a patch of new cloth, and old, fragile wineskins cannot hold new wine. In order to receive the new relationships that Jesus offers, people themselves must be renewed.

Thus Christ places the Old Testament law about the Sabbath not above the human being, but at the service of the human being. For God, the human being is more important. The Sabbath has no value in itself, but was established for the human being. Christ, God become man, the "Lord of the Sabbath," affirms the primacy of the human being over the letter of the law, replacing it with relationships of love and faith.