But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
This saying stands in a chapter that also tells of the scribes and Pharisees charging Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, with breaking the Sabbath. Christ is the bridegroom and His disciples are the children of the bridechamber. While He was present with them, teaching them daily and sustaining their faith, fasting and mourning after the manner of the Pharisees was not fitting, and they had no reason to fast.
The taking away of the bridegroom means the time when Christ approached the cross and descended into humiliation. He was arrested by wicked men, rejected by His own nation clamoring for His blood, mocked by Herod and his soldiers with the crown of thorns and purple robe and reed, scourged as a criminal, rejected in favor of Barabbas, and lifted on the cross to die as a malefactor. The predicted mourning fell especially upon the disciples when they saw Him rejected, condemned, mocked, scourged, and crucified, and their hopes and courage failed.
After He went back to Heaven and left them to face the world's unbelief and darkness, fasting and mourning would be fitting. Days of trial and temptation would bring sorrow when the presence of the Comforter was not clearly discerned, and faith would be tried. The church would fast and mourn during His absence until He returned a second time.
This saying stands in a chapter that also tells of the scribes and Pharisees charging Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, with breaking the Sabbath.
Christ is the bridegroom and His disciples are the children of the bridechamber.
While He was present with them, teaching them daily and sustaining their faith, fasting and mourning after the manner of the Pharisees was not fitting, and they had no reason to fast.
The taking away of the bridegroom means the time when Christ approached the cross and descended into humiliation.
He was arrested by wicked men, rejected by His own nation clamoring for His blood, mocked by Herod and his soldiers with the crown of thorns and purple robe and reed, scourged as a criminal, rejected in favor of Barabbas, and lifted on the cross to die as a malefactor.
The predicted mourning fell especially upon the disciples when they saw Him rejected, condemned, mocked, scourged, and crucified, and their hopes and courage failed.
After He went back to Heaven and left them to face the world's unbelief and darkness, fasting and mourning would be fitting.
Days of trial and temptation would bring sorrow when the presence of the Comforter was not clearly discerned, and faith would be tried.
The church would fast and mourn during His absence until He returned a second time.