Mark 2:18-22 – Questions About Fasting
Do you notice that these guys keeping asking Jesus why? They are obviously not getting the message that He is ushering in a whole knew way of thinking and living. Apparently, the Jews still had periods of fasting over calamities in the past like the destruction of the Temple hundreds of years before. They seemed to be living a life of mourning. I have just uncovered a YouTube video of some Pharisees discussing their difficult lives.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/VDxKm1mH6_M]
In the Sermon on the mount, Jesus warned us to not be anxious for tomorrow. I think here he is sort of saying, forget all garbage in the past. Not only that, He is saying let go of all the garbage from today because today is a day full of hope because He has brought us a whole new day. The Kingdom is here and you cannot process this new day with old ways of thinking.
Last week, I noticed that the gallon of milk in the fridge was about empty so I picked up a new one. When I was getting it out of the car, I dropped it. I did not notice that the bottle had broken until I got inside and it was dripping all over my leg (The same leg I had just poured my coffee on, I was now officially a latte). I did not want to lose that gallon of milk, so I poured out the old milk and poured in the new. Who would figure that just the residual old milk would cause the new milk to go bad 10 days before the new expiration date? So not only did I lose the new milk, I lost the rest of the old milk and a bowl of cereal.
Most days, I am pretty sure that I have some residual milk inside of me that has past expiration date. Regret hangs on to spoil any new joy that God pours into me and pretty much wrecks a day full of hope. On other days, I rest on the laurels of yesterdays actions and leave no room for the blessings of today.
Jesus has a perfectly sized, newly resurrected day with new manna waiting for me each and every morning. There is no room for yesterday’s expired blessings and problems nor tomorrows worries.
Father thank you for this new day with all of it’s hope and opportunity. Fill me up with a batch of You and let me empty it all out on a world that needs you so that I am ready for a new batch tomorrow.