Not Knowing what Time it Is : Mark: 2:18-22 (8)

Fasting and Feasting (2:18-20)

The rock group Chicago (yes, I know I’m dating myself) long ago had a hit song titled “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is.” That’s the question at issue in these Markan stories and, indeed, for the gospel as a whole. The New Exodus has been launched. Decision-time is here! And Jesus is at the center of it all!

His popularity with the people and scrutiny by the authorities continues to grow. Pharisees fasted on Mondays and Thursday and following the protocol of accepted (but not scriptural tradition).

Fasting in connection with prayer, penitence, and preparation for new ventures has been practiced from early times in many cultures and religions. The Bible recognizes it as regular in mourning for the dead (1 Samuel 31.13), expressions of penitence (Nehemiah 9.1), intercession (2 Samuel 12.16), and prayer for God’s aid (Judges 20.26). Fasting was undertaken for personal reasons (Psalm 25.13), as a national act in the face of calamity (Joel 2.15), or as a periodic liturgical observance (Zechariah 8.19); normally it involved abstinence from all food to show dependence on God and submission to his will. The great national and liturgical fast was that of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16.29–34), but fasting was generally recognized, especially after the exile, as a meritorious pious practice and as a potent aid to prayer (Tobit 12.8; Luke 2.37). Later, the author of Isaiah 58 claimed that if fasting was to be of value, it must be accompanied by compassion and a concern for social justice (ON).

Now there’s nothing wrong with fasting if practiced at the proper time and for proper reasons. The people’s question to Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” shows they do not know or are not sure a new age has dawned, to wit, the longed-for New Exodus God would lead to end his people’s exile.

This story, shorn of its original details, Mark includes here to form a point-counter-point with the critique of his feasting with all the wrong people in the previous story. He doesn’t feast right and doesn’t fast when he should – that’s what his opponents think. But all they really demonstrate is that they do not know what time it is.

Jesus’ counter-question and declaration that: “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.” You don’t know what time it is, he answers them.

If the disciples of the Baptist are fasting to mourn his loss, as some have suggested, the point is even starker. They fast because they lost their leader, the very one sent to herald the arrival of the long-awaited messiah. Jesus’ disciples feast because the messiah, indeed, more than the messiah, is with them!

More than the messiah? Yes. According to Cranfield

“. . . neither in the O.T. nor in Judaism was the Bridegroom a figure of the Messiah. The O.T. evidence suggests a more august significance (e.g. Hos. passim, Isa. 1. 1, liv. 5, Ixii.4 f., Jer. ii. 2, 32 f., iii. 1,14, xxxi. 32, Ezek. xvi. 8); and it is possible that his use of the figure reflects his consciousness of being the Son of God, though no such significance would be suggested to his hearers.” (Cranfield, Mark, 108)

Hard to imagine Mark’s readers would miss that point.

Looking ahead to his crucifixion, though, Jesus acknowledges that a time will come when his own disciples will fast as well (v.20).

Wineskins (2:20-22)

If they don’t know what time it is, then maybe some more homely illustrations will jolt them awake. To try and understand Jesus and his New exodus movement as just another restoration movement in line with all the others that had come and gone is like making an elementary mistake in garment repair (v.21). Or an equally elementary mistake in wine preservation (v.22).

The Jesus’ movement is “unshrunk cloth,” something brand new, that cannot simply be added to Jewish expectation – because he is its fulfillment! Nor can he be poured into the forms and structures of Judaism – because his movement doesn’t fit those confines any longer! The New Exodus will require a new law, a new temple, and a new vision of what God is doing in the world.

The newness of the New Exodus brew won’t leave the old wineskins intact either. Both brief parables take a different tack than the opening scene in this act of the drama. But all of them together press on Mark’s hearers the question: “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”