Subject: Daily Gospel Reading - Friday, February 15, 2013
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| Weekday Gospel Reflection |
| Friday in the Week after Ash Wednesday |
| 14 John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”
15 Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast." |
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Matthew 9:14-15 - World English Bible |
| In these two verses from Matthew, Jesus answered a question of spiritual practice: fasting. Abstaining from food was a popular exercise; many Jews (especially Pharisees) fasted twice a week. They went without food to atone for sin, mourn for past loss (destruction of the Temple, for example) and shared gratitude for divine blessings. Like the Pharisees, the disciples of John fasted to atone for sin, but they also fasted, implicitly, for another reason: to prepare for the Messiah. Here, Jesus responded to their criticism with a wedding feast analogy, and, with it, proclaimed himself the Christ. That analogy resonated among Jews, since they viewed the Kingdom of God as an endless wedding feast, filled with wine, song, choice foods and laughter. Why should his followers fast when the Lord made the Kingdom present?
When have you celebrated the presence of Christ in your life? |
| Daily Readings for the Weekdays after Ash Wendesday Studies for the First Sunday in Lent - C |
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