City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 

Luke 5:33-35

Reflection

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 

Jesus faced opposition to His ministry from the start. When He announced the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1 at the Nazareth synagogue the people carried Him off to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:16-30). When Jesus forgave and healed the paralytic, the scribes and pharisees accused Jesus of being a blasphemer (Luke 5:17-25), and when Jesus went to dinner at Levi’s house, the scribes and pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners (Luke 5:29-32).

And then we come to Luke 5:33-35, where the religious leaders accuse Jesus of not being religious enough because His disciples were not fasting. By this time I would have had enough. I might have said, “If you don’t like how we roll, go follow someone else,” or “When people start following you instead of me, then you might have something to say to me,” or I might have resorted to Pee-Wee Herman’s classic zinger, “I know you are but what am I?” 

Any of these retorts come readily to mind, but Jesus responded differently. Jesus told the religious leaders, by use of a metaphor, that there was no need to fast because God was present in [Jesus’] human flesh.

Jesus response came out of a clarity about His identity but was not arrogant. His tone was matter-of-fact but not argumentative, reflecting a calm authority and confidence. It’s interesting to note that despite the authority with which Jesus taught and the claims Jesus made about His identity, there is not a single accusation recorded in the Gospels that Jesus was arrogant, even from those who sought to kill Him.

Security without pride. Confidence without arrogance. Truth saturated in love. Surely this is not like any person they had ever seen before.

Application

Jesus was not just a savior but a model for all who would be born-again. Hebrews 12:3 says, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” We are to consider Jesus’ response not just to be encouraged but to be conformed. Romans 8:29 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” God’s will is for us to become like Jesus (I Thessalonians 4:3), what I call our “Jesusifciation.”

With that goal in mind, what Jesus does, as recorded in the Gospels, is more than an interesting narrative. It’s a master class in how to be our best selves, illustrated with example after example from the Master himself on who we are supposed to be looks like in real time.

How liberating would it be if, like Jesus, we were unswayed by insecurity from within and peer pressure from without and only driven by a desire to do God’s will? Or how different might we appear to others if we operated in that same confidence as Jesus, rooted in a total trust in God and manifesting in an ever-present love for others?

Security without pride. Confidence without arrogance. Truth saturated in love.

We would change the world.

Prayer

Lord, help me to be transformed into Your image. Amen.