DO FASTING-RULES NEED TO BE UPDATED?
(Friday, June 16)
On this fifth day of the Post-Pentecost Fast (a.k.a. the Apostles Fast), the Gospel-reading begins with a question about fasting, posed to Christ by the disciples of John: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” (Mt 9:14) Our Lord responds, saying that they “will” fast when the bridegroom “will be taken away from them,” – and then He adds two puzzling observations about patches and wineskins: “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
What do patches and wineskins have to do with fasting? The fasting-discipline of the Pharisees and the disciples of John involved certain rules and regulations, instructing them how and when to fast. The word “discipline,” from the Latin word “disciplina,” means *instruction* and is related to the word “disciple,” meaning *student*. The discipline or instruction of *disciples* or students is what keeps them on the journey toward becoming knowledgeable in whatever field of study they are pursuing; the *discipline* holds the *disciples* together; it keeps them on the straight and narrow path toward knowledge. In that way it is similar to patches and wineskins, which hold together the pieces of a tattered cloth and a certain amount of wine. In what our Lord says in the puzzling passage quoted above, then, He is comparing us to tattered cloth and to wine, which need to be *held together* not by just any old discipline, but by one that is appropriate to us, in our specific time and circumstances. Hence we are to live our fasting-tradition creatively, according to our particular time and circumstances, with their particular limitations and opportunities in mind. For example, we can apply to our fasting-discipline the insights of certified nutritionists and other health-experts, to drink enough water every day, avoid processed foods, eat balanced meals with enough proteins and vegetables, limit our intake of sugar, get enough exercise and sleep, avoiding just sitting in front of our computers all day and into the late hours of the night, etc. Thank You, Lord, for Your tender loving care for us, and grant us the wisdom to be Your disciples, according to the discipline appropriate to each of us today.
