Smoodock's Blog

One of the things that used to trouble me about the Gospel narratives was placing John the Baptizer and his disciples in contextual agreement with the Pharisees (Matthew 9:14; cp. 3:1, 5-7). One of the things I learned very quickly as a sports fan was: my enemy’s enemy is my friend! In other words, if my team’s super rival played any other team in the league, I rooted for the other team to beat my team’s super rival! So, on the subject of fasting, why does the text place John the Baptizer’s disciples in contextual agreement with the Pharisees, the enemy of both John and Jesus?

Keep in mind that John didn’t always agree with Jesus’ practices (cp. Matthew 3:14), because the spiritual matters of the New Covenant aren’t always clear to the righteous of the Old Covenant (cp. Matthew 11:3). However, John was willing to place his understanding aside and let Jesus be who he is (Matthew 11:4-6). Nevertheless, Matthew 9:14 does seem to place John and his disciples on the side of the Pharisees, and against Jesus. How are we able to explain this?

A fast is a formal expression of one’s worship of God. On the one hand, fasting was practiced to mourn over an event that occurred that was obviously not according to God’s will. So, in an effort to express one’s union with the purpose of God, one mourned over what had taken place or was about to take place (cp. Esther 4:16). Another reason for fasting was in an effort to draw near to God. The idea was that one hungered for a word from him, especially about a particular matter (cp. Daniel 9:1-19), and one fasted from his necessary food in order to express his need for a necessary word from the Lord.

The Pharisees fasted often (Matthew 9:14). In fact, we are told by Luke that at least some of them fasted twice every week (Luke 18:12), which can hardly mean that they fasted to mourn over a particular event that had gone against the will of God, nor could we easily apply such frequent fasting to an effort to draw near to the Lord. The idea one is left with is that they fasted as an expression of their self-righteousness. They longed for the approval of the masses and to be thought of as a righteous and religious person. Therefore, they even went to the extreme of noting their deed by making certain others were able to recognize they were fasting, by the sad facial expressions they presented to the public (Matthew 6:16). The obvious take away, here, is that neither John nor his disciples fasted like the Pharisees did, because John called them a brood of vipers (Matthew 3:1, 5-7). Yet, they seem to be in agreement in Matthew 9:14!

The Jews added four annual fasts to the single annual fast required in the Law, the Day of Atonement, which occurred on the 10^th of the seventh month. The first is the 17^th of Tammuz, the fourth month of the Jewish calendar, and this commemorated the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, which was obviously not practiced in Jesus’ day. The second is the Fast of Gedaliah, which is observed on the 3^rd of Tishri, the seventh month, and it commemorated the end of home rule for the Jews after Gedaliah, the governor of the Jews, appointed by Babylon, was slain by a rival Jewish sect. The third annual fast mourns the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem on the 10^th of Tevet, the Jew’s tenth month of the year. The fourth and final annual fast that was added to Jewish tradition is the Fast of Esther, which occurs on the 13^th of Adar, the twelfth month, and it commemorates the Jews’ given permission to defend themselves against the bigots who thought to slay them.

Of the four, only the last three annual fasts were observed in Jesus’ day. The point is that the observance of an annual fast is a reasonable explanation for the disciples of John the Baptizer and the Pharisees to be in contextual agreement, and the fast under consideration would be the Fast of Gedaliah in the seventh month. Every good Jew would have observed this fast as a matter of patriotism. The fact that Jesus and his disciples did not observe it concerned the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the King of the Jews. Why would they mourn the death of Gedaliah, which commemorates the end of Jewish home rule? If the Messiah is present, there is reason for joy, not mourning!