When the bridegroom is taken away from them

Is 58,1-9a; Ps 50; Mt 9,14-15
8 MARCH

Wanting to understand what Jesus tells the disciples of John about fasting, we will let ourselves be helped not only by the story of the wedding at Cana, but also by listening to what the Baptist says about himself in relation to the Lord. So we will know Jesus and we will know who He is in relation to us. He is our Spouse. He is the Spouse of the Church.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him (Jn 2,1-11). Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.” John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said (that) I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3,25-30).

Jesus came to bring the good wine of the Word of the Lord. His mission is to ensure that humanity is always satisfied with the best wine. Never will he give the less good wine. Pharisees, scribes and the disciples of John do not have good wine. They have wine mixed with other innumerable substances made of men’s traditions. Jesus cannot give real wine, good wine and not true or not good wine. This is not his mission. However, he cannot say this truth. They would have not understood it. He responds in a veiled way, declaring himself Spouse of his disciples. Being He the Bridegroom, in this instant they cannot fast. But the time will come when they too will fast. The wisdom of Jesus is great. He does not abolish fasting.

Then the disciples of John approached him and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast (much), but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

It is right to ask oneself: why does Jesus not abolish fasting? Because it is man’s life. Man has sometimes what to feed on. He sometimes lacks in nourishment. When he is in scarcity or in need it is right thing not to desire the stuff of others and consequently fasting, abstention from food is a necessary thing, just as the deprivation of everything else is necessary. The disciple of Jesus knows how to get used to everything: to hunger and to satiety, to abundance and to shortage, to poverty and wealth. But fasting for the disciple of Jesus is not just a necessity of contingent origin. It is also the fruit of his charity, of his love and of his mercy. He knows how to renounce all that is superfluous, in excess and even necessary to his life, because his brothers are in great trouble. Here is the truth of the new wine brought by Jesus. He takes away from the fasting the non-goodness of a work of pure selfishness and makes it a work of highest charity, mercy and compassion. He takes away from fasting the rust of religiosity as an end in itself and gives it the splendour of the greatest and highest benevolence. The new wine of Jesus is the love of God that always moves the heart of the disciple and makes it an instrument of charity.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, do not allow false love to pollute the true one.