33 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.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
Prayer and fasting. What can be wrong with that? Nothing. We saw in His temptation Jesus had done a lot of that, and we know He prayed often alone, so His fasting was also probably done alone as well. That is the way God intended it. There was only one day that called for a public, general fast: the Day of Atonement, and it was not time for that yet - not the one the Jews commemorated, nor the one Jesus would institute once and for all. The Pharisees did it for show, to make people think they were more spiritual, even though the Old Testament warned against this. As for the disciples of John the Baptist, they were going through a time of personal and national repentance as they awaited the Messiah. Now He had come. So it was no time to have a public or prolonged fast, but a feast, just like they had at Levi's house. It was time to celebrate salvation, forgiveness, and deliverance from sin and self-righteousness. The fasting of John and his followers naturally led to a feasting for those who followed Jesus, just as the fasts of those in the Old Testament were followed by breaking fasts, and a time of celebration for God saving, providing, and leading them to the answers they needed. We need to fast and pray - not to impress God or others, but to prepare for celebrating what He will do.
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