Mt 9:14-15
Religion of joy: Fasting or abstention from food is a token of sorrow. In the Old Testament, it is mentioned along with sackcloth, ashes, and wailing as manifestations of mourning. Fasting is also sign of repentance. The whole city of Nineveh proclaimed a fast to avert God’s punishment for their wickedness (Jon 3:7-9). In Israel, public fast was prescribed as part of public petitions. Moses and Daniel fasted in preparation for the reception of the divine revelation (Ex 34:28; Dn 9:3). In Jesus’ time, fasting was highly esteemed as an act of devotion and was common among the Pharisees. The disciples of the ascetic John the Baptist fasted.
Jesus himself fasts. He begins his public ministry by fasting for forty days and forty nights (Mt 4:2). But he does not insist that his followers fast. It is because his coming among men, his presence among his disciples, is like a wedding feast that calls for celebration and rejoicing. He is the bridegroom who gives joy to the people whom he gathers to be the new Israel, his bride. Although time will come when his disciples will fast as sign of mourning for him who will suffer and die, his coming among his people is a reason for rejoicing for the salvation that he brings. Christianity, while embracing fasting and other penitential practices, is basically a religion of joy because Jesus has overcome the power of sin and death.