Well, in God's providence, it's been what I might say is far too long since we've been together in Mark's gospel. But in his kindness, we have come back. And so if you would please, as you turn to Mark chapter two, please stand. Mark chapter two, we'll be reading and studying verses 18 through 22. Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the gracious word that you have given us this evening. Lord, as we cried out earlier, O come, O come, Emmanuel. Lord, each one of us comes this evening with a sense that not all is right with the world. We have pain, we have sorrow, we have disappointment. We bring our own, our propensity to wander. And so, Lord, we turn to you here and now. We turn to you for words of life. Lord, please speak words of life into our souls. Please renew us, revitalize us, revive us. Help us to see you, O Lord. For your sake, we ask all of these things. Amen. Please be seated. Well, our sermon is entitled, Seeing the Bridegroom. When I first came to this text, I expected to spend a great deal of time thinking about, learning about fasting. After all, the extra biblical heading you may have in your Bible is a question about fasting. But I think what we will see in short order is that this is not a question of, the issue before us is not fasting. And so we're gonna start by taking up blind to the bridegroom. This is the problem that truly afflicted the people who came to Jesus with this question. You see, when people walk into, say, a doctor's office, a person might say something like, doc, my head hurts. Would you please make my pain go away, doc? And so what we're coming face to face with here in this illustration is what, in the medical community, they might call the chief complaint. What is the chief complaint? What is the presenting problem? What is the thing that moved the patient to come into the physician's office? Well, in this illustration, it's the headache, right? That was the thing. that made the person break from their normal routine and walk into that doctor's office. And so the people here in our text came to Jesus with a presenting problem, and that was the issue of fasting. Now, several motivations for this problem have been put forth. I would say all of them are possible, and even, I think, all are probable. But the first underlying issue, concern, was for a lack of piety on Jesus' part. There also may have been a desire to, as was common, trip up Jesus. And maybe more specifically, to pit John's disciples against Jesus and his disciples. See, in Matthew 9, it's John's disciples who come before Jesus. In Luke 5, it seems to be the Pharisees and the scribes. No doubt, the Pharisees and the scribes saw this, observed this, went and tried to sow seeds of dissension. It wasn't enough for them to have this awareness of impiety on Jesus' part, but they saw an opportunity. And so they brought this issue up amongst the people so that Jesus would look bad. Because see, here you have John's disciples and the Pharisees on the same page. And that, of course, was attractive to drive a wedge between John and his disciples and Jesus and his. But regardless of whether or not the objector, the interrogators wanted to see Jesus fail, again, the underlying issue was a perceived lack of piety on the part of Jesus. So for the Pharisee and scribe, that of course was occasion a triumph over their enemy. But for many of the people, it would have simply been something like, you know, that's a really good point. Jesus, this has been brought to our attention. This seems, something's not quite right here. But what if, in developing our previous illustration, the man who went to the doctor complaining of head pain was really suffering from an aggressive brain tumor? Sometimes we think the problem is one thing, pain in this case. But it might turn out that the problem is entirely different. A tumor. Headaches can certainly be annoying, maybe even debilitating, but tumors can be plain deadly. The issue facing Jesus' interrogators is that they were missing the bridegroom entirely. they didn't see him for who he truly was. And so let's look at another illustration that would show the consequences of not understanding what's in front of you. Let's suppose during a time of war, a soldier shoots what looks like a friendly, someone on his own side. And his fellow soldiers are absolutely furious. And the reason is because it was at close range and it was clear as day. It wasn't as if it was foggy or there was some sort of confusion. See, the guy who was fired upon was wearing their uniform. And their objection would be well-founded except for the fact that the trigger-pulling soldier observed through his binoculars an enemy soldier drag a corpse of one of their comrades into his trench and emerge 30 minutes later headed toward friendly positions. Now the trigger-pulling soldier was vindicated when Upon searching this dead body, they see foreign undergarments, no dog tags, and grenades that were of the foreign opposing army. So this friendly firing soldier, who was initially thought to be a monster, was recognized in the face of reality as perhaps saving many of his fellow soldiers from a clever attack. You see, the issue is not that Jesus' interrogators failed with respect to the idea of fittingness or appropriateness. The problem is that they had a flawed premise. And so Jesus answers them with an illustration in the form of a question. He says, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? And then, and I would have loved to have known just how long Jesus let that question linger. But then Jesus answers his own question. He says, as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. So we'll come back to verse 20, but for right now, I just wanna skip ahead to verses 20 and 22. Each of these contains an illustration that shores up this idea of fittingness or appropriateness. Both are aiming at one idea. It isn't fitting, it simply is not suitable It's not right to sew an unshrunk piece of fabric on an old, shrunken garment. And it's simply not right to put new wine into old wineskins. Jesus is backing up his claim that It isn't appropriate, it isn't suitable for wedding guests to fast while with the bridegroom. Just like it isn't suitable to dance at a funeral. See, their question was why Jesus' disciples didn't fast. And what Jesus is doing is he is very graciously pointing out and pointing his interrogators back to the original illustration. Jesus was, in effect, saying, really it's clear as day, the disciples are the wedding guests. That's the point of overlap, is the fasting. Disciples, fasting, How come not? Jesus' disciples, why don't they fast? And he says it would be solely inappropriate, sorely inappropriate for wedding guests to fast while right in the midst of the bridegroom. And so let's continue on by considering sight to the blind. And so first we have to ask, why don't John's disciples, those are the Pharisees, the people, why don't they instantly get it? Now, what Mark records here, we don't We don't have a sort of a resolution, a rest of the story, but we do have what comes later in the various gospel accounts. So I think it's appropriate for us to look to the words of Jesus in Matthew 13, where Matthew records, then the disciples came and said to him, that is Jesus, why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, in turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it." So Jesus is explaining why it is he can give answers, sometimes crystal clear, sometimes not so clear, but ultimately, This accounts for what we see as Jesus addresses those questioning Him. So let's look then at this bridegroom. What should they have seen? Well, the prophet Jeremiah in chapter two says, I remember the devotion of your youth, Your love is a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown. And this of course is God addressing his people Israel as he is really reading to them and playing back before them a list of their unfaithfulness. So, He says, I remember the devotion of your youth because it's now far off. Because Israel, who was once devoted, had moved on. Your love is a bride. So Israel's love for her Lord had faded. How you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown. which as we're working through Exodus, God even giving them credit for following him would be gracious, but they've moved on. There's not even a pretense of following him by the time we get to Jeremiah's time. And later in the same chapter, can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. So this idea of God is the bridegroom and Israel, His chosen people as the bride, this is not just a New Testament idea, though it's all over the New Testament. Also, the prophet Hosea in chapter two, starting in verse 19 says, and this is God, of course, speaking through Hosea, and I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord." And so we might scratch our heads when even John the Baptist had to ask Jesus directly whether or not He was the Messiah. And of course, through the Gospels, we see Jesus' own disciples show that they are exceedingly slow to recognize that He is the long-awaited curse-reverser, the Messiah, the Bridegroom. but God gives sight to the blind. Because in Matthew chapter 16, we have, now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And so there's a sight that only God can give that is of a bridegroom, not only of that day, but of all history, and his name is Jesus. The sight that only God can give is that man being the bride has a bridegroom, his highest treasure. Man has a greatest prize and his name is Jesus. Jesus is the faithful bridegroom who loves his bride despite his bride's serial adultery. And so what do we do with this? Well, the first thing is to see that Jesus is gracious to us right here this evening. He is gracious to us as he was to the people who are hearing him utter these words. Isn't it amazing? Don't you see the graciousness, the kindness, that we have been given a seat, that we have been given such a blessed position to be the proverbial fly on the wall. God in no way is obligated to give us this account, this revelation that He is the bridegroom, and yet here we are. The things that God did to bring us right here, to give us this word is just staggering. He's been so kind in doing so. And so, brothers, sisters, we ought to be grateful that we've been given this revelation. Next, I would just ask, is it possible to acknowledge Jesus as the bridegroom? To see it, to see it clearly, to say, yeah, Jesus is the bridegroom. But for Jesus, for you to not recognize him as your bridegroom, Is that possible? Have you seen the bridegroom but don't believe in these declarations that we just read from Jeremiah and Hosea? Perhaps you think that the bridegroom was speaking to somebody else. And I will betroth you to me forever. Do you understand that to be you? I would just urge you, if you are having a difficult time answering that question, if you don't see the bridegroom as yours, then cry out to him. That is the only place that a sinner can be before the bridegroom. We can only beg. And so I would just implore you, continue to beg and to plead, because it will please the bridegroom to take you as his bride. And then we should ask ourselves, what is it when real Christians sin? What is it we're doing when we sin but denying that Christ is our all-sufficient bridegroom? So what I'm saying is we're actually denying this reality when we sin. We've said, I see how you've revealed yourself. I've seen these promises that you've made to me. I see who you are, but I reject all of that. When we sin, it's been called practical atheism. It's practical denial of who Jesus has shown himself to be. When we sin, are we not saying that Christ is unfaithful? Are we not saying that He's not kind, that we know a better way, that we're more faithful to what we need than Jesus is, kinder than even our bridegroom is to us? Then I can't pass over verse 20. Jesus says, the days will come, they will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. Brothers and sisters, I most certainly think that fasting in our day and age and culture is a most neglected spiritual discipline and practice. But there's a kind of fasting that is done out of a disposition of mourning, of despondency, of perhaps sorrow. But that's not at all what Christian fasting is. You see here how it's actually assumed by Jesus himself that in the day when Jesus departs, that they, his disciples, they will fast. So brothers and sisters, we ought to take this as an imperative, as a commandment. We ought to be fasting. But when we fast, we do so in this eager expectation, this glorious hope that our bridegroom will come again, that we are betrothed to Him, that we are invincibly His, and that He will come again to consummate the great marriage supper. So our fasting is looking gloriously forward to that marriage supper, that time where He will come and fully and finally redeem His bride. So brothers and sisters, Fasting is not simply about the putting off, the fleshly denial of food, but what are you putting in its place? What are you seeking? What is the true and better food? What is the thing that you're replacing physical food with? See, if it's simply a denial of food and that's all it is, then I would argue that's not really Christian fasting. But fasting is a time period. It could be a single meal. There's no strict guideline placed. There's no, here's the exact how-to when it comes to fasting. But the idea is that when we're engaged in fasting, we do so deliberately, for a set time, for a purpose. And that beautiful purpose ought to be, again, our eager, expectant hope. Seeing our bridegroom, believing that he betrothed us to him. So to be in his word, to be meditating on that word, and through that word, seeing, believing, being satisfied with the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have given sight to the blind. We confess, Lord, that this is all of you, that we have indeed been very, very unfaithful, but Lord, that you are faithful and true. Lord, thank you for your goodness toward us, for your immeasurable kindness, which you poured out on our behalf. Lord, we thank you that into a dark and cold and dying world, your son came bringing light and warmth and life and joy and peace and happiness. Lord, we yearn for you to come again. We yearn for that marriage supper. Come quickly, Lord. Amen.