Holy Boldness

They were not being belligerent but discerned a difference between John’s ministry and that of Jesus’ whom John had endorsed. Jesus’ answer must have left more questions than answers because He answered with yet another parable. “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bride groom is with them, can they? The the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast.” (Matthew 9: 15) On this occasion, Jesus spoke of Himself in the third person. Once again, the scriptures express the subtle self-revelation of Jesus. Three times Jesus used the term bridegroom . He does not explicitly call himself the bridegroom;, however, He was drawing attention to the idea and applying it to himself and his disciples as He answered the question about fasting. Jesus was seldom explicit about His identity. That is why the Pharisees had such a hard time pinning Him down. (See John 8:37, 43) But those who knew Him knew what He meant. The term bridegroom is not used as a Messianic metaphor in the Old Testament though God is referred to as a husband in numerous places as well as a jilted lover. (See Isaiah 54:5, 6; 62: 4, 5; Hosea 2:16 20). Eventually, however, concepts and scriptures attributed to God began to be understood as applying to the coming Messiah. It is in this understanding that Jesus took on a Bridegroom identity. Ironically, John the Baptist, himself, referred to Jesus as the bridegroom when his disciples became jealous of Jesus’ popularity. (See John 3: 25-30). The presence of the bridegroom implied the fulfillment of a great hope. In that culture, when it came to weddings, the bridegroom was the main event. In Western culture, the bride stands front and center. But in Jewish culture, as in many others, the party began when the bridegroom showed up on the scene. Since Jesus was the bridegroom, His presence in the lives of His disciples represented a time of great fulfillment and excitement. He was all they were taught to hope for. As such, fasting would be deemed inappropriate while the bridegroom was present. Therefore, the presence of the bridegroom in the person of Jesus demanded a different expression. “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?” The disciples did not fast because it would have been ill-suited during the time of His presence with them. The presence

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