Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Question about Fasting (Lk 5: 33-39)

Today’s gospel passage reveals the opinion of Jesus about enjoying the life by eating, drinking, party and merry making. Was Jesus for or against these things? In the gospel Jesus was blamed for not propagating fasting. In fact Jesus came to celebrate life in its fullness.

The teachings of Jesus and His parables revolve around dinning, feast, party etc. His last supper itself was a gathering with food and drink. It was so relevant to that time where people were deprived of the basic necessities of life such as food and drink. The Kingdom of God is a state of abundance and not a state of scarcity.

But we also see Jesus fasting 40 days and nights in the desert before His public ministry. He also taught that while fasting you should look fresh and our penances should not be for the sake of showing others. Therefore he is not totally against fasting.

Life is to celebrate with the gifts that we have received from God. Therefore let us enjoy the life with its happiness and pleasures. But there is a danger in this enjoyment, the mistake done by the first parents, Adam and Eve. They tried to enjoy life by tasting the forbidden fruit. While enjoying our life let us not forget that there are certain forbidden fruits in our lives also. In each state of life there are so many things for happiness which are our right to enjoy. For example in a family there are pleasures and enjoyment that the partners get from the family life. There are also the pleasures that they have to abstain from. The commandments give us a clear guideline about the forbidden fruits of our life.

Let us enjoy the life with Jesus Christ.

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