March 9

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”

MT 9:14-15

Why then, do we as Christians fast on Fridays during lent? “the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast.” In remembrance of Jesus’ death, we fast – the bridegroom has been momentarily taken from us.. but He will come back! On Easter. What wonders to look forward to. He is coming back – not just rising from the tomb, but back for us all.

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

5:27-32

I can only imagine the questions and feelings that rose up in Levi when the Lord asked him to leave his job, family, possessions, money,  the name he had built for himself in the community, But he did not let any of this stay his had, but just got up and first threw a party for Jesus. The party was attended not just by the apostles, but by the Pharisees, their scribes, tax collectors, and sinners. Jesus soon comes under great scrutiny for dining with those considered to be such sinners, so ‘unclean’.

`One point that stuck out to me, was that he first left everything behind, THEN threw this party for Jesus – having left behid everything – what did he have left to thow a party? He really gave his all, and did not seem afraid to follow Jesus, when following Him meant having nothing. 

            Ask yourself – if following Jesus means giving up your posessions of this world for the next..are you willing? We are the sick and He is calling. Will you follow his call>

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him, 
“If you are the Son of God, 
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”

Then the devil took him to the holy city, 
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written, 
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 
and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, 
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written:
The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.”

Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.

MT 4:1-11

Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights in the desert ( not the most comfortable place to fast). When He was finished with His fast, of course, He was hungry, and not willing to give in to the devil – this was the perfect temptation for Satian to try to wave in his face. Satan tempted him to turn the rocks into bread, showing him the lands of the earh that he could rule to jump off the temple and expect the angels to catch him. Jesus, however, would not stand for this kind of tempting. “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test,” and later he tells Satan, ““Get away, Satan!
It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.”