Matthew 9:14-17 | 19th century Wine Glass | ...and then they will fast

Matthew 9:14-17 ...and then they will fast

Engraved Wine Glass, Blown and engraved by George Bacchus & Sons, Birmingham, UK Executed between 1849-1851, © Victoria & Albert Museum, London John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth on to an old cloak, because the patch pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine into fresh skins and both are preserved.’ READ MORE Reflection on the 19th century Glass Today, fasting is seen in wider society as a kind of ‘looking after one’s body’. It is a healthy and sane way to look after ourselves. A healthy mind in a healthy body. Gym instructors, health care workers and many others advocate fasting to calm us down, to help us think more clearly, to give us focus, to make us sleep better, etc… But for Christians fasting is a choice to abstain from food or other worldly pleasures in order to draw us closer to God. Through depriving our own bodies of the things we like, we connect with those who are less fortunate than us and hungry. It makes us one with our less fortunate brothers and sisters. One of the largest collections of ancient glass in the world is at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. I am sharing with you an empty wine glass (a familiar view when fasting!), of the mid 19th century. The history of glass making is a long one, with some antique glass dating back to 5000BC discovered in the region of Syria. Ancient Egypt, the Greeks, Romans all perfected the trade, culminating in the delicate, intricate and elaborate pieces such as the wine glass I am sharing with you today. The engraving we can see used to be done with a small splinter of a diamond mounted on the tip of a wooden stick. The engraver had to avoid scratching too deeply as this might cause the glass to crack. Jesus uses the example of the wineskins to make the point that Jewish traditions had to move along and be open to Christ’s newness of His message. And as regards to the fasting, occasionally it is good to fast…. so we can enjoy the feast… by Patrick van der Vorst