Fasting Question
Life of Jesus · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 3ad9c7a33af631fc · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Ministry in Galilee. A guided comparison of Gospel accounts, not a measured calendar or a claim that every parallel follows the same sequence.
Questioned about why his disciples do not fast like others, Jesus compares his presence to a wedding celebration. He also speaks of a coming time when the bridegroom will be taken away and they will fast.
The answer does not reject fasting altogether. It relates fasting to his presence and coming absence, and leads directly into the garment and wineskin illustrations on the next card.
Primary Scripture
9:14 Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
9:15 Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
2:18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast like John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees?”
2:19 Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? As long as He is with them, they cannot fast.
2:20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
5:33 Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”
5:34 Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them?
5:35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
Related Scripture
Elsewhere Jesus teaches how to fast without seeking public admiration.
Location evidence
The question and following illustrations have no explicitly named venue. Their placement near the tax collector’s meal does not securely identify a particular Capernaum house.
No event map marker is assigned. Do not infer an exact venue from related places.
For the class
How does the bridegroom image explain both celebration and future fasting?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: theographic (289)
Record source: editorial
Events and places adapted from Theographic Bible Metadata (github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata), CC BY-SA 4.0. This adapted data is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm