The gospel for Friday after Ash Wednesday is from Matthew 9th chapter 14 to the 15th verse. 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 guest 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.

There’s a beautiful image of a wedding in this reading, and it’s about the union of the God man, Jesus with humanity. And it’s a celebration. Fasting is usually considered to be giving up something that you enjoy. People enjoy a wedding feast. So that may be part of it, but there’s much more. And what’s more is that there’s a way in which this gospel leads us to understand that fasting is grieving, the absence of goodness when Jesus is no longer there.

So think about it this way. One of the things you see in the world is a lot of pain and suffering. And sometimes you just look at it and, and get depressed instead of grieving it. And grieving has to do with somehow mourning the fact that this is the way life is. It’s intended to have this. God allows evil in the world.

So open your heart to what he’s trying to teach us. The bridegroom is with you and he’s there to help you to integrate all that the world is and to find peace. Satan, Sam. Satan. Foreign father, you have given us hope, grace, love. Help us to embrace these things in the midst of all that.

Isn’t that so that we can find peace in a world that is continually becoming what you intended to be? And we ask this in Jesus name.