The disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were fasting,
and they came and said to him, “Why is it that the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees fast, but disciples who belong to you do not fast?”
Jesus said to them, “The bridegroom’s attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast. But the days will come
when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then,
in those days, they’ll fast.
Mark 2:18–20
Jesus’ question to the disciples of John and the Pharisees must have seemed strange to them. Jesus and his disciples always kept the law of Moses, and the law of Moses commanded them to fast certain times of the year. Of course they fasted, whenever the law said for them to fast. So, what was Jesus talking about?
On another occasion, Jesus was criticized for not fasting (Mt. 11:19), but when his disciples could not cast out a demon of epilepsy, and Jesus did, they asked him why they could not cast it out, and he said, “This kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting” (Mt. 17:19–20). But they were certainly fasting according to the law; otherwise, they would have been sinners in God’s sight.
Once, when the disciples were trying to get Jesus to eat, he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about” (Jn. 4:32). Likewise, he had a fasting that they didn’t know about, one that they would not know about until he was taken away from them and the Spirit came to take his place. That is the fasting Jesus was talking about when he said as long as the Bridegroom was with the disciples, they could not fast. And that is the kind of fasting he was talking about when he said it took that kind of fasting to make the demon of epilepsy leave.
The disciples of John and the Pharisees could not see that kind of fasting because they could not see the kind of food Jesus was living on. Jesus’ disciples could not see that kind of fasting, either, but after Jesus went away and they ate and drank of the Spirit that he sent back, they understood what he was saying.
So, no, the disciples could not fast (as Jesus was fasting) as long as he was with them. They could not yet fast, by the power of the Spirit, from sin. Jesus could, but they could not. Not yet. They knew nothing of the kind of life Jesus was living until they received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and neither does anybody else.
You must receive the holy Ghost to be able to fast the way Jesus fasted.
