马太福音-Matthew 9章14~15节
| 9:14 | 那时，约翰的门徒到耶稣跟前来，说，为什么我们和法利赛人常常禁食，你的门徒倒不禁食？ |
| Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast? | |
| 9:15 | 耶稣对他们说，新郎和伴友同在的时候，伴友岂能哀恸？但日子将到，新郎要从他们中间被取去，那时他们就要禁食。 |
| And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. |
Enlightenment:
John the Baptist’s ministry was to introduce men to Christ that Christ might become their Redeemer, their life, and their all. However, some of his disciples drifted away from his goal, Christ, to some of John’s practices and turned those practices into a religion. To be religious means to do something for God without Christ. To do anything without the presence of Christ, even though it is scriptural and fundamental, is religious. Both the disciples of John, the new-timers of religion, and the Pharisees, the old-timers of religion, fasted much, yet without Christ. They did not own Christ as the Bridegroom, but made fasting a matter of religion. Meanwhile, they condemned the disciples of Christ who did not fast, but had Christ with them and lived in His presence.
亮光
施浸者约翰的职事是把人引到基督，使基督成为他们的救赎主、生命和一切。然而，约翰的门徒中，有些人漂离了他的目标，就是基督，转到一些作法上，使这些作法成了宗教。搞宗教，就是为神作事，却没有基督。即使作合乎圣经，也合乎基要道理的事，若缺少基督的同在，还是宗教。约翰的门徒，新宗教徒，和法利赛人，旧宗教徒，都常常禁食，却没有基督。他们没有基督作新郎，却使禁食成为宗教的事。另一方面，他们定罪基督的门徒。这些门徒虽然不禁食，却有基督与他们同在，并且活在祂面前。