Daily Devotion

What amazed, and shocked the scribes, and the Pharisees was the normality of the followers of Jesus. The orthodox Jews had an idea-not yet altogether dead-that a person was not being religious unless they were being uncomfortable. They had systematized their religious observances. They fasted on Mondays, and Thursdays, and often they whitened their faces so that no one could fail to see that they were fasting.

True, fasting was not so very serious, because it lasted only from sunrise to sunset, and after that, ordinary food could be eaten. The idea was to call God's attention to the one who fasted. Sometimes they even thought of it in terms of sacrifice. By fasting, a man was, in essence, offering nothing less than his own flesh to God. Even prayer was systematized. Prayer was to be offered at 12 midday, 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. Jesus was radically opposed to religion by rule. (1st ) It is extremely significant that more than once Jesus likened the Christian life to a wedding feast. Joy is a primary Christian characteristic. It was said of a teacher by one of her students, "She made me feel as if I was bathed in sunshine." Too many people think of Christianity as something that compels them to do all the things they do not want to do and stops them from doing all the things they want to do. (2nd ) At the same time, Jesus knew there would come a day when the bridegroom would be taken away. He was not caught unaware by death. He saw the cross ahead; even on the way to the cross, Jesus knew the joy that no man can take away because it is the joy of the presence of God.