In Mark 2:19, Jesus says, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.” Why can’t they fast while the bridegroom is with them?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

In Mark 2:19, our Lord Jesus Christ addresses the question posed by the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist regarding why His disciples did not fast according to their customs. To understand why the "friends of the bridegroom" could not fast while the Bridegroom was with them, we must examine the theological and spiritual reality of who Christ is and what fasting signifies.

1. The Nature of a Wedding Feast vs. Fasting

In both Jewish tradition and biblical typology, a wedding is the highest celebration of joy, union, and communion. Fasting, by contrast, is an expression of sorrow, mourning, repentance, and longing for God's mercy and presence.

To fast during a wedding celebration is entirely contradictory. The Lord identifies Himself as the Bridegroom (in Greek, νυμφίος, adapted into liturgical Coptic as —a Greek loanword). His disciples are the "friends of the bridegroom" (the wedding guests). As long as the Bridegroom is visibly and physically in their midst, they are partaking in the Messianic banquet. It would be unnatural and disordered to mourn or afflict oneself with fasting while the source of all joy and life is standing right before them.

2. The Incarnation as the Fulfillment of the Law

The Pharisees observed rigid, external fasts twice a week out of self-righteous legalism, and the disciples of John fasted as an act of ascetic anticipation, awaiting the Messiah. But once Christ—the Word of God Incarnate—arrived, the period of waiting had ended.

The Holy Incarnation is the ultimate marriage between divinity and humanity, where God united human nature to Himself. The early Church Fathers, including St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril of Alexandria, emphasize that Christ’s physical presence with His disciples was a season of rejoicing and grace. Demanding that the disciples fast under the Old Covenant regulations while in the presence of the Lawgiver Himself was an attempt to pour "new wine into old wineskins." The old forms of legalistic Judaism could not contain the new, living reality brought by Christ.

3. "When the Bridegroom Will Be Taken Away"

Our Lord immediately prophesied: “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days” (Mark 2:20).

This is a direct prophecy of His Passion, Crucifixion, and Ascension:

• The Crucifixion and Betrayal: The Bridegroom was violently taken away through His arrest and death on the Cross. This is why the Church fasts every Wednesday (remembering His betrayal by Judas) and Friday (remembering His Crucifixion).
• The Present Age of the Church: Until Christ returns in His second coming, the Church lives in spiritual anticipation. We fast now—during Great Lent, the Apostles’ Fast, the Nativity Fast, and throughout the liturgical year—to subdue the flesh, wage war against the passions, and express our longing for the Bridegroom's final return.

4. The Principle Applied in Monastic Tradition

The Desert Fathers also drew a practical, spiritual lesson from this passage regarding love and hospitality. When visitors arrived at the cells of the desert hermits, the fathers would break their personal fasts to dine with their guests. As recorded in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, an elder explained that the rule of fasting is always in our hands, but when we receive a brother, we receive Christ—the Bridegroom—in him. Charity and love take precedence over personal ascetic rules, for love is the fulfillment of the presence of Christ.

In summary, the disciples could not fast because fasting implies absence, mourning, and anticipation. While Christ was walking with them on earth, they possessed the Fullness Himself; thus, it was a time for feasting upon His presence, not fasting in sorrow.