Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, January 19, 2026

Gospel

Mark 2:18-22

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.

People came to Jesus and objected,

“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,

but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus answered them,

“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast on that day.

No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.

If he does, its fullness pulls away,

the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.

Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.

Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,

and both the wine and the skins are ruined.

Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

Reflection

In the Gospel a question was posed to Jesus, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”. To this Jesus responds with a question of His own saying, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day". While this alludes to His eventual death it is also an explanation for why the disciples do not fast as the disciples of John and of the Pharisees do. To see how this is a justifiable answer we must ask ourselves, what is fasting for? During this time fasting was used in periods of mourning, repentance or preparation. Jesus spoke of a wedding feast, something well understood then to be a time of joy, celebration, and fullness, not mourning. This also makes perfect sense that the disciples of John would then often be fasting as John's teachings and messages were calls for repentance and to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. Being that the messiah has come, Jesus is saying that the time for fasting is over, but will come again on the day He is taken away. Now the Pharisees reasons for fasting were not so noble. Their fasting lacked deeper purpose and was frequently practiced for show, meant to make them appear more devout or virtuous to those watching. This makes me reflect on how this Gospel relates to today’s world. The call to repent and fast is very much alive, but it makes me wonder today, do we do so with purpose or just for show?