The Bridegroom Is With You
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:18–22
+
The Bridegroom Is With You
Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training, but they make no sense in the presence of the King when you arrive at his feast. There is a time and a place for mourning and weeping. There is a time for celebration and joy. God grants joy to you and me by granting us the presence of his Son. This is the promise that the world dismisses and ignores. Jesus comes to dwell with his people at his own feast when the Word of God is preached in the churches of God and the Sacraments are administered according to his divine command. This is the promise that you believe. Your God is dwelling with you and he brings the good gifts of his feast. He made the Sabbath not as a burden, but that when you hear the Word and receive the Sacrament, you find rest and are satisfied in him. Thanks be to God that he delights to gather us to himself.
+
The Bridegroom Is With You
Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training, but they make no sense in the presence of the King when you arrive at his feast. There is a time and a place for mourning and weeping. There is a time for celebration and joy. God grants joy to you and me by granting us the presence of his Son. This is the promise that the world dismisses and ignores. Jesus comes to dwell with his people at his own feast when the Word of God is preached in the churches of God and the Sacraments are administered according to his divine command. This is the promise that you believe. Your God is dwelling with you and he brings the good gifts of his feast. He made the Sabbath not as a burden, but that when you hear the Word and receive the Sacrament, you find rest and are satisfied in him. Thanks be to God that he delights to gather us to himself.
Recent
Archive
2026
January
In The GardenBy Your Own LawA Kingdom Not From HereThe King Who Bears Witness to the TruthWhich Jesus Will You Have?Behold the King We MockedBehold the Man, Lifted for YouAuthority from Above, Glory from the CrossBehold Your King, Lifted Up to JudgeThe Place of the SkullIt Is WrittenEvery Promise KeptStabat MaterIt Is FinishedThese Three TestifyA True TestimonyA Quiet Courage at the CrossThe Empty Tomb and the Wounded SaviorSeeing, Believing, and the Linen Left BehindCalled by Name in the GardenDo Not Cling, Go and TellPeace in Wounded HandsThe Wounds That Speak PeaceYou May Have LifeMy Lord and My GodFishingIt Is the LordThey KnewFeed My LambsFollow HimFollowing Jesus, Not Comparing Paths
February
The Testimony That Is EnoughBefore Kings, Before the CrossBefore You Were Born, the Word Was GivenSet Like FlintRemembering First LoveForsaking the FountainBroken Cisterns and the Living CrossAshamed of Our False RescuesForgottenWe Have SinnedLift Up Your EyesLike SisterReturn to the LordThe Gift of ShepherdsOur Only HopeShame That Leads to SalvationCircumcised HeartsBlow the Trumpet in the LandWhen Wisdom FailsThe Storm We Have SummonedThe Sound of the Trumpet
2025
January
Not AshamedIn Every RespectWe Are In His HouseHear His VoiceTodayBut You BelieveRest in ChristRest in FaithRest in Christ’s WordConfidence in Our Great High PriestOur Eternal High PriestCalled by GracePerfect Through SufferingA Little MilkFoundationGod Comes to UsFaith in ChristObtaining the PromiseThe King of PeaceBlessed by the SuperiorA Priest Forever in ChristThe Forever PriestA Better HopeOur Eternal IntercessorOur Perfect High PriestOur Eternal High PriestThe Better Covenant in ChristA New CovenantPromises KeptOnly The High PriestNot the Blood of Goats