Monday January 15, 2018
Jewish weddings lasted a full week; the young couple did not go away on a honeymoon, they stayed at home and held open house for all. It was the happiest week in a person’s life, and there was a Rabbinical ruling that went, “All in attendance [at the wedding] are relieved of all religious observances that would lessen their joy.” Wedding guests were dispensed from all fasting. There are very good reasons why a Christian disciple might fast. But they are reasons; they are not a gloomy and miserly attitude that can appear very religious while being nothing of the sort. A reason applies at one time and not at another, but an attitude goes on forever. People who are capable of the deepest joy are also capable of the deepest sadness, because they are responding to life as it comes. But others become mired forever in a half-way place, experiencing neither joy nor sorrow. Joy is the chief characteristic of a Christian – “joy even in tribulation,” as Tauler said – and one of the first fruits of the Spirit (see Gal 5:2).
