Today we read the third of the five conflict stories that the evangelist narrates and this time the opponents of Jesus are the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees. While the focus of the passage seems to be about the religious practice of fasting, Mark uses this opportunity to present Jesus as the Messiah whose public ministry takes place in this ‘special time’ in which the old forms of religious practices were not appropriate.

The issue at hand seems to be that of fasting. John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast while Jesus’ disciples do not. Interestingly the targets of Jesus’ opponents are now made out to be His disciples and not Him. However, it is clear that He is the intended target, for his disciples were merely a reflection of Him and if they did not fast, then the suggestion implied was that He did not fast.