Taking Away of Bridegroom & Sign of Jonah

Table Talks, Synoptic Gospels   6

Taking Away of the Bridegroom

(Matt. 9:14f)

The first direct mention of Jesus’ death is obscure. The period of questions and controversies described in Matthew 9 gave rise to a question about fasting. Why do your disciples not fast, when John’s disciples and the Pharisees are accustomed to frequent fasting (v. 14 & parallels). The question may have come in close connection with the banquet at Matthew’s house. Perhaps Jesus and his disciples were feasting at the very time others were fasting.

Jesus replied that fasting was not appropriate to the occasion. Then he illustrated the point that fasting should fit the occasion. A wedding is not a time for fasting, which expressed sorrow, but rather for eating, drinking and making merry.  “Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast” (v. 15).

The New Testament frequently portrays Jesus as a bridegroom. The sons of the bridechamber are “companions of the bridegroom” (ASV margin), or “the friends of the bridegroom whose duty it was to provide and care for whatever pertained to the bridal chamber, i. e. whatever was needed for the due celebration of the nuptials” (GT, 430 on Grk numphon). These would rejoice to be in the presence of the bridegroom (as John 3:29) and to serve him. It would certainly not be a time for fasting and mourning, but rather for joy and celebration.

It would, however, be quite different “when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them.” That would be a true occasion for fasting and expressing grief. Jesus does not say:  “when the bridegroom goes away,” as to consummate the marriage and to begin his life with his bride. That would be a time of joy and his friends would certainly share his joy. But instead, Jesus speaks of the bridegroom being “taken away from them.”

Jesus seems to refer to his death. It would be like a bridegroom being snatched away from the wedding and put to death without completing the nuptials—certainly reason for sorrow.

 No one would have to make the disciples fast then. They would be full of sorrow and have no appetite for food. Such a reference to violent death does not surprise us, given the conflict that was beginning to develop. But please notice Jesus’ early awareness that he had come to die.

Table Talks, Synoptic Gospels  7

The Sign of Jonah

(Matt. 12:39f)

Another reference is equally obscure. Jesus had just performed a great miracle, casting a demon from a man who had been rendered blind and dumb by the demon (Matt. 12:22). These exorcisms more than any other miracle Jesus performed were a clear demonstration that Jesus was working for God and against Satan. Nothing else could have demonstrated it so effectively. But his brilliant opponents, unable to deny the miracle, questioned the source of the power by which he worked, and tried to discredit Jesus by claiming he was in league with Satan, casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub (v. 24). Jesus’ refutation exposes the nonsense, piling up one reason after another. Read the arguments in Matthew 12:25–37. But when these smart guys demanded to “see a sign” (v. 38), it is not surprising that Jesus would not play their game, but replied:  “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet:  for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the seamonster (lit. tr.); so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (vv. 39–40). He had nothing more for people who could abuse evidence as these had, except the one great sign that would vindicate and authenticate him beyond any question, his resurrection from the dead. No doubt the emphasis here is upon his triumph in coming forth from the grave. But the verses do refer to the death of Jesus and prove that he anticipated his own death. However, neither this passage nor the one previously considered provides any evidence of the reason he had to die. The next one does.