‘And Then They Will Fast on That Day’ (Mark 2:20): The Absent Bridegroom and the Day of Atonement in Early Christianity

Abstract Markan interpreters agree that the fulcrum of the first controversy series (Mark 2:1–3:6) is a logion that underscores Jesus’ absence from the community he founded: ‘The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day’ (2:20). Some conclude that the logion is a post hoc attempt to justify ‘Christian’ fasting practices (e.g. Didache 8:1), while others maintain that it alludes to the nature of the post-crucifixion period. This article (re)introduces into this discussion one of the earliest interpretations of Mark 2:20: Origen’s interpretation of the ‘day’ of the bridegroom’s absence as the eschatological Day of Atonement (Hom. Lev. 9). Second, it explores the extent to which a Yom Kippur typology illuminates Mark’s portrayal of the interstice between the death and resurrection of Jesus, on the one hand, and the parousia of the Son of Man, on the other. My suggestion is that the Markan logion enfolds the disciples into an apocalyptic season of Yom Kippur ‘affliction’ and anticipation.