Matthew 9:14–17

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. ¹⁷ Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Commentary

Vs. 14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

Now their question seems to imply that fasting in their eyes was for them a measure of one’s faithfulness to God. Now prayer and fasting can be a Godly practice if done in with right motives (see Isaiah 58). That said, in the New Covenant era fasting is not commanded of anyone (see Rom 14; 1 Cor. 7:5-6). Nonetheless fasting was a frequent practice in the early church and can be the means by which one seeks God (Acts 10:30-33); or shows true contrition before Him (Ezra 9:5-15; Nehemiah 1:4-11); but it can also become a mere “religious” practice whereby one feels justified in themselves for doing it, while ignoring or over looking one’s own serious faults and offenses that need to be repented of (again see Isaiah 58; Zechariah 7:1-14; Luke 18:9-14 etc.). And so though fasting is good, it must not become for us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ a commanded or regimented religious practice, devoid of its true purpose and intention which is to draw us closer to God, and thus closer to seeing the world through His eyes, with His focus, and with His priorities.

Vs. 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

 Now the Lord Jesus’ reply to them is to use the analogy of a Bridegroom and his friends together with Him, when of course there is great joy and celebration amongst them, and so no one fasts then. However the Lord Jesus then says, “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Thus as long as Jesus is with the disciples why would they fast? but when He is taken away from them then they will fast. Now we as recipients of Christ’s Person, of His new and everlasting life that we received the moment we believed in Him by His Holy Spirit are not now mourning the loss of Christ as the early disciples did when He was taken from them, for though Jesus was taken by lawless hands to be crucified, He rose from the dead on the third day, and then having spent 50 days with the disciples in His resurrected body He ascended back to God our Father in heaven in their presence so that by His departure from this world He could pour out His Holy Spirit not only on them, but now on us all who believe in Him. And so though the Lord Jesus is not bodily with us, we have His Spirit inside of us, (and so He has not left us as orphans as He said, John 14:18) as we await His return for us. Do we then fast since He has not left us alone? I think that any fast that we do now will be for other reasons, for I know Christ is always with me and do not feel the need to fast to draw Him nearer to me, just maybe draw myself nearer to Him, that would be why I would fast now, and not as a weekly ritual, or as obeying somebody’s commandment, but only to seek God’s face on behalf of someone, or some pressing issue, or seeking God’s guidance etc.

Vs. 16-17 ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. ¹⁷ Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

The disciples of John the Baptist as well as the Pharisees faith was still rooted in the Old Covenant, and so they were still living in expectation of the Messiah, even while He was amongst them. Thus for them keeping every ordinance found in the law was critical, however as the Lord Jesus Christ will later declare: “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” ^{Luke 16:16} And so here by way of analogy the Lord Jesus Christ will reveal that the essences of the Old Covenant cannot now be combined with the New Covenant; that justification by works of the Law is utterly incompatible with justification by God’s grace that now comes to one and all who believe in Him (Gal.2:16). And so the Old Covenant though good and sound was not perfect, because it had no permanent provisions for the sinful nature of mankind. For it could neither permanently atone for anyone’s sins and transgressions against it, nor could it transform anyone, it could only reveal our own sinfulness and inability to keep the Law to be saved by it. Thus the Law cannot justify anyone in the sight of God. Therefore looking at the Lord Jesus’ first analogy patching an old garment with a new un-shrunk piece of new cloth will only destroy both, because the new one always will pull away from the old and thus the tear will only be made worse. Thus trying to fix the failings in the law by adding grace to it will only amplify the problem, for it will not resolve the fundamental problem with Law, nor will it resolve our sinful nature which can only be resolved by Christ’s death on the Cross and Resurrection from the dead which ushered in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, all which not only justifies us in the sight of God but also baptizes us into the Lord Jesus Christ’s Body making us One with Him and thus making us fit for the Kingdom of heaven with Himself. All which does not come to us by works of the Law, but only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal.3:2). Therefore just as a new patch cannot be added to an old garment because the new will pull away and the tear will only be made worse, neither can Law and grace, faith and works be combined for the salvation of anyone (Rom. 4:4-5).

Now the Lord Jesus’ second analogy is about putting new wine into old wineskins: “Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” ^{Vs. 17} 

And so because of the fermentation of the new wine, new wine cannot be put in old wine skins, since the new wine will expand and ruin the old wineskins. And so the old wineskins represent the Old Covenant, the new wine is the New Covenant, which like the Kingdom of heaven is active and alive, ever growing, ever expanding, but not in its ordinances and “rituals”, but only in the redemption of persons that are being brought into a righteous standing with God through it, through Christ’s death on the cross which ushered it into our lives. And so new wine must be poured into new wineskins, that is us as new creations of God (2 Cor.5:17) recreated and regenerated by God’s Holy Spirit whose transforming work is ever alive and active in our persons and lives.

Scripture Quotations

The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.