14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is 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 tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” Matthew 9: 14-17 ESV
Matthew 9: 14-17 Ritualism
Then the disciples of John came to Him - These were John the Baptist's disciples, men he was training in the scriptures. John was a great preacher, and there had been no prophet for 400 years before him. He preached a very humbling message of sin and repentance, and people were coming from miles around to hear him and be baptized unto repentance, in other words, coming forward to acknowledge that they needed to be cleansed.
…27This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’ 28I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John, yet even the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29All the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s justice. For they had received the baptism of John.… Luke 7: 27-29
Why do we and the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast - John lived a very humble life in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey. There is nothing wrong with fasting to put the flesh in check, but certainly this wasn't the goal of the Pharisees.
Christ had already taught about fasting during His Sermon on the Mount, where He also disclosed the gross intentions of the Pharisees in doing this. There were very few fast commanded in the Mosaic law, perhaps only two, but the Scribes and Pharisees had added many more, some Pharisees were known to fast twice a week. They did it for the praise of men, to appear spiritual, and as part of a system wherein they were justified by works of their own laws. When I was young I idealized such things, would have preferred such a system, where I was sent on a quest, or thrown into the ring with a bully, as if sin could be personified and I could fight it with earthly weapons. They wanted something tangible, a pilgrimage, an offering, something that they agreed upon as a certified method unto righteousness. I have an embarrassing story about a time in my life when I liked a particular girl, and I told someone who I thought to be my friend as much, that I liked this girl. I was too shy to tell her that, but he was not so shy and he asked her out. I was crushed, so I went into the woods for a few days, didn't eat, and stupidly forgot water, and I prayed, hoping that God would be moved by my fasting and my broken heart. Well, it got so bad in the woods, I was covered in ticks, hadn't eaten in some time, but the worse thing was the lack of water. I was stupid dehydrated, to the point of hearing things and thankfully it rained. It rained hard and I drank. The boy who got the girl had tried to come see me, but my roommates told him I was gone, and so he eventually told the young lady the story, and they broke up and she later contacted me. I thought I had somehow moved heaven, but it was just a silly crush, a dramatic appeal to God so that I could have my way, but I was in no way seeking righteousness, just a girl that I fancied at the time. At the time I would have never fasted over my sin, I never felt broken over the affront my life was towards God, in my mind I was a pretty good guy with above average behavior. I just needed a few things scrubbed on the outside of the cup so that other people could see how holy I was. I hadn't learned yet to ask for the greater things, the forgiveness of God, and sanctification by His Spirit.
…2You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. 4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.… James 4: 2-4
Can the wedding guest mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them - Jesus, the Hope of Glory, was in their midst. He wasn't calling them to a system of rituals, but a relationship with God Himself. Here He was, God in flesh, the perfect solution to this separation, the Bridge across the void, the Door by Whom we have entrance to a restored relationship.
The day will come when the Bridegroom is taken away from them - Jesus is making it known that His rejection is eminent, that He is walking towards the cross, that there will come a gut wrenching time when their worlds will have seemed to fall apart. They will fast, there will be time for that.
No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment - This is a well understood principle, the new cloth on the old garment doesn't make for a good patch. The garment has already shrunk, but the new cloth has still to shrink, and when it does the repair is made void.
Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break: With this illustration of the wineskins, Jesus explained that He did not come to repair or reform the old institutions of Judaism, but to institute a new covenant altogether. The new covenant doesn’t just improve the old; it replaces it and goes beyond it.
d. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved: Jesus’ reference to the wineskins was His announcement that the present institutions of Judaism could not and would not contain His new wine. He would form a new institution – the church – that would bring Jew and Gentile together into a completely new body (Ephesians 2:16).
i. Jesus reminds us that what is old and stagnant often cannot be renewed or reformed. God will often look for new vessels to contain His new work, until those vessels eventually make themselves unusable. This reminds us that the religious establishment of any age is not necessarily pleasing to Jesus. Sometimes it is in direct opposition to, or at least resisting His work.
ii. Jesus came to introduce something new, not to patch up something old. This is what salvation is all about. In doing this, Jesus doesn’t destroy the old (the law), but He fulfills it, just as an acorn is fulfilled when it grows into an oak tree. There is a sense in which the acorn is gone, but its purpose is fulfilled in greatness. - Enduring Word
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