John the Baptist and Jesus

Matthew 9:14-17

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. The Old System (9:14-16)

i. Verse 14, interesting to see the disciples of John. This is the third group of people now joining and questioning Jesus. We saw the scribes in 9:3, we saw the Pharisees in 9:11 and now we see John’s disciples. What is interesting is the fact that these are followers of John the Baptist. Matthew 3:5-6 records that all of Judea and all of the district around the Jordan were being baptized by him. People were coming to faith through the ministry of John the Baptist and now, these people who were following John are coming to question Jesus.

ii. Now these disciples come up to Jesus and say to Him, how come we and the Pharisees fast but your disciples don’t? This is a legitimate question considering John the Baptist’s ascetic lifestyle. Matthew 3:4 tells us that he showed up preaching in the wilderness of Judea and he lived a simple life. His life was primarily focused on preaching the kingdom of heaven and preparing the way for the Messiah.

iii. It’s important to first understand what fasting is. It seems appropriate to say that the Pharisaic pattern of fasting was twice a week (Luke 18:12) which was still beyond what was required. We see that the only prescribed fast in the Law was on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:32). We also see from Matthew 6:16-18 Jesus’s teaching on fasting. It wasn’t so much frequency, but the attitude to fasting. Jesus was not telling people not to fast, but when you do, this is how you are to do it.

iv. So the question here, why don’t your disciples fast is not referring to the Law and the Day of atonement, but more to the way pious Jews fast in the New Testament on Monday and Thursday as outlined in Luke 18:12. So the question of why did people fast? Why do people fast today? Again, it’s not wrong to fast. But most people, especially in Old Testament times, and still today, believe fasting is a way in which we gain merit before God. This seems why Jesus and His disciples didn’t teach fasting as a discipline per se, but He still taught on it because of the way people viewed it. This is why Jesus’s teaching on fasting in Matthew 6:16-18 is helpful.

v. But this is what caused issues with John’s disciples and Jesus. Why don’t your disciples fast? It’s not that they don’t fast. It’s that they don’t fast enough like they do. They have now created the standard and because they didn’t meet those requirements, now they were being rebuked for it.

vi. This question shows us the sharp contrast between the ministry of John and Jesus. John 3:25-30 is an interesting section of the Bible that deals with John’s ministry in comparison to Jesus’s ministry. If we look at verse 25, John’s disciples were having a discussion about purification. Purification here refers to cleansing from impurity, through physical cleansing. Again, this fits the context to deal with baptism where people were coming to him to be baptized. So in verse 26, John’s disciples come up to John and say to him, Rabbi, that guy Jesus who you testified about, well He’s also baptizing and many people are going to Him. Basically, this is the defining verse about what type of person John the Baptist was. The disciples of John came to him and told him that Jesus’s popularity was growing. This was the same with the Pharisees when they found out that people were starting to follow Christ and they felt threatened.

vii. What was the difference? Well verse 28, John responds by saying He is not the messiah. Then verse 29, this is the pivotal verse. He says that he who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, that’s who John is, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.

viii. The most important word here in this verse is voice. Why is this significant? Why does the friend of the bridegroom — John the Baptist — rejoice greatly over the bridegroom’s voice? Perhaps only because his voice means he is here. And the friend is glad he’s here. But I suspect it’s more than that. John the Baptist described himself in John 1:23 as “the voice” crying in the wilderness. His own voice has gathered a people. But now they are all leaving and going to Jesus. Why? Because another voice is being heard. A greater voice. A stronger voice. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. The sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (John 10:3–4).

ix. The bridegroom has the bride because the bride has a voice, and the bride knows the voice of her husband. And she leaves John and goes to him. John rejoices in the voice of the bridegroom, not just because the bridegroom is here, but because the voice gathers the bride — and it gathers her precisely away from John. This should cause John the Baptist to be jealous like the Pharisees. We see this in John 11:47-48.

x. But the opposite is true of John. John states clearly here that this joy of mine has been made full because people were now leaving him to go to Christ. Thus he says, in verse 30, He must increase, I must decrease.

xi. This helps us understand Matthew 9:14-15. When John’s disciples come to Jesus and ask Him, why don’t your disciples fast, Jesus responds by telling them about the bridegroom. Again, the response in John 3:25-30 is similar and helps us understand. Rather, Jesus’s response tells us the other side. While John speaks about his joy being made complete because he hears the voice of the bridegroom, Jesus says that the attendants of the wedding cannot mourn because the bridegroom is there. Again, it gives off the idea that because the bridegroom is present, our joy is complete. We understand what Jesus is speaking of here is a celebration. We have gone to weddings and like we’ve experienced, a wedding is a time of joy. It’s a time to celebrate God’s faithfulness in bringing people together and celebrating with them their union together with each other and also their union in Christ.

xii. But Jesus also makes an interesting statement. Jesus’s statement now reveals that there will be a time of mourning. He tells them, that the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and they will fast. This idea of being taken away, this suggests a violent removal, this will cause mourning and fasting.

xiii. Jesus continues on verse 16, by explaining further that no one puts a piece of uncut cloth on an old garment. Why? Because if you put a piece of uncut cloth on an old garment, the new cloth will pull away from the garment, meaning, it will be sewed onto the old garment, and cause the old garment to fall apart because it will shrink and cause the garment to stretch and it will cause a bigger tear.

xiv. What does this have to do with anything? What does this have to do with verse 15? Jesus’s emphasis is on this question of fasting. Fasting again was apart of the old system. It was a means in which people thought you can earn favor with God. Jesus’s explanation here was telling them, that you can’t bandage the old system. If the old garment is the Old Testament Pharisaical system they had created, Jesus is telling them this system cannot be fixed by putting on a fix.

b. The New System (9:17)

i. Instead, Jesus says in verse 17, and explains it through wineskins. The same point is made in another way with an illustration through wineskins. People generally don’t put new wine into old wineskins. Why? Because the wineskins will burst and the wine will pour out. So I didn’t know why this was true so I did some research. Firstly, I didn’t understand much about verse 16 so I asked my wife and she knew, that if you wash cloth, it will shrink and if you sew it on to old cloth, the needle and thread will break the old cloth up and cause more damage.

ii. In the same way, the reason why we don’t put new wine in old wineskins is because wine was common stored in skins of animals. But old skins, they lose their elasticity. As the skins get older, it isn’t as pliable and causes the skin to burst. Why does it burst? Because the process of fermentation, due to the gasses, cause the skin to expand, and if they are in old wineskins, it would cause the old wineskins to stretch beyond their yield, and burst. This is why, Jesus explains that in the same way you don’t put new patching on old cloth, you don’t put new wine into old wineskins.

iii. So what does this actually mean? So if we think about what is being discussed here, the initial question is, why don’t your disciples fast like us? We reality here is that the disciples of John understood a system. What did this system teach? It assumes that if you do certain things, you can earn the merit of God and receive divine favor from God. This is common even today. There are a lot of people who think that if you do something, it enables us to receive favor from God. Every false religion in the world teaches this. But we know from the Word that there are only two religions in the world. The first is, man’s accomplishment and the second is divine accomplishment. The answer to this problem is exactly what John the Baptist says in John 3:27. A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.

iv. John the Baptist tells us that there’s nothing anyone can do unless God provides it to him. This is exactly the point of the Gospel. The sermon on the Mount is exactly the same message. It levels us and reveals our bankruptcy and calls us to seek out God. We must put our trust in Christ for salvation. In the same way, when Jesus in verse 17 that you don’t put new wine in old wineskins, Jesus is stating that you can’t put Jesus on the old system. Jesus was not simply bringing a new and revised Judaism, or even founding a different sect of Judaism. Again, this goes back to Matthew 5:21-47. Jesus was not teaching a different message. He was pointing back to the Old Testament and making corrections. The scribes and Pharisees had warped the Old Testament law by making it something it was not meant to be. It was not a means to divine favor. Rather, it was laws that were given to the man of God who loved God. It was given to God’s people so that they would live a life that’s pleasing to God because they understood what God had done for them at Passover, and what He was doing in their lives presently.

v. This is no different today. We don’t keep the law because we believe it will save us. We don’t come to church every week because coming to church every week saves us. No, we come to church every week because that is what God calls us to do and we do it because we love Him. We worship God not because it’s a means to have a closer relationship to Him so we can receive something from Him, but we worship Him because He is worthy of our worship and it’s because we worship Him for who He is and what He’s done. We worship Him because we love Him.

vi. Jesus is pointing out to us that the reason for why we do anything regarding our faith is because we love Him. Our love for Him is the reason why we keep the law. This was the whole point of Jesus’s statement about the wineskins. You can’t put the new into the old. You must put the new into the new.

vii. So what is new? It is that Jesus is the means to salvation. John’s statements in John 3:25-30 helps us understand this. Now that people were following Jesus, John admits that He must increase and I must decrease. That is the new system. Salvation is not merely the law. It’s understanding the law and grace. Law and grace are not against each other. Galatians 2:19, Paul says that through the Law, he died to the law that he might live to God. Then 2:20 follows by telling us that Paul has been crucified with Christ and now the life He lives in the flesh, he lives by faith in the son of God. If we take this pattern, the new system is understanding the law in light of the person and work of Christ.

viii. The law is never separated from Jesus. New Testament saints like you and I are not divorced from the law. We don’t adhere to the Old Testament Law, but now, in Christ, we submit to the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). What is the Law of Christ? Mark 12:28-31. Here, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4 and helps us understand you must love God. But the second law of Christ is found in John 13:34-35. If you love God, you must love one another. This is the new wineskin and new wine. It is to keep the law with Christ in view.

3. CONCLUSION

a. Examine your heart to see how you view God.

b. Examine your heart to see how you love God and love others.