Jesus' Authority to Do Something New

Mark 2:18–22 NIV

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” 19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. 21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Introduction -

Body -

His Authority Ceases Fasting

Mark 2:18–20 NIV

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” 19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

People fasted in this time for two main reasons because they were mourning and the Pharisees made it part of their compulsory practices.

2 Samuel 12:16 NIV

16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.

the thing is the Pharisees would make it very obvious that they were fasting. It was a point of pride.

They would also not fast because they were really trying to get closer to God. They would fast because it was what they knew they were supposed to do

The Pharisees would fast out of obligation not out of relationship

This is what Jesus is condemning. He is not condemning the act of fasting. He is condemning this act of obligation over relationship.

This is because “formal and compulsory Jewish fasting would not fit with the freedom and spontaneity of the new life which” Jesus brought.

This still applies to us today.

Religious obligation doesn’t fit into Jesus’ authority in the the New Covenant. Only relationship does.

Why do you think the people in Jesus’ time felt obligated to fast?

Why do you think Jesus tries to make it clear that the old will not be able to contain the new?

Have you ever felt like you were obligated to do something religious? Why?

How can we make sure that we are focusing on relationsho

The New Surpasses The Old

Mark 2:21–22 NIV

21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Here Jesus is not saying that the Old needs to be discarded

He did not completely out law fasting or any religious act of the past Jesus was just worried about the heart behind these acts.

Jesus’ authority was bringing in a new era where relationship was the focal point

You need to focus on relationship instead of obligation.

Because if you try and put both of these ways together then it wont work

We see in this illustration that both the cloth and the wineskins are destroyed. This is what happens when we try to put the new of what Jesus is bringing into the old of obligation.

Also, the new that Jesus is bringing with surpass the old which we can see in the wineskins.

Conclusion -

His Authority Ceases Fasting

The New Destroys the old