The Old and the New Covenant

Passage Context

Jesus Heals the Paralytic, revealing His authority to forgive sins on earth, demonstrating his divinity in response to the Pharisees comments towards him.

The crowd resultantly gives glory to God for the miracle.

Jesus then goes and calls Matthew to follow him. Matthew obliges and they went to dine at a house when other tax collectors and sinners come to dine with Jesus.

The Pharisees question Jesus, asking why he would dine with such company, to which Jesus responds, ‘ It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Here Jesus directly references Hosea 6:6 “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Jesus arguably responds quoting this passage from a position of divinity. Rather than saying that God desires it, he quotes the scripture as his own words. He also highlights to the Pharisees the error of their understanding, and lack of scriptural adeptness.

Matthew 9:14-17

“Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 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. 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. 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.””

The question they ask, is not the response Jesus gives. The disciples of John genuinely want to know why it is they they fast but Jesus’ disciples don’t. Fasting was significant in Jewish culture as it was a primary expression of piety, repentance, mourning, and a way to appeal to God for His favour.

Scriptural examples include, Leviticus 16:29-31 and Leviticus 23:27–32, where the command is to ‘afflict yourself’ which is understood as a day of fasting (Yom Kippur), roughly a 25 hour fast. 1 Samuel 7:6, Joel 2:12-15 and other passages.

Fasting was the norm in Jewish society. The context of Matthew 9:14-17 does not state it is explicitly at the time of Yom Kippur, and it is unlikely that it was given that a group of tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were eating with Jesus in the previous passage. Therefore, when we look to interpret the meaning, we need to ask what is going on and why would John’s disciples be fasting?

John at this time was imprisoned, Matthew 4:12 gives light to this as well as historic evidence. It is likely that John commissioned his disciples to go and learn from Jesus during in his time of imprisonment. As we established, Jews would fast for certain reasons. Two are applicable to John’s disciples here, repentance, and an appeal to God’s favour. The question John’s disciples ask is likely out of their expectation for Jesus and his disciples to be fasting as an appeal to God’s favour on behalf of John. In relation to the Pharisees, knowing other biblical context and what the Pharisees were likely, they were likely fasting as an outward display of piety and devotion.

Lets summarise:

Fasting was a normal and important Jewish practice.

John’s disciples were likely fasting because John was imprisoned, as an act of repentance and to seek God’s help, and they expected Jesus’ disciples to do the same.

The Pharisees likely fasted to display piety. Jesus’ response shows that his presence changes the expectations around fasting.

Jesus’ response, is incredible.

‘“Can the wedding guest mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”’ This hits many things. Firstly, it is a direct appeal to Jesus and his disciples, as if to say, fasting would be something done during a period of sadness, difficulty appealing to God, practically confirming the belief held to, but, Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom. This is significant in a theological perspective, as the church is the bride of Christ, but also because it hints at Jesus’ death, that now is not their time for fasting.

Of course, Jesus’ next words confirm the hints which he gives about his death ‘“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,”’ and Jesus confirms once more that fasting is appropriate for such events taking place, but sates that it is not yet the time for his disciples, ‘“and then they will fast”’.

Jesus’ next words, are about the old and the new covenant, ‘“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.”’ Jesus is simply reinforcing his earlier response related to fasting by highlighting the incompatibility of an action or decision, when applied to a certain circumstance. He uses the example to elaborate that he is here so fasting is inappropriate.

Next, Jesus further adds to his explanation ‘“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.”” Jesus reaffirms incompatibility here, but also alludes to some fundamental theological understanding. The wineskins here, also represent the old and the new covenant. Jesus is highlighting that the things of the old covenant are not compatible with the things of the new covenant, that the new covenant requires a fresh wineskin to be poured into. The old covenant is written on stone, it provides guidelines for sin and highlights our sinfulness. As Paul writes ‘the law was brought in so that sin might increase, for where sin increase, there, grace increases all the more’. The new covenant as described in Jeremiah 31:31-34 is written on our hearts, with grace as the means by which this is done the faith in Jesus Christ, and as such, obedience to the law flows from transformation, not obligation. And so, the law still stands, ‘“and so both are preserved”’.

In Matthew 9:14–17, Jesus explains that fasting and other religious practices must be understood in light of his presence. As the bridegroom, his arrival marks a time of joy rather than mourning, though a time for fasting will come after his departure. Through the images of cloth and wineskins, Jesus reinforces the principle of incompatibility between the old and new covenant; religious action shaped by waiting for God to act and by obedience to the old covenant commands are no longer sufficient to contain the new reality inaugurated through and by Jesus. The new covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31:31–34, brings inner transformation through grace by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that obedience flows from renewed hearts rather than external requirement, and in this way both the law and God’s purposes are preserved.