Matthew 9:14-17

Introduction

English Standard Version Chapter 9

A Question About Fasting

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.”

During our last time together we looked at Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees while he was, as they put it, eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. They accusingly asked Jesus’ disciples “why” he would do such a thing? The assumption was, of course, that it was unbecoming of him to do so. And Jesus famously answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” But the religious leaders did not understand who it was they were talking to, and therefore misunderstood his mission and purpose, to seek and save the lost.

Moreover, their question revealed something of their own character. They demonstrated that they were a people swollen with pride and self-righteousness. They considered themselves better than those eating and drinking with Jesus, hence their description of them as “tax collectors and sinners”. It’s why Jesus would point them to the prophet Hosea in the OT and say, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous but sinners.” ()

The Pharisee saw themselves as righteous, as possessing even a righteousness of their own. They had concluded that God looked upon them favorably because of their own pious behavior, because of their own righteous deeds. But Jesus, seeing through this facade, tells them, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” Or as other translations render it, “I desire steadfast love, and not sacrifice.” And what he was saying was that while their lives were consumed with external pious behavior, that their hearts were devoid of a genuine love for God, and their merciless behavior toward others gave evidence to this reality. That they were keen on sacrifices and making burnt offerings to the Lord, but that they found it impossible to have mercy upon others. And they were so blind to this that they could not see how Jesus could, in any way, associate with such "sinners”.

Fasting

And my intention of recalling all of this to mind from last week is so that we might have this as a vivid backdrop while we look at verses 14-17 here today. Because the central issue at hand, here this morning, is fasting, and fasting was one of the many external religious behaviors that was common among both the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist. Let’s read there again in verse 14,

They were keen on sacrifices and making burnt offerings to the Lord, but showing steadfast love to God and to others was missing.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

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

Now, while Matthew paints for us a picture of John’s disciples perplexed by Jesus’ disciples not fasting, Mark and Luke give us a slightly fuller picture. In Luke’s Gospel account we read that it’s seemingly the Pharisees who ask Jesus this question, and in his account it’s as if there’s no break in the conversation from Jesus’ time at Matthew’s home to this question about fasting. But when we read Mark’s Gospel account he seems to indicate that people from both parties were responsible for this question. Mark says in chapter 2, verse 18,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

The bottom line is that we have people form both camps wondering why Jesus’ disciples are not fasting as they do. Now, it’s well known that at this time in Jewish history that it was typical for the Pharisees to fast at least two times a week, and we have historical evidence that John’s disciples maintained a similar routine of fasting, so on one hand it’s somewhat understandable that they would be confused. If John the Baptist was right in his assessment, that this Jesus, was indeed the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (as he said in ), then wouldn’t Jesus continue such pious practices, in fact, might they even expect something more difficult to be demanded of them?

The nature of fasting

But

But we read

Because, keep in mind, the previous setting that we found Jesus and his disciples in, they were feasting. Luke tells us that Matthew threw Jesus, and presumably his disciples, a feast! A far cry from the nature of fasting. In fact, here’s some of what the Bible teaches us about the nature of fasting,

David says this in , verse 10,

English Standard Version Psalm 69

10  When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,

it became my reproach.

Here we see that David associates weeping and the humbling of his soul with the practice of fasting. He also says in , verses 22-24,

English Standard Version Psalm 109

22  For I am poor and needy,

and my heart is stricken within me.

23  I am gone like a shadow at evening;

I am shaken off like a locust.

24  My knees are weak through fasting;

my body has become gaunt, with no fat.

His description includes feeling poor and needy, that his heart was stricken within him, and that his body had become gaunt, with no fat. It’s easy to see, even on the surface of the matter, how fasting is contrary to feasting.

Let’s look at just one more text from the prophet Joel, he writes,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

12  “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13  and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

and

English Standard Version Chapter 2

15  Blow the trumpet in Zion;

consecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

Again, fasting is associated not with celebration but with mourning, weeping, repentance and solemnity. So for John’s disciples, fasting, in a very real sense, would have been appropriate, even expected; for John the Baptist was doing as all the OT prophets had done, he was calling Israel to repentance. Mark chapter 1, verse 4 tells us that,

English Standard Version Chapter 1

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

But Jesus’ disciples were not following that same pattern of fasting. And Jesus is fully aware of this, in fact, Jesus immediately tell’s John’s disciples why not. We read there in verse 15,

English Standard Version Chapter 9

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.

Jesus uses a brilliant analogy to communicate what has changed. He tells them that the person of whom all of the prophets spoke of and looked forward to was here - the bridegroom! Which of course, is an obvious occasion, not for mourning and fasting, but for celebration and feasting. This is why his disciples found no occasion for fasting, it wouldn’t have made any sense, because Jesus wasn’t just a prophet like John the Baptist, but the one in whom John, and all the prophets, were looking for.

The Bridegroom & Husband

And what’s astonishing here, of which Matthew doesn’t take time to elaborate, is the fact that Jesus just called himself the Bridegroom, and not just any bridegroom but the bridegroom of his disciples, and by extension the people of Isreal. So any Jewish man who knew his bible would have known that this is how God described himself and his relationship to Israel in the OT. The prophet Isaiah wrote this,

English Standard Version Chapter 62

5  For as a young man marries a young woman,

so shall your sons marry you,

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you.

and elsewhere this,

English Standard Version Chapter 54

5  For your Maker is your husband,

the LORD of hosts is his name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God of the whole earth he is called.

And in the book of Hosea we’re told that God will draw Israel to himself, “And that in that day, declares the Lord, [she] will call me ‘My Husband’” and no longer follow after other gods. This is the situation of which the disciples found themselves, in the direct presence of their Bridegroom, with cause only to celebrate.

And in the book of Hosea we’re told that God will draw Israel to himself, “And that in that day, declares the Lord, [she] will call me ‘My Husband’” and no longer follow after other gods. This is the situation of which the disciples found themselves, in the direct presence of their Bridegroom, with cause only to celebrate.

Analogy of unshrunk cloth

And Jesus continues in verses 16 and 17 to further illustrate his point,

This is the situation of which the disciples find themselves in, in the presence of their Bridegroom, and therefore find no occasion to fast.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

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.”

Now I want you to imagine an old pair of paints that you’ve had for a while, they’ve been through the wash countless times and fit perfectly, until one day you tare a hole in them, but not all is lost, you sew a new patch of cloth over the hole, and they seem to be as good as new. However, after you wash them with the new patch, you put them on to wear, but as soon as you sit down on the bed they tear. Why? Because you forgot that the cloth you used to patch the hole was made of cotton and had never been washed before, so when you put that unshrunk piece of cloth on your old pair of pants they tear because the patch shrunk but the pants didn’t.

Jesus’ presence incompatible with fasting

The point here is that the patterns of religion practiced by the Pharisees as well as John’s disciples had, in a sense, become incompatible with Jesus’ presence on earth. Now this does not mean that Jesus had done away with the need for fasting, because we just read back in his Sermon on the Mount that his expectation was for his disciples to fast, it’s just that during his earthly ministry, for those few short years with his disciples, that they’ll have no reason to fast, but just as we read back there in verse 15, there will come a day when the bridegroom is take away from them, and then they will again fast.

Fasting will continue

We see examples of this in Acts chapter 13, when we read of Paul, Barnabas and others fasting, it says that,

English Standard Version Chapter 13

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

and also in , when Paul is stoned and returns to help appoint elders there within the local churches, and we read,

English Standard Version Chapter 14

23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

There’s no doubt that Jesus intended his disciples to again fast upon his departure.

Analogy of wineskins

Jesus also uses an analogy of wineskins. He points out that if one were to put new wine into old wineskins that eventually those old wineskins would burst from the fermentation of the new wine. However, if new wine is put into new wineskins then because the new skins are still pliable they wouldn’t break but preserve both the wineskin and the wine. And it would also be unfitting for his disciples to fast while their Bridegroom, who turns their mourning into dancing, is with them. Again, Jesus’ presence defeats the purpose of fasting.

Fasting in light of the Messiah

All prayer and fasting leading up to the coming of Christ was done in longing and anticipation of a Savior, and similarly, as followers of Jesus, who has already come, we pray and fast, longing for his coming again, we pray and fast with an anticipation for his return that will mark the beginning of the age to come where again fasting will no longer have a place in the life of the believer, for we will see our Bridegroom face to face, and we will rejoice at the sight and voice of our Savior.

tells us,

English Standard Version Chapter 19

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Prayer