New & Old Don't Mix

The Accusation

“Why do your disciples not fast like the other groups are doing?”

The Day of Atonement was the only day Jews were commanded to fast; the Pharisees often fasted (cp. Mt. 6:16-18; Lk. 18:4).

Fasting often involved going without food to spend time in prayer, repentance, and mourning (Lev. 16:29-31; Jd. 20:26).

The Answer

Weddings were times of feasting and celebrating, not times of mourning and fasting (2:19-20).

Jesus’ presence was a cause of celebration, but He knew He would be “taken from” them (Isa. 53:8), and they would fast and mourn on “that day” (Jn. 16:20).

Jesus used two parables to illustrate the same truth - a new era with new ways was coming into the world, and it could not be contained in the old way of thinking and living (Mk. 2:21-22; Mt. 5:17-18). [With the patching cloth, the new stronger fabric would tear away from the weaker material when washed, and old stretched wineskins would burst when the new wine ferments and emits gas.]

The Application

Jesus did not come to “patch up” the old religious system of Judaism (Rom. 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9; Heb. 10:8-14).

Jesus came to replace the old system and establish a new, second covenant, better than the first (Ac. 15:10-11; Gal. 5:1-4; 6:12-16; Heb. 7:19-22; 8:6-13).

Although Jesus has ushered in the new age (Heb. 9:11-15), we must not be so satisfied with the “old” that we are not willing to consider the “new” possibilities and opportunities God sets before us in the present day (Lk. 5:39).