A Break with the Past. Mark 2:18-22.
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins – and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
Dear Body of Christ,
Jesus had invaded the space of formal religion with a radical approach. People who valued the old ways began to question his unconventional ways.
Challenge (v. 18). Fasting was a common way of practicing piety. The Pharisees were fasting. Even John’s disciples were fasting, but Jesus’ disciples were not. We are not told who, but it is possible that the same scribes who had earlier questionioned his mingling with sinners were now at it again. Note that they are still avoiding a frontal attack. They level their criticism at the disciples.
Context (vv. 19-20). Jesus draws their attention to the real meaning of fasting. In the Old Testament, it was a demonstration of sorrow for sin (Jonah 3:6-9). It was an expression of grief. Jesus says that the wedding guests do not grieve (by fasting) when the bridegroom is with them. When he is taken away from them, then they grieve.
It has been debated what Jesus meant here. Some have suggested that he was referring to his ascension. But the disciples were not alone, even then. Jesus promised to be with them “to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). A more plausible time would be Jesus’ death and before his resurrection. The disciples would have grieved and involuntarily fasted, as they would have had no appetite.
Contrast (vv. 21-22). Jesus takes his explanation further and declares that what he is teaching cannot fit in with the old ways. He uses two illustrations – a new patch on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins, neither of which is wise. Jesus is not criticizing the Old Testament. Rather, he is challenging the religion of his day. To fit into what Jesus was teaching, people would have to abandon the formality and ritualism taught by the scribes and Pharisees.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.