Fasting, Cloth and New Wineskins (9:14–17) (Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39)

“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.”” (Matthew 9:14–17, ESV)

John’s disciples pick the best possible time to talk about fasting, when Jesus and his disciples were feasting. Is there a bit of self-righteousness here? The Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with sinners, John’s disciples criticized Jesus for eating at all. Both are wrong and for much the same reason, they put tradition and ritual ahead of mercy. And in fact this section follows close on the heels of Jesus statement, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13, ESV). Was this comment directed to John’s disciples as well?

Matthew 9:14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

“We are now introduced to a third group (scribes in v. 3; Pharisees in v. 11; now John’s disciples) who express their disapproval of Jesus’ practice.”1 It is interesting that Matthew lumps John’s disciples with these two other groups, scribes and Pharisees. It may help to remember that Matthew writes about 25 or 35 years after this event. Although John pointed to Jesus as the purpose of his own ministry, there were some of John’s “followers who never accepted Jesus’ supremacy and who by the end of the first century had developed their own sect.”2 This may have been Matthew’s point. Even some although close to John missed John’s message. But the fact that not all of John’s disciples missed that message may also be a part of the meaning of this passage.

“The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.” (John 1:35–37, ESV) “One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.” (John 1:40, ESV)

So John’s disciples may be exploring the motives of Jesus and disciples but perhaps Matthew is exploring the motives of John’s disciples as well. the disciples of John…. We don’t know what John’s disciples were attempting to do. It could have been legitimate confusion—they deny themselves, Jesus’ disciples do not. What’s with that?

1 France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew (p. 355). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co. 2 Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 226). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. fast…. “What is envisaged is a voluntary (as far as the Law is concerned) but collective and regular discipline of piety, as was the Pharisaic practice of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays.”3 Was this a legitimate question or was it a claim to superiority? We cannot tell. Jesus’ answer, however, appears to address both. your disciples do not fast…. “For John’s disciples that indicated a movement which did not take its religious commitment seriously, and the feasting in Matthew’s house only deepened their suspicion.”4 But in fact, Jesus disciples did fast and he even instructed them how to fast.

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16–18, ESV)

This suggest a bit of self-righteousness on the part of John’s disciples; because they did not fast publically, these disciples jumped to the conclusion that they did not fast at all. Is the issue still ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’ (9:13) with some of John’s disciples thinking just what the Pharisees did, it’s all about ritual, preferable public ritual.

Just as there are times when feasting is not appropriate, so there are times with fasting is not either. It is essential that we understand this, otherwise we can become slaves to mindless tradition and ritual that interferes with true worship.

A Bridegroom and Guests (9:15)

Matthew 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. bridegroom…. Since John himself introduced the bride/bridegroom metaphor, this should resonate with John’s disciples for he himself used it earlier. John could not have been clearer.

“You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”” (John 3:28–30, ESV)

Another part of the picture here is the fact that the bridegroom metaphor was applied to God in the Old Testament as well.

“Jesus now alludes to himself as the “bridegroom,” who in the Old Testament is Yahweh (cf. Isa. 62:5; Hos. 2:19–20).”5 “In the OT the bridegroom metaphor was

3 Nolland, J. (2005). The Gospel of Matthew: A commentary on the Greek text. New International Greek Testament Commentary (390). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press. 4 France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew (p. 356). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co. 5 Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (vol. 1; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 64. repeatedly applied to God (Isa 54:5–6; 62:4–5; Hos 2:16–20); and Jews sometimes used it of marriage in connection with Messiah’s coming or with the messianic banquet….”6

“For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name…. For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.” (Isaiah 54:5–6, ESV)

“And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’” (Hosea 2:16, ESV)

Both John and now Jesus apply the bridegroom metaphor to Jesus. The audience both then and now were expected to think carefully about this bridegroom symbolism and identify Jesus as the LORD. the wedding guests…. The wedding guests are the disciples, “the bridegroom’s attendants, as those most closely identified with the bridegroom in the joy of the wedding celebration.”7 “The arrival of the kingdom of heaven has brought to fulfillment the promises of Israel, which should cause a time of rejoicing, like what would be experienced during marriage ceremonies (cf. Matt. 25:12–13).”8 Fasting is about mourning, but it is feasting would naturally follow, not fasting. Perhaps Jesus’ disciples should have responded, “Why are you fasting instead of feasting?” is taken away…. “‘Is taken away’ refers to an unnatural removal since the guests and not the couple are left at the end of the celebrations. This removal is ominous. The anticipated fasting is related to an anticipated disaster. The fasting will lament the loss.”9 As he so often does in his ministry, Jesus is alluding to his death.

John’s disciples introduced what was to them a problem.

New Cloth and Old Garments (9:16)

This conversation has given Jesus an opportunity to discuss additional topics related to the removal of the bridegroom. More is involved than fasting.

Matthew 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. unshrunk10…. “The “unshrunk” cloth is literally “unfulled:” the fuller cleaned and combed the cloth to remove natural oil and gum and bleached it ready for use in making

6 Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 227). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. 7 Nolland, J. (2005). The Gospel of Matthew: A commentary on the Greek text. New International Greek Testament Commentary (390). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press. 8 Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (vol. 1; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 64. 9 Nolland, J. (2005). The Gospel of Matthew: A commentary on the Greek text. New International Greek Testament Commentary (390). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press. 10 unshrunk ἄγναφος “…pertaining to an unshrunken condition of cloth, that is, before it has been washed and dried—‘unshrunken, not as yet shrunken.’” Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 524. garments. Cloth not pre-shrunk in this way would shrink when washed, and so would have a disastrous effect if sewn onto an old, and therefore already shrunk, coat.”11

The illustration is straight forward, old garments cannot be patched with new cloth. What’s the point?

New Wine and Old Wineskins (9:17)

Matthew 9:17 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.”

“If new wine, still fermenting, were put into such an old skin, the buildup of fermenting gases would split the brittle container and ruin both bottle and wine. New wine was placed only in new wineskins still pliable and elastic enough to accommodate the pressure.”12 Of course, this illustration makes no sense if Jesus and Israel drank grape juice for fermenting produces alcoholic wine, which was apparently a common drink in Israel, not grape juice.

GOATSKINS Skins such as these were used as wine containers in the first century

Conclusion

11 France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew (p. 357). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co. 12 Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 227). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. Jesus does not stop and draw conclusions about these parables, at first reading they are somewhat esoteric. And he does not explain their meaning to John’s disciples, but he leaves them to ponder the meaning of all this on their own. And so we are left with the same problem, what do they mean?

The first, the bridegroom is more obvious; it deals with fasting. Fasting is about mourning; it is not appropriate to mourn now, that time will come later when the bridegroom (Jesus) is no longer present.

The second and third are of one kind and different from the first. They suggest that there will be greater changes in religious practices than even fasting. It is as if the question on fasting provides Jesus with an opportunity to discuss coming changes in how one worships God.

Let’s look at the context, we see that in chapters 5-7 Jesus exercises his authority to properly interpret the Law. In chapters 8 and 9 the text focus on the authority that Jesus possesses and demonstrates in his actions to heal a leper, to heal the centurion’s servant with a word, to heal Peter’s mother-in-law, to rebuke the winds and the waves, to cast out demons, to forgive sins, to seemingly violate purification laws by eating with tax collectors and sinners and to set aside fasting for a time.

After this section, he goes on to heal a woman and raise a girl from the dead, then give sight to two blind men.

Our passage is in this context right in the middle of a series of illustration on Jesus authority to act in ways others cannot. And it is here that he addresses old patches and old cloth and new wine and new wineskins. With Jesus and the proclamation of the coming Kingdom something new is about to happen. Changes will soon take place in how one lives and worships God. It is with the authority that Jesus possesses and demonstrates in his teachings and miracles that he makes this point. Because he does possess such authority, he can make these changes. It is not clear yet what these changes will be but Jesus makes it clear right here that change is coming. Moreover, when they do come, believers must not take the new to patch up the old; old Israel has fulfilled its purpose and will soon be no more. There is no patching it up and keeping it running. In addition, the new wine will soon grow through the fermentation process; this cannot be contained in the old wineskins. A new framework will be needed to do this. Although not yet obvious, that new framework for worship will be the Church. They must recognize that the greatness of the coming kingdom, his Passion and his Church, require the people of God to be aware that changes are ordered by his own authority. And they therefore must meet them with a positive anticipation. The new is upon them.

When Jesus gives the interpretation of a parable, he thereby limits what later readers my say that it means. But in this case, he leaves these parables open ended. His hearers are required to think, meditate and ponder what he means. This also provides opportunity for unrestrained speculation. There are those who identify themselves as “dispensational” who in this passage take opportunity to tell us that grace is now replacing law, something the text says nothing about, attempting to maximize the break between the Old and New Testaments. In fact, there is a strong continuity between the two as Jesus just recently illustrated in his teaching on fulfilling the law in the Sermon on the Mount, not setting it aside.

Matthew and Jesus appear to bring all this teaching on coming change to us by means of John’s disciples and their questions. Perhaps it was they especially that needed to be prepared to make changes in the way they worshiped.

“And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19:1–5, ESV)

And some were ready to do this. Some of Jesus’ disciples were earlier John’s disciples. Other disciples of John responded later. But some never did and continued erroneously to follow John long through the coming centuries.

“Even after their master had been beheaded the disciples of John the Baptist maintained a separate society of their own, and reproached the disciples of Jesus because of their want of strict ascetic discipline (Matt. 9:14, etc.). The disciples of John in the Acts (18:25; 19:1–7) were probably Hellenist Jews, who on their visits to the feasts had been pointed by John to Christ, announced by him as Messiah, without having any information as to the further developments of the Christian community. About the middle of the second century … originated probably from a coalition of Essenes (§ 8, 4) and disciples of the Baptist who when orphaned by the death of John persistently refused to join the disciples of Christ. …. As adherents of John the Baptist rejected by the Jews the old Disciples of John had an anti-Jewish character, and by their own rejection of Christ an anti-Christian character. By shifting their residence to Babylon, however, they became so dependent on the Syro-Chaldean mythology, theosophy and theurgy, that they sank completely into paganism, and so their opposition to Judaism and Christianity increased into fanatical hatred and horrid calumniation.”13

So, is our story here in Matthew the beginning of this anti-Christian movement?

The main thing to remember in Jesus’ response to these disciples is that Jesus is exercising his authority to make changes in how they must live and worship God. Soon, those changes will be unpacked by his Apostles.

13 Johann Heinrich Kurtz, Church History (ed. W. Robertson Nicoll; trans. John Macpherson; vol. 1; The Foreign Biblical Library; New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls, 1889–1894), 94– 95.