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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that
we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom
mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be
taken from them; then they will fast.”
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment,
for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither
do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst;
the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine
into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:14-17
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some
people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples
of the Pharisees are fasting, but Yours are not?”
Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom
fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that
day they will fast.”
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.
Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst
the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour
new wine into new wineskins.”
Mark 2:15-17
They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray,
and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but Yours go on eating and drinking.”
Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the
bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the
bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a
new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new
garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours
new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the
wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured
into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they
say, ‘The old is better.’”
Luke 5:33-39
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
In today’s devotion, we find the spiritual discipline of
fasting moving front and center, letting us know that it’s been around since
biblical times.
In present times, fasting is usually associated with one longing
for a closer relationship with the Lord, as during the Lenten season. In
biblical times, there are examples of people humbling themselves before God with
fasting while seeking His forgiveness, strength, help, direction, or comfort,
especially in times of grief and sorrow. It’s this last reason for fasting that
we see come to the surface in today’s scripture passage as Jesus is approached
with a question from the disciples of John the Baptist. And in typical Jesus
fashion, He provides answers in the form of parables. Look at these verses
again here:
Then John’s
disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often,
but Your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered,
“How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time
will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
“No one sews a patch
of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the
garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old
wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the
wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both
are preserved.” Matthew 9:14-17
Now John’s
disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus,
“How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are
fasting, but Yours are not?”
Jesus answered,
“How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot,
so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom
will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.”
“No one sews a
patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull
away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old
wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the
wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Mark 2:15-17
They said to him,
“John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the
Pharisees, but Yours go on eating and drinking.”
Jesus answered,
“Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the
time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they
will fast.”
He told them this
parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one.
Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will
not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the
new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be
ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after
drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” Luke 5:33-39
As John’s disciples came to Jesus with their question on
fasting, it’s obvious that Jesus was enjoying a feast with His disciples as He
often did. The followers of John had one simple question:
“How is it that we
and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
It’s obvious that fasting was something done commonly by
John’s disciples and the Pharisees, even though it was not mandated by the law.
As they asked Jesus as to why His followers weren’t fasting, He shared this
parable with them:
“How can the
guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when
the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
Here, Jesus paints the scene of a wedding, something John’s
disciples would be familiar with. Weddings were great times of joy and
celebration, often involving great banquets and parties. It wasn’t an occasion
for mourning and certainly no one would go to a wedding festivity to fast
there. It wasn’t the time. That time would come when the bridegroom was taken
from them and when that happened, then they would grieve and fast.
What was Jesus getting at?
Basically, He was saying that His time had not yet come
and while He was with His disciples, it was time to rejoice and enjoy the
moment. For a day was coming when Jesus would be killed and taken from His followers.
On that day, His disciples would lament and fast.
This is why Jesus’ disciples did not fast as John’s and
the Pharisee’s did. Perhaps if they had chosen to follow Jesus, they would be
feasting instead of fasting as well.
Now, one parable would have probably been sufficient for
Jesus to make His point but as we see, He had two more to share with John’s
disciples:
He told them this
parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one.
Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will
not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the
new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be
ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after
drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
I want to use Luke’s account here because it holds one
additional point from Jesus not found in the other two Gospels.
Through Jesus’ words, John’s disciples are taken to
something else they would know about, this time the repairing of torn garments
and the matter of wineskins and the wine which would fill them.
Of course, everyone wore garments of some kind and as one
traveled or just performed daily tasks, those garments might become torn in
some way. When that happened, repairing the garment would have to be done
correctly or it would not be successful.
For example, Jesus talks about the kind of material one
would use to patch an old garment. It would be important to use old material to
patch an old garment because that material would have already been shrunk which
made it adaptable to the older clothing. Contrast this with what would happen
if a new piece of material from a new garment were used on an old garment. That
material would shrink when it was washed and the material would tear away from
the old garment, unable to match up with the size of the area needing covered.
As for the wineskins, in Jesus’ time, they were usually made
of leather, most often from the skins of goats. These skins would be stitched together
and filled with wine. New wineskins would be fine when filled with new wine but
no so for the old wineskins for after the new wine was poured into the old
wineskins and the wineskin was sealed, the fermented wine would build up
pressure within and the old wineskin would not be elastic enough to stretch
under the pressure, bursting and pouring the wine out onto the ground. This is
why new wine had to be poured into new wineskins.
And Jesus finished this thought by adding that some
people had rejected wanting to taste new wine after they had tasted the old
anyways, always wanting to settle for what they thought was better, that being
the old wine they were accustomed to.
So what was Jesus getting at?
He really was taking a shot at those who were set in the
old ways, the ways of the old covenant, those who were unwilling to accept the
new covenant that Jesus was bringing.
Indeed, Jesus’ ministry, represented by the new garment
and new wine, was not intended to simply be stitched into the old fibers of the
Jewish religious authorities way of thinking, a way of thinking that was
pervasive across Jewish society. Jesus didn’t come to maintain the status quo.
He came to change things and for the better. His intent wasn’t to put new wine
into old wineskins but bring people to a new way of thinking and behavior that
would make them new and ready to contain the new wine He offered.
Yet, the Jewish religious establishment was unwilling to
accept Jesus and the “new wine” He was serving up. They liked their old wine
and chose to continue drinking it, all to their own demise. Sadly, they
influenced a lot of people to trust in them more than the Messiah who God had
sent to save them.
In the end translation from this study, we find Jesus
sending the following message:
There is rejoicing in the new.
Jesus came to make all things new. He came to completely
alter God’s game plan for His people, bringing salvation to everyone, Jew and
Gentile alike. Given this, those who receive Him will find themselves immersed
in times of great rejoicing and celebration, like those who attend the wedding
feast.
And the good news is that for those who are in Christ, this
celebration is going to last for all eternally.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be
blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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