Matthew 9:14-17
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Loading ...Matthew 9:14-17
The Pharisees normally fasted twice a week. According to Jesus in Matthew 6, they used fasting as a badge of honor to prove their righteousness. There were very few fast days specifically commanded in the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month being the most notable. Generally speaking, the purpose of fasting is to be an individual matter, to draw a person closer to God. By making a commitment to forego food, a person is able to give himself to meditation without the constant interruption of fulfilling the needs of the flesh. The ability to focus on spiritual needs and one’s relationship with God is more easily accomplished. As a side benefit, the body is taught that it will not die by going without food for 24 hours. This gives a person more self-control, not only over food, but in all areas of life.Jesus gives three brief parables to teach the disciples of John that fasting was not appropriate while He was on the earth. First, fasting is certainly not done during a wedding. Weddings were a time of feasting and rejoicing, not a time to “afflict” one’s soul (Lev. 23:29-32). Once Jesus left the earth, fasting would be appropriate because the Bridegroom would no longer be present.
The second and third parables teach a similar principle. Putting an unshrunk patch on an old garment is simply something that is not done. It would not be appropriate because it would only make the tear worse. Putting new wine into old wineskins is the same. Old wineskins have the residue of old wine, which would immediately cause the fresh juice to ferment and explode the already stretched wineskin. No one would do such a thing. Therefore, fasting was to be occasional in nature. There were appropriate and inappropriate occasions to fast and simply choosing certain days of the week to fast may not fit the occasion of that day.
Is Jesus, as so many say, trying to teach something about putting Old Testament principles into New Testament containers? I think such reasoning is stretching the context. It has nothing to do with the point at hand.
Berry Kercheville
