Luke 5:33-39
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
33They 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."
34Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
36He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "
Jesus is ask by the Pharisees in an indirect way, why His disciples are different than John the Baptist's disciples...The real basis of this question, is why are you different and why aren't you following the traditions and old ways of teaching and doing things...Outsiders and strangers are not accepted in many circles, especially when they do not follow our views, and we see that here...
The questions from the Pharisees are about fasting, praying, eating, and drinking...Here Jesus specifically in His parables, addresses fasting and drinking, with the change and new that He represents...
Jesus, refers to Himself as the groom...Weddings are big celebrations today and back in Jesus' time also...One fasts during times of mourning, sadness and gloom, so why would His disciples be fasting while He the groom is here during this (wedding) celebration...There will be a time for His disciples to fast, when He leaves...But for now, the disciples should celebrate His presence...
A skilled clothing maker would not tear a patch from a new garment and sew it to an old one...It would not only, not match, and not be right for the old garment, but it would ruin the new dress, with the patch taken from it...
Jesus ministry is represented by the new garment...Jesus is new and teaching different things...He is not being accepted by the old teachers and Pharisees...This new patch is having a difficult time fixing and working with the old (Pharisees and teachers of the law)...Sometimes things don't work out as in the new garment and the old garment parable...Both (the new garment and the old garment) are destroyed in His parable... God's new plan is here and we must take the new garment and forget the old one...
Also, no one puts new wine in old leather wineskins...The new wine as it ferments would expand in the old wineskin and burst the the old wineskins...New wine needs to be put in new wineskins...Jesus is the new wine...
And Jesus third parable is that old wine is good, and the Pharisees are the drinkers of old wine, so why would they want to drink the new wine (of Jesus)...The old is better...Jesus represents the new wine...He realizes that many Pharisees will not follow Him, they will stay to their old wine...
Jesus give us three parables that represent God's new plan... Jesus has came to save the world from sin...Being new and different is hard for many to accept...Change is hard for us to accept...Strangers and outsiders, and people who do not follow our points of view are hard to accept...
Jesus is always been new...Jesus ideas are always fresh... Change has always been hard...Following Jesus requires us to leave our comfortable and follow His ways...Behold Jesus makes all things new...