Mark 2:18-22
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
18 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?”
19 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. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21 “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. 22 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.”
Jesus' simple, yet powerful, teaching about wineskins illustrates that what He was bringing was so fundamentally different from the religious traditions of the time that it could not simply be patched onto the old system...He was not coming to mend the old ways, but to replace them with something entirely new and living...So His fasting and wineskin parable has a different and new deeper meaning...
The fasting explanation in Mark and Matthew sets the scene perfectly for the parables that follow...When Jesus asks, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?” He is introducing a new, joyful spiritual reality...In Jewish culture, the bridegroom's presence meant a time of celebration, not a time of mourning or fasting...Jesus is identifying Himself as the Bridegroom, and His disciples as the wedding guests...With the Messiah here, fasting is not appropriate; it's a time of celebration...The fasting of the Pharisees and John's disciples represented an "old" religious practice—a spiritual sign of mourning and repentance—that no longer fit the "new" reality of Jesus’s Joyous Presence...
Jesus' explanation on fasting makes it the perfect setup for the wineskin parable...The new, unshrunk cloth and new wine represent the joyous, life-giving nature of Jesus’s new covenant...The old, worn garment and old wineskins represent the traditions and practices of the old religious system...Jesus's point is that His new reality, full of joy and grace, cannot be patched onto or contained within the old religious framework of legalistic observances...It would destroy both the old and the new...He isn't against fasting itself, but He is against performing it at the wrong time and with the wrong attitude...His teaching, which is centered on the heart's relationship with God, requires a completely new way of thinking and living...
As Jesus’s parable teaches about the unshrunk cloth and the old garment, along with the parallel teaching about new wine and old wineskins, is a brilliant analogy for His ministry and spiritual revolution...The "old garment" and "old wineskins" represent the rigid, external-focused religious practices of first-century Judaism, which had become burdened by legalism and tradition...The "unshrunk cloth" and "new wine" symbolize the vibrant, dynamic, and expansive nature of Jesus’s Teachings and the new covenant of LOVE, Grace, forgiveness, and a personal relationship with God...
In trying to patch up what was lacking in the traditional expressions of righteousness would only make things worse is precisely the point...The new, unshrunk cloth would tear away from the brittle, old garment as it shrank, creating an even bigger tear...Similarly, the powerful fermentation of new wine would burst the old, inflexible wineskins...This perfectly illustrates why Jesus's message could not be contained by the old religious framework...It wasn't just a new set of rules; it was a completely new way to relate to God and to one another...To love God and love neighbor is Jesus' message, even in this parable...
God's True Nature and how we should live is about a relationship of the heart...Jesus was teaching that God is all about relationships of the heart...This is the essence of His entire ministry...The Jewish traditions of the time, while originating from God's Law, had often devolved into a system of outward rituals and observances, sometimes lacking in genuine love and mercy...The focus was on what you did, not about how you loved -God and your neighbor...
Jesus’s message was a return to the core of what God has always wanted...He was not abolishing the Law, but fulfilling it by revealing its true intent: love...Jesus taught that the greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39)...This is the new cloth and the new wine—a faith grounded in a transformative love relationship with God and a deep compassion for others...This kind of relationship-focused faith cannot be forced into a system based on legalistic performance, where one is always following rules; it requires a new way of living, a new garment, and a new wineskin...
Jesus was preseneting a New Way, a Living God, not bogged down in rules, but is a heartfelt Livng God...Jesus was and is bringing something new, yet still reminding us of who and what God's Nature is, is a critical piece of this puzzle....Jesus is ans was not introducing a new God, but revealing the same Living God in a clearer, more personal way, and in a relationship way...The religious traditions of the day had, for many, obscured this loving and relational nature of the Father...Jesus’s teachings and parables were designed to break through these barriers and show people what God is truly like: loving, merciful, and always seeking a relationship with His people...
The parable is a clear declaration that Jesus's message of the Grace of God, His forgiveness, and a heart-to-heart relationship with Him was a complete departure from a religion of external rules...It was a new, vibrant reality that required a new container, a new way of thinking, and a new way of living...It's a message that remains just as relevant today...