Jesus, Fasting, and the Newness He Brings

2:18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and said, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast?" 2:19 Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast. 2:20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and at that time they will fast. 2:21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. 2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be destroyed. Instead new wine is poured into new wineskins."

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Jesus explains that His disciples are not fasting because He is with them like a bridegroom at a wedding. That is a time for joy, not mourning. But He also says a time is coming when He will be taken away, and then they will fast. His pictures of cloth and wineskins show that what He brings cannot simply be forced into old religious forms without breaking them.

People asked why John’s disciples and the Pharisees fasted, but Jesus’ disciples did not. Jesus answered by focusing on His own presence. He compared Himself to a bridegroom at a wedding. While the bridegroom is with the guests, they do not fast. That fits the moment. Fasting often belongs to mourning, repentance, or urgent seeking. Joy fits a wedding feast.

Jesus did not reject fasting altogether. He said that the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away, and then they will fast. So this is not a command to stop fasting forever. It is a teaching about timing. There is a right time for joy, and there is a right time for fasting.

Jesus then used two common images. No one puts an unshrunk patch on an old garment. No one puts new wine into old wineskins. Both images show that forcing the new into the old brings damage. The patch will pull away. The wineskins will burst. The point is not mere preference. The point is incompatibility.

So Jesus is saying that His ministry is not just one more addition to the old system. His coming creates something new that old forms cannot simply absorb unchanged. This does not mean that the Old Testament was bad or that everything before Him was worthless. It means that the new reality brought by Christ must be received on its own terms.

• Jesus explains the disciples’ non-fasting by His own presence, not by carelessness about God.
• He does not abolish fasting. He says the disciples will fast when He is taken away.
• The bridegroom image gives His answer covenantal and christological weight.
• The patch and wineskin sayings stress incompatibility between the new reality in Jesus and old forms.
• The old/new contrast is not a blanket rejection of the Old Testament or Israel’s Scriptures.

• Do not say this passage teaches that fasting is wrong for Jesus’ followers.
• Do not reduce the bridegroom image to simple happiness only.
• Do not use the old/new contrast to reject the Old Testament.
• Do not use ‘new wine’ as a slogan for change apart from Christ and context.

Jesus shows that His presence changes the time. While the bridegroom is with His people, joy is fitting. When He is taken away, fasting will fit again. The bridegroom image also echoes God’s covenant language in the Scriptures, so Jesus is not speaking as a mere teacher of customs. He is revealing that His coming marks a decisive moment in God’s saving work.

Let your spiritual practices fit Christ, not your desire to look serious. Do not measure faithfulness mainly by visible austerity. Receive both joy and fasting as fitting at different times. And when change is needed in church life, let it be driven by faithfulness to Jesus, not by a love of novelty.

Related commentary links will be expanded as this tier is built.