What is the meaning of the parables of fasting at the wedding feast, the old cloth, and the wineskins?

The parable or figure that He used plainly inferred that He Himself was the Bridegroom — the central Person of importance. His presence governed everything, and ensured a wonderful fulness of supply. Presently He would be absent and then fasting would be appropriate enough. Let us take note of this, for we live in the day when fasting is a fitting thing. The Bridegroom has long been absent, and we are waiting for Him. At the moment when the Lord spoke the disciples were in the position of a godly remnant in Israel receiving the Messiah when He came. After Pentecost they were baptised into one body, and were built into the foundations of that city which is called "the Bride, the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9). Then they had the place of the Bride rather than that of the children of the bridechamber; and that position is ours today. This only makes it yet more clear that not feasting but fasting is fitting for us. Fasting is abstaining from lawful things in order to be more wholly for God, and not merely abstinence from food for a certain fume.

The Pharisees were all for maintaining the law intact. The danger for the disciples, as after events proved, was not so much that as attempting a mixture of Judaism with the grace which the Lord Jesus brought. The law system was like a worn-out garment, or an old wine skin. He was bringing in that which was like a strong piece of new cloth, or new wine with its powers of expansion. In the Acts we can see how the old outward forms of the law gave way before the expansive power of the Gospel.

Now that we have been told of the Lord eating with publicans and sinners, the question arises as to why the disciples of John and also the followers of the Pharisees often practiced fasting, and "making prayers," yet the disciples of the Lord Jesus ate and drank rather than fasting. The Lord had spoken of calling sinners to repentance (v.32), and the Jews considered fasting as being repentance, for it was an outward act intended to signify self-sacrifice or repentance, and often accompanied true repentance. But fasting itself was not repentance. John the Baptist had preached repentance to prepare Israel to face the Lord Jesus, but when repentance had done its work in turning people to the Lord Himself, they now had an Object to lift their hearts above their former state. To be occupied with one's own state after having the Lord Jesus revealed to the heart, is not faith. To choose the mere sign of repentance in preference to Christ Himself only proved that true repentance was lacking. The disciples of the Pharisees considered fasting a work of merit, while refusing the Lord Jesus. The Lord answers that the children of the bride chamber would not fast while the Bridegroom was with them. The presence of their Lord Himself was cause for rejoicing, but when He would be taken away from them by way of death, and later ascend to heaven, then they would fast (v.35), not merely physically, but in soul and spirit, in sorrow and self discipline because of His absence.

Then comes in another truth of immense importance. In reply to the question, "Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make supplications in like manner to those also of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?"131 "He† said to them, Can ye make the sons of the bridechamber132 fast while the bridegroom is with them?" They were ignorant of the glory of the person of Him Who was present, as much as of His grace. Had they known the singular dignity of Jesus, they would have seen how incongruous it would have been to fast in His presence. At ordinary times, in view of the evil of the first man, in the sad experience of his rebellion against God, to fast would be appropriate. But how strange would be His people's fastings in presence of their longed-for King! His very birth was announced by angels as good tidings of great joy, and the heavenly host praised God, saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men." Certainly, then, His disciples should act in consistency with the presence of such a glorious Person, with such a spring of joy to heaven and earth. Would a fast be in keeping with the circumstances? The Lord therefore answers, "Can ye make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?" Gladness of heart suits both the grace and the glory of the Lord: "But days will come when also the bridegroom will have been taken away from them, then shall they fast in those days." The Lord had the full consciousness of what was at hand — of man's fatal, suicidal opposition to God, and to God above all manifest in His person. His rejection would soon come,133 and sorrow of heart for the disciples. "Then shall they fast in those days." "Why … drink?": "Why" (Διαστί) is in ℵpmCD, etc., Old Lat., Syrr., etc., but Edd. omit, as ℵcorrBLΞ. †"He": so A, etc. Edd., "Jesus" after ℵBCDLΞ, 33.

But He furnishes more light than this. He points out the impossibility of making the principles of grace coalesce with the old system. This He sets forth by two similes.134 The first is the garment: "No one puts a piece of a new garment upon an old; otherwise, he will both rend† the new, and the piece which is from the new will not match‡ the old." There can be no harmony between the old thing and the new: law and grace will never mix. But next, He sets it forth under the figure of the new wine. "No one puts new wine into old skins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be poured out, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine is to be put into new skins, and both are preserved."§ He shows that there is an energy in the new thing which is destructive to the old. Just as the new wine would burst the old skins, and thus the liquor would be lost and the bottles perish, so would fare that which Christ in the Gospel introduces. Where there is the attempt to connect grace with anything of the law, the old no longer retains its true use, and the new completely evaporates. "New wine is to be put into new skins." Christianity has not only an inner principle peculiar to itself, as flowing from the revelation of God in Christ, but also it claims and creates forms adapted to its own nature. It is not a mere system of ordinances and prescriptions. It has living power, and that power makes new vehicles for itself. But man does not like it. "No one puts a piece," etc.: so AC, later uncials, most cursives, Old Lat., and some other versions. Edd. adopt "No one cuts a piece out of a new garment and puts it upon an old one; else he will both rend the new and the piece," etc., after ℵBDLΞ, 1, 33, Syrr. "Will rend," so Edd. with ℵBCDLΞ, 33. †T.R. "rends" is found in AE, etc., Amiat., Syrr., Memph. ‡"Will not match": so Edd. after ℵABCDL, 33, etc. "Doth not match" is in E, etc., Amiat., Syrr., Memph. §"And both are preserved": so ACD and later uncials, most cursives (69), Old Latin, Syrr., etc. Edd. omit, following ℵBL, 1, 33, Memph. (from Matthew).

Fasting. — Another question, raised this time by the practice of John's disciples, conduced to further unfolding of the character of the times. The Lord Himself had been baptised of John in Jordan, and certainly some of His disciples as well. Why, then, did His disciples act so differently from the practice inculcated, it would appear, by John? Or, to express the point in the language of Luke, "The disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but Thine eat and drink" (v. 33). This might have been with some a real difficulty. The Lord in His gracious way pointed out its solution. Who was present? Around whom were the disciples gathered? The answer to that would settle the matter. And, indeed, John's disciples might have learnt something of that, had they remembered the Baptist's declaration recorded in John 3:29: "The friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice." Joy should reign under such circumstances. So the Lord quietly answered them, "Can ye make the children [or, sons] of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall they fast in those days" (Luke 5:34-35). Very probably His answer was intended to recall to mind the Baptist's testimony to Him. Now, if one like a bridegroom was present, fasting would not be in season.

And this the Lord further demonstrates by parabolic teaching, the better reading of which the Revised Version gives, so we quote it: "No man rends a piece from a new garment, and puts it upon an old garment: else he will rend the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old. And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will perish. But new wine must be put into fresh wine-skins. And no man having drunk old wine desires new; for he says the old is good" (Luke 5:36-39). To impose fasting on His disciples, who were enjoying the fruit of His presence, and drinking in divine grace, would be like patching an old garment with a piece out of a new, the result being that both would be spoilt. A new time had commenced. Things must be done in character with that. Foolish, too, to put new wine into old wine-skins. As with the garments, so with the skins and wine, both would suffer loss. The joy of the disciples could not accommodate itself to old forms and practices. Nevertheless, till others had proved what that joy was, they would naturally be satisfied with practices to which they had been accustomed. For "no man having drunk old wine desires new; for he says, The old is good." The feelings of the Lord's disciples were in character with that which they were enjoying. What a change, then, had begun by His presence in ministry amongst men! All saw the effect on His disciples. They ate and drank. But, alas! all did not desire to participate in the joy flowing from grace, being satisfied still with former things.

For Christianity is not a patching up of the old garment of law-keeping, but a totally new revelation from God that draws out the heart itself to the person of Christ. Therefore it was not correct to compare the disciples of John and of the Pharisees to those of the Lord Jesus. This was a matter of contrast, not comparison. Pharisees cling to their old garment. John the Baptist showed the old garment to be full of holes. But the Lord Jesus provided an entirely new garment. There was to be no mixture of the new with the old.

The garment illustrates what is external. The new wine speaks of the internal power of the ministry of Christ: it must be put into new vessels (wineskins), for old vessels could not be trusted to contain it. The new vessels are the true disciples of the Lord Jesus, those who have been born anew. Man in the flesh, though a zealous law-keeper, could not contain or value properly the preciousness of the ministry of Christ.

"Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom will have been taken away from them, and then they will fast." He Himself is the bridegroom and He had come and while He was with them, mourning could have no place; His rejection was to come and then they would fast. But our Lord not merely answers the question and shows Himself greater than John, who was but the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29), while Jesus is the bridegroom. He adds something which is of great importance. He speaks of a complete change of the order of things. "But no one puts a patch of new cloth on an old garment, or its filling up takes from the garment and a worse rent takes place. Nor do men put new wine into old skins, otherwise the skins burst and the wine is poured out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into new skins and both are preserved together." The old garment is Judaism with its legal righteousness. It is no good and had proven itself as such. No value in it at all, only to be cast aside, utterly put aside. A new garment, a better righteousness was about to be given. He whose name is "Jehovah our righteousness" had come and a change of dispensations was to take place. And now as it has come the old is gone, it is no longer in existence. Yet that which the Lord here but faintly indicates, the impossibility of patching up that which is hopeless and worthless, has been done in Christendom, nay, is the almost universal state of Christendom. It is mixing law and grace together. The rent has become worse. A Judaistic Christianity which, with a profession of Grace and the Gospel, attempts to keep the law and fosters legal righteousness, is a greater abomination in the eyes of God, than professing Israel in the past, worshipping idols.

The new wine is the Gospel of Grace. The old skins* are the law, the Levitical institutions and all connected with it, New wine belongs into new skins. (Bottles in the authorized version. Skins were used and are being used in the Orient for the preservation of wine. Hence skins is the correct translation.) If the new wine is put into old skins, the skins will burst and then there is no wine left and the skins are also made useless. The two belong no longer together. So Gospel and Judaism, Law and Grace do not belong together. The Gospel of Grace enclosed in ceremonial Judaism will result in the loss of the new wine, and ceremonial Judaism, the old skins, will be gone as well. And such is ritualistic Christendom; it is neither Christian nor Jewish. It has not Judaism and has lost the new wine. "They say, they are Jews and are not" (Rev. 3:9). If men hold only the form of godliness and deny the power thereof, it will always mean outward religiousness, legality, self-righteousness and turning away from Grace and the Lord Himself.

As the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast, this is the next scene, raising the question of the character of those whom Jesus was sent to call. The narrative presents all this in a very orderly manner, but still adhering simply to the facts. Then comes the question of mingling the new principles with the old. This the Lord pronounces quite impossible. He shows that it was inconsistent to expect fasting when the Bridegroom was there. It would argue an entire unbelief in His glory, a total want of right feeling in those who owned His glory. It was all very well for people who did not believe in Him; but if the disciples recognised Him as the Bridegroom, it were utterly incongruous to fast in His presence.

Hence, our Lord takes the opportunity of pursuing the subject more deeply in the observation that "no man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment, else the new piece that filleth it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse." The forms, the outward manifestation of that which Christ was introducing, will not suit, and cannot mingle with the old elements of Judaism, still less will their inner principles consent. This He enters on next: "And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles." Christianity demands an outward expression, agreeable to its own intrinsic and distinctive life.*

The question raised by John's disciples led to a declaration which supplemented this. Having called sinners to repentance He attached them to Himself as "the children of the bridechamber," and led them into a position of liberty, as contrasted with legal observances. In the coming days of His absence there would be another kind of fasting. But there could be no real mixture between that which He newly brought and the old law system. The new wine of the kingdom must be contained in new skins. If the attempt is made to restrain the expansive grace of the kingdom within legal forms, the result is disastrous. The grace is lost and the forms are ruined.

The Lord does not so much enjoin fasting as bring it like prayer under the Christian principle of having to do with our Father in secret. It falls under the individual life of faith. Yet He undoubtedly sanctions and approves of it when so practised; and this independently of the more open and united aim, such as we find in Acts 13:2-3, Acts 14:23. He also intimates its value for spiritual power. Pious men have ever felt and must feel its appropriateness in chastening the soul before God, where public or private need called for humiliation. But even in Mark 9:29 it is well to note that the two most ancient copies ignore "and fasting," as they with other authorities also the entire verse 21 of Matt. 17, nor is there a word corresponding in Luke 9. The apostle however who more than others was given to stand for liberty in Christ speaks (in 2 Cor. 6:5, 2 Cor. 11:27) simply and piously of "fastings" and "fastings often" in his service, to the rebuke of that levity which the Corinthian assembly betrayed, and which characterises modern Christianity, save where superstition and self-righteousness give it an artificial moment in very different eyes.

In Matt. 9:14, etc. the Lord shows its true place and time in answer to the disciples of John saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees often fast, but Thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them; but days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast." Neither those who were only disciples of John had any real appreciation of the Bridegroom's presence, nor still less the Pharisees filled with forms and self-righteousness. It was joy to the believing disciples of Jesus. Feeble as they were, they had left their all for Him, and they tasted a divine bliss in Him wholly unknown to the others, who were wholly unprepared for the awful purport to them and the Jews of His being taken away, little as the true disciples as yet comprehended that solemn approaching fact with its immense consequence. The joy of Messiah's presence made fasting altogether inappropriate. Those who tasted none of it were blind to Him whom God's grace had given and sent. Greater still would be their darkness, when the Bridegroom should be taken away. Then would those that believed and loved Him fast, both spiritually and literally.

But the Lord answers for His own disciples that His personal presence among them left them no cause for fasting. The very Source and Center of all blessing was with them, as the bridegroom present among the sons of the bride chamber (those identified with Him before the day of marriage celebration). It was becoming for them to rejoice, not to mourn. However, the days would come when the bridegroom would be taken from them (and in fact by the cruel violence of men's rejection); then they would fast. Such is the character of our present day: we have reason to mourn the absence of our Lord, and the discipline of self-denial is only consistent. Fasting is therefore often seen in the book of Acts, but always linked with prayer, for prayer is of positive character, fasting a negative accompaniment, but not to be ignored.

But the bridegroom was not merely introducing some corrections into the Jews' religion, as though patching an old garment with a new piece of cloth. What He introduced was a totally new garment, for the grace of Christianity completely transcends the system of Judaism. A mixture of the new with the old would make worse the rent in the old. Israel had thoroughly broken the law. To mix grace with that which was totally in ruins would actually only add to the tragedy of the ruin. Rather than being of any help, it would more glaringly expose their failure.