Matthew 9:14-17
14 Then the disciples of John came to Jesus, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 And Jesus said to them, “Would it be proper for the wedding guests to mourn while the bridegroom is still with them? But The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
16 No one patches an old piece of clothing with a piece of brand new cloth, for the patch would tear away from the piece of clothing, causing a worse tear.
17 You also do not put new wine into old wineskins. If you do, the skins burst and the wine spills and the skins are destroyed. So you put new wine into fresh wineskins, and then both are kept intact.”
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something old, something new
John the Baptizer stood at the threshold of a new era. His ministry prepared Israel for the arrival of God’s Messiah, and in that role he announced the same coming kingdom that Jesus Himself proclaimed. Their messages shared a sharp moral edge: both confronted the religious leaders who hid corruption beneath a veneer of piety. John exposed the hollowness of Pharisaic righteousness, and Jesus continued that work by calling God’s people to sincerity, integrity, and wholehearted obedience. Yet Jesus also introduced something unprecedented. His presence signaled that God’s saving reign had begun in a way no tradition could fully contain.
This is where the tension with older practices emerged. Ritual fasting had long been woven into Israel’s spiritual life. It expressed longing, repentance, and the desire for God to act. But fasting is a discipline suited for waiting. Jesus’ disciples were not waiting. They were living in the moment when God’s answer had arrived. The kingdom was breaking in through Jesus’ words and works. To fast under those conditions would be like searching for someone who is already standing in the room. The practice itself was not wrong; it simply did not match the season.
Jesus made this point clear. He affirmed fasting as a valid and valuable discipline. He expected His followers to fast after His departure, when longing and expectation would again shape their spiritual posture. But during His earthly ministry, the disciples were commissioned to carry the good news everywhere with urgency. Their calling required flexibility, mobility, and constant engagement. An inherited ritual could not be allowed to distract from the mission of announcing the kingdom.
The questions raised by John’s disciples echoed the concerns of the Pharisees. Why were Jesus’ followers not conforming to established patterns? Jesus answered with images of cloth and wineskins. New cloth cannot be stitched onto old fabric without tearing. New wine cannot be poured into brittle skins without bursting them. The point was not that the old was useless. It was that the new required new structures, new rhythms, and new expectations. God was doing something fresh, and the inherited forms could not contain it.
LORD, grant discernment to recognize when familiar habits no longer serve the gospel. Grant courage to release even good traditions when they hinder the work of your kingdom, and shape hearts to be fully committed to the mission entrusted to your people.
[1] see Matthew 3:7-12.
[2] Matthew 6:16-17.
