Matthew's Feast. Discourse on Fasting.

  ^c 33 And they said {^b say} unto him, ^a saying, ^c The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications

^a Why do we and the Pharisees {^b John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees} ^a fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

  15 And Jesus said unto them, ^c Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, {^a mourn}, as long as {^c while} the bridegroom is with them? ^b as long as they have with bridegroom with them, the cannot fast.

[The bridegroom's friends were called "sons of the bride-chamber." They went with the bridegroom to the bride's house, and escorted her to her new home. Arriving at the bridegroom's house, a feast usually lasting seven days ensued ( Matthew 22:4 ; Luke 14:8 ; John 2:8 John 2:9 ). Mourning and fasting would therefore ill befit such an occasion.]

  15 And Jesus said unto them, ^c Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, {^a mourn}, as long as {^c while} the bridegroom is with them? ^b as long as they have with bridegroom with them, the cannot fast.

  ^c 35 But be taken from them, ^b and then will they fast in that day. {^c those days.} [Jesus here foretells the removal of his visible presence from his disciples by his ascension. His words predict but do not command a fast. He prescribed no stated fasts, and the apostolic church kept none. History shows that prescribed fasts become formal and tend to Phariseeism.]

  36 And he spake also a parable unto them: No man rendeth a piece from a new garment and putteth it upon an old garment, else he will rend the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old.

  ^a 16 And no man putteth {^b seweth} a piece of undressed cloth on {^a upon} an old garment; for {^b else} that which should fill it up taketh from it, {^a from the garment,} ^b the new from the old, and a worse rent is made.

[Jesus justifies the conduct of his disciples by an appeal to the principles of the new dispensation, by which they were governed. The disciples of John looked upon Jesus as a reformer of Judaism, but he corrects their false impressions. To tear the new dispensation to pieces to renovate or embellish the old would be to injure the new and to destroy the old. By the process of fulling or dressing, new cloth was cleansed and shrunk so as to become more compact. The new cloth, therefore, had in it, so to speak, a life-element, and in its movement while shrinking it would tear the weaker fiber of the old cloth to which it was sewed, and thus enlarge the rent. The new dispensation could have rites and forms of its own, but could not conform to the rites of the Pharisees. If the conduct of his disciples had made a rent in the rabbinical traditions with regard to fasting, Jesus could not so modify the conduct of his disciples as to patch the rent without injuring the moral sense of his disciples, and without making Phariseeism a more meaningless hypocrisy than ever.]

  ^a 16 And no man putteth {^b seweth} a piece of undressed cloth on {^a upon} an old garment; for {^b else} that which should fill it up taketh from it, {^a from the garment,} ^b the new from the old, and a worse rent is made.

  22 And no man putteth

{^a 17 Neither do men put} new wine into old wine-skins: ^c else the the new wine will burst the skins, ^a and the wine ^c itself will be {^a is} spilled, ^b and the wine perisheth, and the skins: ^a burst, ^c and the skins will perish. ^a but they put new wine

{^a 17 Neither do men put} new wine into old wine-skins: ^c else the the new wine will burst the skins, ^a and the wine ^c itself will be {^a is} spilled, ^b and the wine perisheth, and the skins: ^a burst, ^c and the skins will perish. ^a but they put new wine

wine must be put} ^b into fresh wine-skins. ^a and both are preserved. [This parable is also an illustration of the principles set forth above. Wine was then stored in casks of skin--usually hides of goats. Wine-skins, newly made, were elastic, and would expand to accommodate the fermentation of the new wine within. But the old wine-skins were stiff and of little strength, and would burst if fermenting liquid were confined within them.]

  ^c 39 And no man having drunk old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old is good. [The thought here is that as wine should be put in skins suited for it, and as, at an entertainment, the different kinds of wine should be served in appropriate succession; so, fasting should be observed on suitable occasions--not, for instance, at a wedding.]