Luke 5:34

34 To whom he said: Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast whilst the bridegroom is with them?

Luke 5:34 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 5:34

And he said unto them
The disciples of John, or the Scribes and Pharisees:

can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the
bridegroom is with them?
signifying, that he was the bridegroom, and his disciples the children of the bride chamber; and that as it is unreasonable to expect, and morally impossible, that persons, attending the festivals of a nuptial solemnity, should be engaged in severe fastings; so it was not to be thought, that whilst Christ was corporeally present with his disciples, that they should be prevailed upon to live such an austere and mortified life.

Luke 5:34 In-Context

32 I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance.

33 And they said to him: Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees in like manner; but thine eat and drink?

34 To whom he said: Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast whilst the bridegroom is with them?

35 But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: then shall they fast in those days.

36 And he spoke also a similitude to them: That no man putteth a piece from a new garment upon an old garment: otherwise he both rendeth the new, and the piece taken from the new agreeth not with the old.