|
|
9:14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
9:15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
9:16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
John the Baptist was teaching people to fast and follow other laws to prepare for the coming of Jesus. John's message made people realise that they were sinners, and that they needed to repent. Jesus's followers weren't fasting because the arrival of the kingdom of heaven was like a wedding. Jesus's disciples were feasting as they would at a wedding feast. Jesus taught them that fasting was appropriate at some times, but not at other times.
Jesus then explained that the new covenant was not designed to patch up the rules and regulations of Judaism, it was to replace it. He likened it to putting new wine into an old wineskin. When new wine was put into a new wineskin, the wineskin stretched as the wine fermented and expanded. If someone put new wine into an old wineskin which was already stretched, the wineskin would burst when the wine fermented.
God bless you.