Luke 5:33-38
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” 36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
Reflection:
Jesus is still talking to the Pharisees at this point, when they question him about the apparent lack of fasting and praying being done by His disciples. Jesus answers them with a question? This is an approach Jesus often uses when someone challenges his teaching, and a way of getting at the real issue. In this case Jesus is re-defining what spiritual disciplines like fasting and praying are really for. Spiritual disciplines bring us closer to God and Jesus.
The purpose of any discipline is for training in something you are striving for. In this case, Jesus has called his disciples, which is also a derivative of discipline, to follow and learn from Him. A disciple is someone who learns a trade or way of life from someone they emulate, and want to become like. As such, a disciple of Jesus is someone who begins a lifelong journey of following Jesus, and endeavoring to become more like Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So it follows then, that if the purpose of spiritual discipline is to bring us closer to our master, that Jesus would say, "the friends of the bridegroom don't fast while he is with them!" He then he uses of the new garments and old clothes, new wine and old wineskins, as illustrations of what He is saying. Since Jesus is the new wine, the old wineskin of the Law doesn't work. Doing things in slavish obedience to the Law is like pouring new wine into old wineskins. It has lost its purpose, which is to hold and eventually drink the wine.
So the new wine is Jesus. The new wineskin are the ways we connect with and abide in and with Jesus. So a good question for us to think about is when we fast and/or pray is it to enjoy fellowship with Jesus? Does it draw us closer to Him, so we are better able to follow Him? It is easy for all of us to lose the purpose of spiritual disciplines and they become perfunctory. Maybe when you pray and read the bible you can think of it as talking to Jesus and hearing from Him. It might just motivate you to do it more often!
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” 36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
Reflection:
Jesus is still talking to the Pharisees at this point, when they question him about the apparent lack of fasting and praying being done by His disciples. Jesus answers them with a question? This is an approach Jesus often uses when someone challenges his teaching, and a way of getting at the real issue. In this case Jesus is re-defining what spiritual disciplines like fasting and praying are really for. Spiritual disciplines bring us closer to God and Jesus.
The purpose of any discipline is for training in something you are striving for. In this case, Jesus has called his disciples, which is also a derivative of discipline, to follow and learn from Him. A disciple is someone who learns a trade or way of life from someone they emulate, and want to become like. As such, a disciple of Jesus is someone who begins a lifelong journey of following Jesus, and endeavoring to become more like Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So it follows then, that if the purpose of spiritual discipline is to bring us closer to our master, that Jesus would say, "the friends of the bridegroom don't fast while he is with them!" He then he uses of the new garments and old clothes, new wine and old wineskins, as illustrations of what He is saying. Since Jesus is the new wine, the old wineskin of the Law doesn't work. Doing things in slavish obedience to the Law is like pouring new wine into old wineskins. It has lost its purpose, which is to hold and eventually drink the wine.
So the new wine is Jesus. The new wineskin are the ways we connect with and abide in and with Jesus. So a good question for us to think about is when we fast and/or pray is it to enjoy fellowship with Jesus? Does it draw us closer to Him, so we are better able to follow Him? It is easy for all of us to lose the purpose of spiritual disciplines and they become perfunctory. Maybe when you pray and read the bible you can think of it as talking to Jesus and hearing from Him. It might just motivate you to do it more often!
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