What Does Pouring New Wine Into Old Wineskins Have To Do With Fasting?
A Brief Exposition of Mark 2:18-22
By John C. Orlando, Jr.
Mark 2:18-22: "18 The disciples of John and of
the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the
disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not
fast?" 19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom
fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with
them they cannot fast. 20 But the
days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they
will fast in those days. 21 No one
sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls
away from the old, and the tear is made worse.
22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine
bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new
wine must be put into new wineskins."
In verse 18, we find some people (probably those who had
been following Jesus and His disciples more out of curiosity than anything else)
asking Jesus why it was that the disciples of John (the Baptist) and the
disciples of the Pharisees fast, but the disciples of Jesus do not.
Before moving on, here are some important facts about fasting:
1. The only
explicit command in Scripture to fast was in the Law, where it was commanded
only for the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29; Num 29:7). The Pharisees on the other
hand had required fasting twice a week (Luke 18:12).
2. Though there
is no other explicit command in Scripture to fast, it was (and is) seen as an
appropriate means for expressing mourning and repentance (Psalm 35:13-14),
commitment or consecration to God (Acts 14:23), and spiritual worship and
strength (Acts 13:2, Matt 4:2, Mark 9:29 {NKJV}).
The basic idea is that fasting is seen as a rigorous
spiritual discipline designed to bring a person into a deeper communion with
God. That being the case, those who
approached Jesus with this question on fasting wondered how it could be that the
disciples of Pharisee’s and the disciples of John the Baptist practiced
fasting, yet the disciples of Jesus did not.
At the heart of the question is an implication that maybe Jesus isn’t
as “spiritual” as the Pharisees or even John the Baptist. At this point I
think it is important to understand that there were differences between the
fasting of the disciples of the Pharisee’s and the fasting of disciples of
John the Baptist:
1. In the case
of the disciples of John the Baptist, they were anticipating the immediate
advent of the Kingdom of God and coming of the Messiah, and with that certain
expectation, John’s main message was repentance. Thus, in such a climate of intense spiritual
anticipation, they fasted as a means of spiritual preparation for what they
believed would shortly take place. They
were setting themselves apart in anticipation of what God was about to do in
their midst.
2. In the case
of the Pharisee’s, the fast had really lost all of its true significance, and
had become nothing more than an outward form of religious practice devoid of any
true inward spiritual value. They
turned fasting into one more religious burden that they made the people to carry
if they ever had any chance of being made right with God (ref Matt 23:4).
In other words, their fasting was mere ritual, and the rules they
developed with regard to the fast, such as frequency, etc., were all based on
their own traditions. Jesus would
later rebuke them for following the commandments/traditions of men rather than
the Word of God, and for false worship, i.e., the worship of God with all the
outward display but devoid of the inward reality (their hearts were far from
Him, ref Matt 15:8-9).
Even though these ones who approached Jesus with the
question of fasting didn’t seem to recognize this important difference between
the fasting of the Pharisee’s and the disciples of John, they nevertheless
understood that it was a spiritual activity that any “holy” person would,
and should, partake in. Thus, these
people come along and pointed out that the Pharisees and John the Baptist taught
their disciples the most rigorous of spiritual disciplines, and required that
their students put those things into practice, while on the other hand Jesus
seems to be teaching His disciples that it is okay to hang out with sinners, and
to top it off, they don’t even participate in such “godly” activities like
fasting. So, it is very
important to see what is lurking beneath the question:
a subtle assertion that Jesus could not possibly be a true teacher from
God or the long awaited Messiah.
With those things in mind then, Jesus first responds by
addressing the real issue behind their questions: His identity. He
calls Himself the “bridegroom,” calling attention to Israel’s betrothal to
God and anticipation of the Messiah. It
was just another way of Jesus saying, “I am the One, the Christ, whom you
all have been waiting for!” The
Evangelical Commentary of the Bible remarks, “Jesus proclaimed in veiled
language that He is the promised bridegroom (Hos 2:14-23) and the joyful wedding
of God and His people is now going on…Jesus is standing in the place of God
and is marrying His people by announcing the present reality of promised
salvation.”
In the process of calling attention to His identity, He uses the wedding as an illustration of how inappropriate it would be to fast during such a festive occasion. In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ time, a wedding was a tremendously joyous occasion, and the celebration would continue for days. The wedding was not a time for mourning where one should fast. It is a time of celebration! Instead of it being a time of fasting, it is to be a time of feasting. It was simply unthinkable to fast during such a festive occasion.
Jesus then uses two more examples to illustrate how
inappropriate it would be to fast during this time:
1. Sewing a piece of unshrunk cloth or fabric on an old garment: The effect that this will have is told to us in the passage; the new piece will pull away from the old garment, and the tear will be even worse.
2. Pour new wine into old wineskins: The effect here is also told to us; the new wine would cause the old wineskin to burst.
All
of these examples Jesus uses would have served as extremely striking and
poignant examples to the Jewish mind.
In using these two illustrations, Jesus not only teaches the inappropriateness
of fasting during this time, but that it would actually be counterproductive.
It is inappropriate because He, the long awaited Messiah is in their
midst. It is not a time for
fasting, but for celebration. It is counterproductive because, as in the case of the
disciples of John, they fasted in anticipation of the
Messiah. But if Jesus’ disciples
also fasted, what would that say about Jesus?
It would say that they, like the disciples of John, were still
looking forward to another besides Jesus, and it would say that Jesus,
as John the Baptist, was also looking forward to the Messiah’s coming. Thus, with reference to the unshrunk cloth being
placed on an old garment, we could say that the very “fabric” of who Jesus
was would be torn asunder. With
reference to the new wine in old wine skins, we could say that just as the old
wine skin would have burst and thus have been destroyed, the truth that Jesus
was indeed the long awaited Messiah likewise would have been destroyed.
In simple terms, fasting during this time would be just as ridiculous as
sewing unshrunk cloth on old garments, pouring new wine into old wine skins--no
one in their right mind would do those things.
Jesus does say that there would be a time when the fast would be appropriate, and that time would be when He would be taken from them, a prophetic statement on Jesus’ part where He hints at what His mission would be. In mentioning this, Jesus seems to have in mind the aspect of fasting that would express mourning. His people would fast due to mourning the fact He had been crucified, but even that would be temporary, as He would rise again from the grave and pour out the Holy Spirit on His people.
JCO JR