The disciples of John came to Jesus with a sincere question:
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
Fasting was an important spiritual practice. It could express repentance, grief, prayer, and a deep longing for God.
So their question was understandable.
But Jesus did not begin by explaining the rules of fasting.
Instead, He spoke about Himself.
“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”
They asked about fasting.
Jesus answered by talking about the Bridegroom.
That is the key to understanding this passage.
Who Is With You?
John’s disciples were focused on what people were doing.
We fast.
The Pharisees fast.
Why don’t Your disciples fast?
But Jesus redirected their attention.
The deeper question was not simply:
“What religious practice are you doing?”
It was:
“Do you understand who is here?”
A wedding is not the proper place for the friends of the bridegroom to mourn while the bridegroom is standing among them.
The Bridegroom had come.
The One they had been waiting for was now among them.
Therefore, this was a time for joy.
Christian faith is not ultimately centered on how many religious practices we perform.
It is centered on Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him.
Jesus Is the Bridegroom
Jesus’ description of Himself as the Bridegroom is significant.
In the Old Testament, God sometimes described His covenant relationship with His people using the language of marriage.
Now Jesus speaks of Himself as the Bridegroom.
He is not merely another religious teacher giving new instructions about fasting.
His coming marks the fulfillment of God’s saving promises.
Something decisive has happened.
The Bridegroom has come.
The Bridegroom Will Be Taken Away
But suddenly the joyful picture becomes dark.
Jesus says:
“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
Here the shadow of the cross begins to fall across the wedding celebration.
Jesus knew that a day was coming when He would be taken from His disciples.
He would be rejected, arrested, suffer, and die.
So Jesus was not abolishing fasting.
He clearly said:
“Then they will fast.”
But fasting would now be understood in relation to Christ.
Christian fasting is not a way to prove our spiritual superiority.
It is not a transaction in which we suffer so that God must give us what we want.
It can become an expression of repentance, prayer, dependence, and longing for Christ and the fullness of His kingdom.
A New Patch on an Old Garment
Jesus then gives another picture.
No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. When the new cloth shrinks, it pulls away from the old garment, making the tear worse.
Jesus did not come merely to become a religious patch on our old way of life.
We cannot simply keep ourselves at the center of our lives and add a little Jesus wherever something is broken.
Jesus did not say to Matthew:
“Keep your life exactly as it is and add Me to it.”
He said:
“Follow Me.”
Grace meets us where we are, but it calls us into a life centered on Christ.
New Wine and New Wineskins
Jesus then gives a second picture:
new wine and new wineskins.
New wine continues to ferment and expand. An old, hardened wineskin may no longer be flexible enough to withstand the pressure. It can burst, spilling the wine and ruining the wineskin.
Therefore:
“New wine is put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
We should be careful not to reduce this metaphor to a simplistic equation such as “new wine means the Holy Spirit” or “old wineskins mean the Old Testament.”
Jesus did not come to reject the Old Testament.
He came to fulfill what the Law and the Prophets anticipated.
The movement is not simply:
bad old things → good new things.
It is better understood as:
promise → fulfillment,
waiting → arrival,
anticipation → the coming of the Bridegroom.
With Jesus, God’s saving work has entered a new stage of fulfillment.
Therefore, everything must now be understood around Him.
Jesus Is Not an Addition to Our Old Life
This passage speaks powerfully to us.
It is possible to try to fit Jesus into our existing life.
My plans remain mine.
My ambitions remain untouched.
I remain the center.
Then, when I need help, I pray.
When life becomes difficult, I call on Jesus.
But Jesus is not a religious addition to our lives.
He is Lord.
The gospel is not about adding Jesus to the edges of our old life.
It is about Christ becoming the center of our life.
That is why His call remains:
“Follow Me.”
Both Feasting and Fasting
The Christian life contains both joy and longing.
Christ has come.
He died and rose again.
Therefore, we rejoice.
Yet we still wait for the final completion of God’s kingdom.
Sin, suffering, and death have not yet disappeared from our experience.
So there is still longing.
There are times of celebration and times of fasting.
There is thanksgiving, but there is also groaning.
We rejoice in what Christ has already accomplished while longing for what is still to come.
But both our feasting and our fasting must have the same center:
Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom.
John’s disciples asked:
“Why don’t Your disciples fast?”
Jesus answered:
“The Bridegroom is with them.”
They asked about a religious practice.
Jesus answered by revealing Himself.
And that remains the heart of Christian faith.
The deepest question is not merely how much we pray, fast, serve, or perform religious duties.
The question is:
Is Christ at the center of it all?
Our prayer must lead us to Christ.
Our fasting must long for Christ.
Our worship must exalt Christ.
Our entire life must be reordered around Christ.
For the One we were waiting for has come.
The Bridegroom is here.
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