A question about fasting. Matthew 9:16-17

[David_AB]

Can anyone explain what verses 16&17 mean?
I believe in verses 14&15 Jesus is saying the disciples didn't need to fast whilst he is with them but will again once he is taken away from them.

14Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
16No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

 

[ewq1938]

Can anyone explain what verses 16&17 mean?
I believe in verses 14&15 Jesus is saying the disciples didn't need to fast whilst he is with them but will again once he is taken away from them.

14Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
16No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

"Can anyone explain what verses 16&17 mean?"

The fabric mentioned was new, and after time and washing would shrink...similar to how some new clothes might shrink too much if washed in hot water or dried in a hot dryer...that patch would shrink and rip away from the damaged clothes.

The wineskins are the same. New wineskins can still stretch because new wine expands and stretches the skins (animal skins used to hold liquid) but if you put new wine into an already stretched out wineskin then it will rip and burst under the strain of the liquid wine expanding...also proof that this wine mentioned has alcohol in it.

It's also like saying you can't teach old dogs new tricks...people stuck in old beliefs cannot understand or accept new teachings that are different from what they have believed, errantly, for a long time. This is what the two analogies are speaking about.

 

[Noah Ark]

Imagine if your lovely parents who live in another city far away suddenly come to visit you, are you going to have a party with him or will you ask him to have a fasting with you.

 

[Brotherly Spirit]

I think he's talking about a spiritual fast. The idea is to fast when needed to be near to God, when you feel distant from him. But if you're already near to him and feel his presence being with him, why would you need to fast?

Then I think he's talking about old selves and new selves, it doesn't help to renew ourselves in the spirit if we're seeking it in vain. There must be a need for it as we seek God and an openness in the spirit to accept what would come from it.

 

[paul1149]

14Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
16No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

We usually fast to get more of God in our lives. It would be silly to see the disciples fasting for that purpose when He was walking among them in plain sight all the while. The fasting actually would have been a distraction. After Christ was removed from the earth, fasting again would have its place, since His presence was no longer so overt.

Jesus announces that His presence institutes a new dispensation, a departure from the old regime. Its reality is far beyond what most could imagine at the time, and indeed even now many fail to understand the radical nature of the change in covenants.