Matthew 9:14-17 English Standard Version
A Question About Fasting
14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast,[often] but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And 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. 16 No 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. 17 Neither 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.”
In this study let us look at the context of the question and all the answers Jesus gave, not just one. The initial question posed by the disciples of John indicate that their religious practices are following the examples of the leaders of the Jewish faith they were raised to respect.
These are the disciples of John who was the forerunner spirit to prepare the way of the Lord. John preachs repentance and announced that this Jesus is the Lamb of God, given to take away the sins of the world. His whole ministry was to pronounce the arrival of their Messiah.
Since the question surrounds religious practices between the established priesthood and those of the men following the Messiah, there is a distinct message here that separates the two practices. The answer to those differences is contained in all these passages and not in just the first comment given. All the examples apply to those distinctions.
His first answer is directed by His identity which is new to all those within hearing. This is the point where Jesus announces that He is the bridegroom for the first time. This refers to Psalm 19 in reference to the bridegroom and the words “The law of the Lord is perfect,[blameless]”.” Read Psalm 19.