Mark 2: 18-22….What did Jesus mean?

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Comment: There are books written on fasting. Here I’m assuming that fasting is to get the attention of God. I’m sure that there is a lot more to it than that! But Jesus says because I am in the midst of my disciples they don’t need to get my attention. Later, when I have left them (for death, resurrection and ascension) they will fast.

But then the interesting part comes about how to patch old clothing and what to do with old wine bottles. Was He not saying that His message was going to burst asunder and destroy peoples concepts of life and religion if they weren’t prepared to approach it in a new and different way? He was refusing to limit the power of the message which He was living and teaching or allow it be subjugated to the old practices. After all He did talk about being ‘born again’.

Prayer: Help me to wrestle with and understand what You say to me in Your word, O God.