Matthew 9:14

The objections which were made against Christ and his disciples gave occasion to some of the most profitable of his discourses; thus are the interests of truth often served, even by the opposition it meets with from gainsayers, and thus the wisdom of Christ brings good out of evil. This is the third instance of it in this chapter; his discourse of his power to forgive sin, and his readiness to receive sinners, was occasioned by the cavils of the scribes and Pharisees; so here, from a reflection upon the conduct of his family, arose a discourse concerning his tenderness for it. Observe,

I. The objection which the disciples of John made against Christ's disciples, for not fasting so often as they did; which they are charged with, as another instance of the looseness of their profession, besides that of eating with publicans and sinners; and it is therefore suggested to them, that they should change that profession for another more strict. It appears by the other evangelists (Mar 2:18 and Luk 5:33) that the disciples of the Pharisees joined with them, and we have reason to suspect that they instigated them, making use of John's disciples as their spokesmen, because they, being more in favour with Christ and his disciples, could do it more plausibly. Note, It is no new thing for bad men to set good men together by the ears; if the people of God differ in their sentiments, designing men will take that occasion to sow discord, and to incense them one against another, and alienate them one from another, and so make an easy prey of them. If the disciples of John and of Jesus clash, we have reason to suspect the Pharisees have been at work underhand, blowing the coals. Now the complaint is, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples fast not? It is pity the duties of religion, which ought to be the confirmations of holy love, should be made the occasions of strife and contention; but they often are so, as here; where we may observe,

1. How they boasted of their own fasting. We and the Pharisees fast often. Fasting has in all ages of the church been consecrated, upon special occasions, to the service of religion; the Pharisees were much in it; many of them kept two fast-days in a week, and yet the generality of them were hypocrites and bad men. Note, False and formal professors often excel others in outward acts of devotion, and even of mortification. The disciples of John fasted often, partly in compliance with their master's practice, for he came neither eating nor drinking (Mat 11:18); and people are apt to imitate their leaders, though not always from the same inward principle; partly in compliance with their master's doctrine of repentance. Note, The severer part of religion is often most minded by those that are yet under the discipline of the Spirit, as a Spirit of bondage, whereas, though these are good in their place, we must pass through them to that life of delight in God and dependence on him, to which these should lead. Now they come to Christ to tell him that they fasted often, at least they thought it often. Note, Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness, Pro 20:6. There is a proneness in professors to brag of their own performance in religion, especially if there by any thing extraordinary in them; nay, and not only to boast of them before men, but to plead them before God, and confide in them as a righteousness.

2. How they blamed Christ's disciples for not fasting so often as they did. Thy disciples fast not. They could not but know, that Christ had instructed his disciples to keep their fasts private, and to manage themselves so as that they might not appear unto men to fast; and, therefore, it was very uncharitable in them to conclude they did not fast, because they did not proclaim their fasts. Note, We must not judge of people's religion by that which falls under the eye and observation of the world. But suppose it was so, that Christ's disciples did not fast so often or so long as they did, why truly, they would therefore have it thought, that they had more religion in them than Christ's disciples had. Note, It is common for vain professors to make themselves a standard in religion, by which to try and measure persons and things, as if all who differed from them were so far in the wrong; as if all that did less than they, did too little, and all that did more than they, did too much, which is a plain evidence of their want of humility and charity.

3. How they brought this complaint to Christ. Note, If Christ's disciples, either by omission or commission, give offence, Christ himself will be sure to hear of it, and be reflected upon for it. O, Jesus, are these thy Christians? Therefore, as we tender the honour of Christ, we are concerned to conduct ourselves well. Observe, The quarrel with Christ was brought to the disciples (Mat 9:11), the quarrel with the disciples was brought to Christ (Mat 9:14), this is the way of sowing discord and killing love, to set people against ministers, ministers against people, and one friend against another.

II. The apology which Christ made for his disciples in this matter. Christ might have upbraided John's disciples with the former part of their question, Why do ye fast often? "Nay, you know best why you do it; but the truth is, many abound in external instances of devotion, that scarcely do themselves know why and wherefore." But he only vindicates the practice of his disciples; whey they had nothing to say for themselves, he had something ready to say for them. Note, As it is wisdom's honour to be justified of all her children, so it is her children's happiness to be all justified of wisdom. What we do according to the precept and pattern of Christ, he will be sure to bear us out in, and we may with confidence leave it to him to clear up our integrity.

But thou shalt answer, Lord, for me.

- Herbert

Two things Christ pleads in defence of their not fasting.

1. That it was not a season proper for that duty (Mat 9:15): Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? Observe, Christ's answer is so framed, as that it might sufficiently justify the practice of his own disciples, and yet not condemn the institution of John, or the practice of his disciples. When the Pharisees fomented this dispute, they hoped Christ would cast blame, either on his own disciples, or on John's, but he did neither. Note, When at any time we are unjustly censured, our care must be only to clear ourselves, not to recriminate, or throw dirt upon others; and such a variety may there be of circumstances, as may justify us in our practice, without condemning those that practise otherwise.

Now his argument is taken from the common usage of joy and rejoicing during the continuance of marriage solemnities; when all instances of melancholy and sorrow are looked upon as improper and absurd, as it was at Samson's wedding, Jdg 14:17. Now, (1.) The disciples of Christ were the children of the bride-chamber, invited to the wedding-feast, and welcome there; the disciples of the Pharisees were not so, but children of the bond-woman (Gal 4:25, Gal 4:31), continuing under a dispensation of darkness and terror. Note, The faithful followers of Christ, who have the Spirit of adoption, have a continual feast, while they who have the spirit of bondage and fear, cannot rejoice for joy, as other people, Hos 9:1. (2.) The disciples of Christ had the bridegroom with them, which the disciples of John had not; their master was now cast into prison, and lay there in continual danger of his life, and therefore it was seasonable for them to fast often. Such a day would come upon the disciples of Christ, when the bridegroom should be taken from them, when they should be deprived of his bodily presence, and then should they fast. The thoughts of parting grieved them when he was going, Joh 16:6. Tribulation and affliction befell them when he was gone, and gave them occasion of mourning and praying, that is, of religious fasting. Note, [1.] Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom of his Church, and his disciples are the children of the bride-chamber. Christ speaks of himself to John's disciples under this similitude, because that John had used it, when he called himself a friend of the bridegroom, Joh 3:29. And if they would by this hint call to mind what their master then said, they would answer themselves. [2.] The condition of those who are the children of the bride-chamber is liable to many changes and alterations in this world; they sing of mercy and judgment. [3.] It is merry or melancholy with the children of the bride-chamber, according as they have more or less of the bridegroom's presence. When he is with them, the candle of God shines upon their head, and all is well; but when he is withdrawn, though but for a small moment, they are troubled, and walk heavily; the presence and nearness of the sun makes day and summer, his absence and distance, night and winter. Christ is all in all to the church's joy. [4.] Every duty is to be done in its proper season. See Ecc 7:14; Jam 5:13. There is a time to mourn and a time to laugh, to each of which we should accommodate ourselves, and bring forth fruit in due season. In fasts, regard is to be had to the methods of God's grace towards us; when he mourns to us, we must lament; and also to the dispensations of his providence concerning us; there are times when the Lord God calls to weeping and mourning; regard is likewise to be had to any special work before us, Mat 17:21; Act 13:2.

2. That they had not strength sufficient for that duty. This is set forth in two similitudes, one of putting new cloth into an old garment, which does but pull the old to pieces (Mat 9:16); the other of putting new wine into old bottles, which does but burst the bottles, Mat 9:17. Christ's disciples were not able to bear these severe exercises so well as those of John and of the Pharisees, which the learned Dr. Whitby gives this reason for: There were among the Jews not only sects of the Pharisees and Essenes, who led an austere life, but also schools of the prophets, who frequently lived in mountains and deserts, and were many of them Nazarites; they had also private academies to train men up in a strict discipline; and possibly from these many of John's disciples might come, and many of the Pharisees; whereas Christ's disciples, being taken immediately from their callings, had not been used to such religious austerities, and were unfit for them, and would by them be rather unfitted for their other work. Note, (1.) Some duties of religion are harder and more difficult than others, like new cloth and new wine, which require most intenseness of mind, and are most displeasing to flesh and blood; such are religious fasting and the duties that attend it. (2.) The best of Christ's disciples pass through a state of infancy; all the trees in Christ's garden are not of a growth, nor all his scholars in the same form; there are babes in Christ and grown men. (3.) In the enjoining of religious exercises, the weakness and infirmity of young Christians ought to be considered: as the food provided for them must be such as is proper for their age (Co1 3:2; Heb 5:12), so must the work be that is cut out for them. Christ would not speak to his disciples that which they could not then bear, Joh 16:12. Young beginners in religion must not be put upon the hardest duties at first, lest they be discouraged. Such as was God's care of his Israel, when he brought them out of Egypt, not to lead them by the way of the Philistines (Exo 13:17, Exo 13:18), and such as was Jacob's care of his children and cattle, not to overdrive them (Gen 33:13), such is Christ's care of the little ones of his family, and the lambs of his flock: he gently leads them. For want of this care, many times, the bottles break, and the wine is spilled; the profession of many miscarries and comes to nothing, through indiscretion at first. Note, There may be over-doing even in well-doing, a being righteous over-much; and such an over-doing as may prove an undoing through the subtlety of Satan.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 9:14-15. Then — While he was at table, came to him the disciples of John, with those of the Pharisees, Mar 2:18; saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often — Have frequently our days of solemn devotion, in which we fast, and offer up to God many prayers and supplications? but thy disciples fast not — Not at all, or very seldom, but on the contrary eat and drink freely. “In the law, we find only one fast-day enjoined, namely, the tenth of the seventh month, on which the national atonement was made. But the Jews, of their own accord, observed many other days of fasting; (see Isa 58:3;) and in our Lord’s time, days of this kind were more frequent than ever, especially among the Pharisees, who, it seems, generally fasted twice a week; Luk 18:12; and therefore as Jesus did not pretend to teach his disciples a more lax kind of doctrine than that of John and the Pharisees, the disciples of the latter were surprised to find them overlooking so essential a duty.” Jesus said, Can the children of the bridechamber — The companions of the bridegroom, mourn — Mourning and fasting usually go together, as long as the bridegroom is with them? — As if he had said, While I am with them, it is a festival time, a season of rejoicing, not mourning: or, as others paraphrase the words, As it would be improper for the guests at a wedding to fast and weep while the marriage solemnity continues; so it would be equally improper for my disciples to fast and mourn at the time when I am personally present with them to give them joy. But the days will come — And are at no great distance, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, then shall they fast — After I am gone, all my disciples likewise shall be in fastings often — “Christ did not mean, as the Montanists affirm, that the Pharisaical fasts should be introduced into his Church when he was gone, but that his disciples should fast and mourn on account of the various calamities befalling them after his departure, and that they should repeat these fasts as often as the circumstances of distress and danger in which they were placed required it.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat_9:14. The disciples of John.—The passage is interesting as showing:

1. That the followers of the Baptist continued during our Lord’s ministry to form a separate body (as in Mat_11:2, Mat_14:12).

2. That they obeyed rules which he had given them, more or less after the pattern of those of the Pharisees. They had their own days of fasting (the context makes it probable that the feast in Matthew’s house was held on one of them), their own forms of prayer (Luk_11:1). They, it would seem, acting with the Pharisees, and perhaps influenced by them, were perplexed at conduct so unlike that of the master they revered, and came, therefore, with their question. But they were, at least, not hypocrites, and they are answered, therefore, without the sternness which had marked the reply to their companions (Plumptre).

Mat_9:15. The children (sons, R.V.) of the bridechamber.—On the day of marriage the bridegroom went, adorned and anointed, to the house of the bride, attended by his companions (Jdg_14:11), and led her, attended by her maidens, in festive procession, with music and dancing, at even, by torchlight, into the house of his father. The marriage feast, which was defrayed by the bridegroom, lasted seven days (Lange).

Mat_9:16. New cloth.—Undressed (R.V.). It denotes cloth that has not passed through the process of fulling—that process by which cloth is thickened and made compact, as well as cleansed. When the up-filling patch shrinks it takes along with it a margin of the old and tender robe, and the rent is made worse (Morison). John was not a member of the newly inaugurated kingdom of God (Mat_11:11). In accordance with this, Jesus declared the forms of righteousness practised by John’s disciples to be antiquated and out of keeping with the new righteousness which He taught as belonging to the kingdom of God (Wendt).

Mat_9:17. Bottles.—Wine-skins (R.V.).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_9:14-17

The law of fasting.—The connection of this passage with the preceding one may be only in the order of thought; the thought of “feasting” (Mat_9:10) leading to that of “fasting” in the Evangelist’s mind, by the rule of opposites, as it were. Or there may have been a connection between them of a closer description. As some understand Mar_2:18, “the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were keeping a fast at that time” (Wordsworth, in loc.). If so, there would be both “fasting” and “feasting” side by side, as it were; and nothing would be more natural, therefore, than that those who were fasting should then and there ask the others why they were not. “Why is it that Thy disciples never do what is done so often by us?” (see end of Mat_9:14). The Saviour’s answer seems to take in the case of all the parties concerned:—His own disciples; the “disciples of the Pharisees”; the “disciples of John.”

I. His own disciples.—Their case could be disposed of by the mere consideration of time. There was a time for everything under the sun (Ecc_3:1); amongst other things for lamentation and grief, and for that abstinence from food which is so usual an accompaniment and token of grief (2Sa_12:16). For that very reason such abstinence was not suitable for a season of joy; such a season, e.g. as when the “friends” of a “bridegroom” come to congratulate him on his happiness. This applied to the then condition of the disciples of Christ. Unlike the disciples of John (so it is supposed by some), who were then separated from their master and head in consequence of his imprisonment by Herod, these disciples were enjoying the full sunshine of the presence of their Head. The very thought of fasting, therefore, in their present circumstances, was wholly out of the question. The time would come, indeed, when their case in this respect would be different; when their “Bridegroom” also would be taken away. In one sense they would have “fasting” enough at that time. But for the time then present, and as things were then, the observance of fasting was not to be asked at their hands. “Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?”

II. The disciples of the Pharisees.—Their case, also, could be disposed of in an equally summary way. The question here was that of purpose and aim. If there were times, as implied before, in which it was not unbecoming to deny the body in a greater or less degree the support it required, with what object and in what spirit should such denial be practised? Our Saviour’s parable seems to answer this question by showing what ought not to be in this case. In particular, He warns men against the view which the Pharisees held on this subject. Their great idea in enjoining fasting was that of reparation and atonement. The mortification of the body was prescribed by them in order thereby to “make up” for the sins of the mind. Was there a “rent,” as it were, in the garment of righteousness through the commission of sin or omission of duty? They looked to “fasting” to mend it. See how this idea is involved in Isa_58:3; Luk_18:12. See, on the other hand, how emphatically it is here rejected by Christ. To “put” such a piece of “new cloth”—rather a piece of such “unfulled,” and therefore unfinished, and therefore imperfect and unsuitable material as this on the faulty garment—is not to improve the matter but to make it much worse. It is to “take away” in fact, and not to “make up”; to make the “rent” at once larger and more conspicuous; and to add to nothing, in any way, except the original fault. No guilt, in a word, can be atoned for by such a clumsy mockery of atonement! The very idea of it is sin.

III. The case of the disciples of John was the case of men in a transitional state. It was the kind of case, therefore, in which the disciples of Christ would find themselves before long, in passing from the comparative darkness and bondage of the law (cf. Act_15:10) to the light and liberty of the gospel. The first thing for all persons so situated to remember is this, that no transition of the kind can take place without some amount of dislocation and shock. Also, that this dislocation will affect primarily the question of ordinances and customs. Customs proper enough where the light is partial may not be so proper where the light is complete; or, at any rate, may require to be greatly modified in order to render them so. It is like that, in a word, which is so well known to be true about wine-skins and wine. Old wine-skins do all that is wanted in the case of old wine. It is when men fill them with new wine that they make a mistake, and find that, instead of gaining much, they lose everything by so doing (Mat_9:17). The same is true of the strictly parallel question of ordinances and doctrines. Some ancient ordinances were only intended for an undeveloped measure of truth. To try to use them, therefore, for a fully developed measure, is to make confusion of all. Let this be remembered, therefore, with regard to the special question at issue. How far can “fasting” be made to fit the new condition of things? How far, under it, can fasting be employed to do what it doubtless accomplished before? This is the direction in which they must search in order to settle this point. What He had said at first had settled it for the present. What He now says is in order to help them to settle it in the future. Much, in short, as they were seen to do afterwards in the kindred subject referred to in Acts 15.

On the whole, therefore, of this subject, we seem able to say:—

That Christ Himself does not positively settle it for us.—He does not say, in so many words, either fast or fast not. He does not forbid; neither does He enjoin. The utmost on one side seems to be, “It may have to be done.” The utmost on the other seems to be, “It is quite possible so to do it as to increase your transgression.”

2. That we cannot settle it for each other.—The considerations it depends on are of too private a nature to admit of interference on the one side, or to warrant it on the other. Whether we are rejoicing, individually, in the sense of Christ’s presence or lamenting His absence; whether we profit most by bewailing the one (1Sa_7:2) or by realising the other (Neh_8:10; Mat_28:20); whether we are of vigorous or weakly bodily health; whether we are most tempted to evil by fulness or want (Pro_30:9)—who can settle these questions for others? And yet who, without them, can settle that question at all? See therefore Rom_14:3.

3. That we ought to settle it for ourselves.—If a man thinks that the practice is not incumbent on him individually, he ought to know why. If he thinks that it is he ought to know why. Also, how far, at what times, and in what way too, ought these to be clear. Men may be wrong, of course, even so, in the conclusions they come to; but they can hardly, even so, be more wrong than in refusing to give it a thought.

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat_9:14-17. Spiritual life more authoritative than custom.—The spirit of the Christian religion is the spirit of liberty and progress. The question “Why do we,” etc., shows the readiness with which men learn to worship a custom, and give to some temporary form all the dignity and authority of an everlasting law.… They made the mistake of supposing that what was good and helpful for them, must be binding upon every person in every condition; or in other words, that the religious observances which they had received and used, must be of constant and universal obligation. The same mistake is often made still. Because a custom is of service to us, we have no right to make it a hindrance to others; that which inspires and uplifts us may cramp and restrain them. Men do harm when they try to transform the temporary into the immutable, and the local into the universal; by seeking to gain undue reverence for forms which are of human origin, they lessen men’s regard for the invisible, changeless laws of God. The divine life survives all the changes of form and system. The teaching of the New Testament on this point seems to be that when men seek to give to outward forms of religious expression that importance which belongs only to the inner spiritual life, they hinder the free development of soul-life and stay the progress of divine truth.

I. The question propounded by these men rests upon a wrong assumption, viz. that all religious life should manifest itself in precisely the same way.—

1. This receives no countenance from the variety of life and beauty in nature.

2. The varied manifestations of intellectual life disprove it.

3. The diversity of character displayed in the Bible contradicts it.

II. This question leaves out of sight an important principle, which is that our spiritual experience must regulate the outer life, and not any mere custom.—Jesus says, “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn,” etc.? Or to put it into common speech, “Can you expect My disciples to mourn when they are just beginning a new and joyous life? They are realising the power of My teaching, and the inspiration of My presence; if they were to hang down their heads and look sad now, they would belie their experience and play the part of hypocrites. Let them be happy, they are serving God in their own simple way; and bear in mind the time will soon come when they shall fast, because it will be in harmony with their deep feeling. The Shepherd shall be smitten and the sheep scattered abroad. I shall be nailed to the bitter cross, and My followers will wander in sad, dark loneliness; they will feel themselves orphans in the world, desolate and bereaved, then shall they fast.”

III. After correcting these false assumptions, our Lord declares the principle that real spiritual life will always find appropriate forms of expression.—“No man putteth a piece of new cloth,” etc. We take this to mean that it is of no use attempting to bind new life down to old forms; whenever this is done there is conflict and confusion. Illustrate by reference to early attempt to chain the Christian religion to the old ceremonial forms of Judaism. “I am come that they might have life,” etc.—W. G. Jordan, B.A.

Mat_9:16-17. Garments and wineskins.—By these illustrations our Lord conveyed a lesson on the charm of naturalness and the law of congruity in religion. Times of transition are critical. The disciples of John the Baptist were anxious to know whether Jesus meant only to reform the old Judaism, or to break away from it and introduce a new faith, with new rules and usages. On the question of fasting, for instance, they agreed with the Pharisees, and were concerned to find that the disciples of Jesus differed. Then the Lord answered them with heavenly metaphors which clothed a grave lesson with a veil of kindly humour. As old cloth and new cloth are one in being cloth, old wine and new are one in being wine; so the religion before Christ and that which He introduced are essentially one in kind, if not in quality. But it would not answer any good purpose to limit the new by the conditions of the old, or to place the Christian faith and life under the rules of the Pharisees, or even of thes disciples of John. So Jesus put it very plainly that He had not come to patch up Pharisaism, or garnish Rabbinism, or to pour His doctrine and all its vital force into the rigid forms of the later Judaism. The effect of a forced junction of the old and the new would be injurious to both. This is shown by throwing the illustration of the old garment patched with undressed cloth into two forms. St. Matthew and St. Mark report the Lord as indicating the damage to the old, whilst St. Luke reports Him as pointing out the injury to the new. In either case, it will be observed, the disruptive force is in the new. So to make Christianity a mere addendum to Rabbinical Judaism would only spoil the former, and would not preserve the latter. The second metaphor is to the same effect. To insist on the disciples of Jesus fasting because the Pharisees and the disciples of John fasted by rule, was to repress their joy at a time when they had a right to rejoice, and this was as unwise as to pour new wine into old wine-skins and shut it up. Thus again the Lord taught that a forced amalgamation of the old and the new dispensations would be disastrous to both. Let the law of congruity be observed.—D.Fraser, D.D.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:14 fast: Fasting expressed personal humility and repentance (2 Sam 12:16-23; Dan 9:3). It called attention to the national need for repentance (Lev 16:29-31; Neh 9:1) and probably sought to hasten the arrival of the Messiah through purification. The fact that Jesus and his disciples did not fast (Matt 11:18-19) subtly proclaimed that the Messiah had already arrived (see also 6:16).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 9:14. Τότε, then) At the time of the Feast.[413]—προσέρχονται Αὐτῷ, come to Him) of set purpose.—οἱ μαθηταὶ Ἰωάννου, the disciples of John) They were half-way between the Pharisees and the disciples of Jesus, and appear on this occasion to have been instigated by the Pharisees.[414]—Cf. Luk 5:33.—Σοῦ μαθηταὶ, Thy disciples) They proceed modestly, and do not enquire concerning John or Jesus Himself.

[413] It was also the day of the public fasts, as it appears, which were celebrated not by the enactment of divine Law, but according to the private will of certain individuals.—Harm., p. 283.

[414] For Matthew in this passage mentions the disciples of John; Mark (ch. Mar 2:18) mentions the same persons in company with the Pharisees; Luke mentions the Scribes and Pharisees.—Harm. 1. c.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_9:14. Concerning private fasting. See note on Mat_6:16. On the fasting of the Baptist, comp. Mat_9:18. On the fasting of the Pharisees (Luk_18:12), to whose authority on the rigid observance of the law the disciples of John adhere, see Lightfoot on this passage. Serar. de Trihaeresio, p. 36.

πολλά] frequenter, Vulg., Stallbaum, ad Plat. Phaed. p. 61 C, ad Parmen. p. 126 B; Kühner, II. 1, p. 270. A not inappropriate addition by Matthew (Weiss, Holtzmann).

οὐ νηστεύουσι) comparatively, to be understood from the standpoint of the questioners, who hold the freedom of the disciples of Jesus, as contrasted with the frequent fasting of themselves and the Pharisees, to be equivalent to no fasting at all.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 9:14-17 . The fast-question (Mar 2:18-22 ; Luk 5:33-39 ). Τότε . Our evangelist makes a temporal connection out of what in Mark is merely topical, another of the group of incidents showing Jesus in conflict with current opinion and practice. Where it happened cannot be determined, but it is brought in appositely after the feast of the publicans, serving with it to illustrate the free unconventional life of the Jesus-circle. προσέρχονται … οἱ μαθ . Ιωάννου . The interrogants here are John’s disciples; in Mark, unknown persons about John’s disciples with the Pharisees; in Luke, who treats this incident as a continuation of the last, the fault-finders are the same as before ( οἱ δὲ ). Mark probably gives the true state of the case. Some persons unknown, at some time or other, when other religious people were fasting, and the Jesus-circle were observed not to be fasting, came and remarked on the dissidence. διατί : the interrogants wanted to know the reason. But the important thing for us is the fact , that Jesus and His disciples did not conform to the common custom of religious people, including the disciples of the Baptist. It is the first instance of an extensive breach with existing religious usage. οὐ νηστεύουσι : the broad patent fact; if they did any fasting it was not apparent.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Against naughty emulation in matters indifferent.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 14. Thy disciples fast not?] Probably meaning that they did not fast so frequently as the others did, or for the same purposes, which is very likely, for the Pharisees had many superstitious fasts. They fasted in order to have lucky dreams, to obtain the interpretation of a dream, or to avert the evil import of a dream. They also fasted often, in order to obtain the things they wished for. The tract, Taanith is full of these fasts, and of the wonders performed thus by the Jewish doctors.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) The disciples of John.—The passage is interesting as showing (1) that the followers of the Baptist continued during our Lord’s ministry to form a separate body (as in Mat_11:2; Mat_14:12); and (2) that they obeyed rules which he had given them, more or less after the pattern of those of the Pharisees. They had their own days of fasting (the context makes it probable that the feast in Matthew’s house was held on one of them), their own forms of prayer (Luk_11:1). They, it would seem, acting with the Pharisees, and perhaps influenced by them, were perplexed at conduct so unlike that of the master they revered, and came therefore with their question. But they were, at least, not hypocrites, and they are answered therefore without the sternness which had marked the reply to their companions.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14–17. A Question about Fasting. Mar_2:18-22; Luk_5:33-39

It is not quite clear whether this further incident took place at Levi’s feast. St Luke leads us to draw that inference.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Jesus said unto them,.... To the disciples of John, the Pharisees being present, who both have here a full answer; though it seems to be especially directed to the former:

can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom, is with them? By the "bridegroom" Christ means himself, who stands in such a relation to his church, and to all, believers; whom he secretly betrothed to himself from all eternity, in the covenant of grace; and openly espouses in the effectual calling; and will still do it in a more public manner at the last day John, the master of those men, who put the question to Christ, had acknowledged him under this character, Joh 3:29 and therefore they ought to own it as belonging to him; so that the argument upon it came with the greater force to them. By "the children of the bride chamber" are meant the disciples, who were the friends of the bridegroom, as John also says he was; and therefore rejoiced at hearing his voice, as these did, and ought to do; their present situation, having the presence of Christ the bridegroom with them, required mirth and not mourning, John, their master, being witness. The allusion is to a nuptial solemnity, which is a time of joy and feasting, and not of sorrow and fasting; when both bride and bridegroom have their friends attending them, who used to be called , "the children of the bride chamber". The bride had her maidens waiting on her; and it is said (i),

"she did not go into the bridechamber but with them; and these are called, , "the children of the bride chamber".''

So the young men that were the friends of the bridegroom, which attended him, were called by the same name; and, according to the Jewish canons, were free from many things they were otherwise obliged to: thus it is said (k):

"the bridegroom, his friends, and all , "the children of the bride chamber", are free from the booth all the seven days;''

that is, from dwelling in booths at the feast of tabernacles, which was too strait a place for such festival solemnities. And again,

"the bridegroom, his friends, and all , "the children of the bride chamber", are free from prayer and the phylacteries;''

that is, from observing the stated times of attending to these things, and much more then were they excused from fasting and mourning; so that the Pharisees had an answer sufficient to silence them, agreeably to their own traditions. Give me leave to transcribe one passage more, for the illustration of this text (l).

"When R. Lazar ben Arach opened, in the business of Mercava, (the visions in the beginning of Ezekiel,) Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai alighted from his ass; for he said it is not fit I should hear the glory of my Creator, and ride upon an ass: they went, and sat under a certain tree, and fire came down from heaven and surrounded them; and the ministering angels leaped before them, , "as the children of the bride chamber" rejoice before the bridegroom.''

The time of Christ's being with his disciples, between his entrance on his public ministry, and his death, is the time here referred to, during which the disciples had very little care and trouble: this was their rejoicing time, and there was a great deal of reason for it; they had no occasion to fast and mourn; and indeed the Jews themselves say (m), that

"all fasts shall cease in the days of the Messiah; and there shall be no more but good days, and days of joy and rejoicing, as it is said, Zac 8:19.''

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; in a forcible manner, and put to death, as he was;

and then shall they fast and mourn, and be in great distress, as John's disciples now were, on account of their master being in prison.

(i) Zohar in Gen. fol. 6. 4. (k) T. Bab. Succa, fol. 25. 2. & Hieros. Succa, fol. 53. 1. Maimon. Succa, c. 6. sect. 3. (l) T. Hieros. Chagiga, fol. 77. 1. (m) Maimon. Hilchot Taaniot, c. 5. sect. 19.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

Ver. 14. Then came to him the disciples of John] These sided with the Pharisees against our Saviour out of emulation and self-love, the bane and break neck of all true love; yea, they were first in the quarrel. A doleful thing, when brethren shall set against brethren, Hebrews vex one another, Exo 2:13; and Christians, as if they wanted enemies, fly in the faces of one another. St Basil was held a heretic, even of them that held the same things as he did, and whom he honoured as brethren; all the fault was that he outshone them, and they envied him the praise he had for opposing Arianism, which was such, as that Philostorgius the Arian wrote that all the other orthodox divines were but babies to Basil. How hot was the contention between Luther and Carolostadius, merely out of a self-seeking humour and desire of pre-eminence. How extremely violent are the Lutherans against the Calvinists. In the year 1567 they joined themselves at Antwerp with the Papists against the Calvinists. And Luther somewhere professeth that he will rather yield to transubstantiation than remit anything of consubstantiation. {a}

Why do ye and the Pharisees fast often] The Pharisees were parlous fasters, when they devoured widows’ houses, and swallowed ill-gotten goods as gnats down their wide gullets, which therefore Christ calls ενοντα, the inwards. Their fasts were mere mock fasts. So were those of John, Archbishop of Constantinople, surnamed the Faster, who yet was the first that affected the title of universal bishop, so much cried down by Gregory the Great. These Pharisees had sided with and set on John’s disciples in their master’s absence; like the renegade Jesuits, to keep up that bitter contention that is between the Calvinists and Lutherans, have a practice of running over to the Lutheran Church, pretending to be converts, and to build with them.

{a} The conversion in the Eucharist of the whole substance of the bread into the body and of the wine into the blood of Christ, only the appearances (and other ‘accidents’) of bread and wine remaining: according to the doctrine of the Roman Church. Distinguished from consubstantiation, in which the elements of the bread and wine are held to coexist with the body and blood of Christ. ŒD

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then came the disciples of John ... - This narrative is found also in Mar 2:18-22; Luk 5:33-39. The reference here is to John the Baptist. It is probable that they had understood that John was the forerunner of the Messiah; and if such was the case, they could not account for the fact that there was such a difference between them and the disciples of Jesus. The Pharisees fasted often - regularly twice a week besides the great national days of fasting, Luk 18:12. See the notes at Mat 6:16-18. This was the established custom of the land, and John did not feel himself authorized to make so great a change as to dispense with it. They were desirous of knowing, therefore, why Jesus had done it.

Besides, it is probable that this question was put to Jesus when John was in prison, and his disciples, involved in deep grief on account of it, observed days of fasting. Fasting was the natural expression of sorrow, and they wondered that the followers of Jesus did not join with them in lamenting the captivity of him who was the forerunner and baptizer of their Lord.

Christ, in reply to them, used three illustrations, all of them going to establish the same thing - that “we should observe a fitness and propriety in things.” The first is taken from a marriage. The children of the bride-chamber - that is, the bridemen, or “men who had the special care of the bridal chamber, and who were therefore his special friends” - do not think of fasting while he is with them. With them it is a time of festivity and rejoicing, and mourning would not be appropriate. When he is removed or taken away, then their festivity will be ended, and “then” will be the proper time for sorrow. So, says he, John, your friend and teacher, is in captivity. With you it is a time of deep grief, and it is appropriate that you should fast. I am with my disciples. It is with them a time of joy. It is not fit that they should use the tokens of grief, and fast now. When I am taken away, it will then be proper that they should fast. For an account of the ceremonies of an Eastern marriage, see the notes at Mat 25:1-13.

Mat 9:16

No man putteth a piece of new cloth ... - A second illustration was drawn from a well-known fact, showing also that there was “a propriety or fitness of things.” None of you, says he, in mending an old garment, would take a piece of entire new cloth.

There would be a waste in it. An old piece, or a piece like the garment, would be better. The word here translated “new,” in the original means “rude, undressed, not fulled” by the cloth-dresser. In this state, if applied to an old garment, and if wet, it would “contract” and draw off a part of the garment to which it was attached, and thus make the rent worse than it was. So, says he, my “new” doctrines do not match with the old rites of the Pharisees. There is a fitness of things. Their doctrines require much fasting. In my system it would be incongruous; and if my new doctrines were to be attached to their old ones, it would only make the matter worse.

Mat 9:17

Neither do men put new wine ... - The third illustration was taken from wine put into bottles.

Bottles, in Eastern nations, were made, and are still made, of skins of beasts. Generally the skin was taken entire from a sheep or a goat, and, properly prepared, was filled with wine or water. Such bottles are still used, because, in crossing deserts of sand, they have no other conveyances but camels, or other beasts of burden. It would be difficult for them to carry glass bottles or kegs on them. They therefore fill two skins, and fasten them together and lay them across the back of a camel, and thus carry wine or water to a great distance. These bottles were, of course, of different sizes, as the skins of kids, goats, or oxen might be used. Bruce describes particularly a bottle which he saw in Arabia, made in this manner of an ox-skin, which would hold 60 gallons, and two of which were a lead for a camel. By long usage, however, bottles of skins became tender and would be easily ruptured. New wine put into them would ferment, and swell and burst them open. New skins or bottles would yield to the fermenting wine, and be strong enough to hold it from bursting. So, says Christ, there is “fitness” or propriety of things. It is not “fit” that my doctrine should be attached to or connected with the old and corrupt doctrines of the Pharisees. New things should be put together, and made to match.

This account of Eastern bottles may illustrate the following passages in the Bible: The Gibeonites took “wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up,” Jos 9:4. “My belly is ready to burst, like new bottles,” Job 32:19. “I am become like a bottle in the smoke,” Psa 119:83; i. e., like a bottle of skin hung up in a tent filled with smoke.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Then came. When the Pharisees in the prior question had been discomfited. By St. Mark, (ii. 18,) we learn that the Pharisees joined with the disciples of the Baptist, and thus is reconciled what we read in St. Luke v. 33, who only mentions the Pharisees. (Bible de Vence) --- Why do we, and the Pharisees fast. It is not without reason that the disciples of St. John should ask this question, fasting being always esteemed a great virtue, witness Moses and Elias; the fasts which Samuel made the people observe in Masphat, the tears, prayers, and fasting of Ezechias, of Judith, of Achab, of the Niniites, of Anna, the wife of Eleana, of Daniel, of David, after he had fallen into the sin of adultery. Aaron, and the other priests, also fasted before they entered into the temple. Witness also the fasts of Anna, the prophetess, of St. John the Baptist, of Christ himself, of Cornelius the centurion, &c. &c. &c. (St. Jerome) --- This haughty interrogation of St. John’s disciples was highly blameable, not only for uniting with the Pharisees, whom they knew their master so much condemned, but also for calumniating him, who, they knew was foretold by John’s own testimony. (St. Jerome) --- St. Augustine is likewise of opinion, that John’s disciples were not the only persons that said this, since St. Mark rather indicates that it was spoken by others. (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Ver 15. Can the children of the bridegroom.[1] This, by a Hebraism, signifies the friends or companions of the bridegroom, as a lover of peace, is called a child of peace: he that deserves death, the son of death, &c. (Witham) --- the disciples had not yet ascended to the higher degrees of perfection, they had not yet been renewed in spirit; therefore they required to be treated with lenity; for had the higher and more sublime mysteries been delivered to them without previous preparation, they would never, not even in the natural course of things, have been able to comprehend them. I have many things to say to you, said our Saviour, but you cannot bear them now. (St. John xvi.) Thus did he condescend to their weakness. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xxxi.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Mark hath this same history, almost in the same words, Mar 2:18-22, only he saith that some of the disciples of the Pharisees came with the disciples of John. Luke also hath it varying little, Luk 5:33-38; only he saith, fast often, and make prayers, ( and), the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And he addeth at last, Luk 5:39, No man also having drank old wine, straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better: which I shall consider, it plainly belonging to this history. Mark begins his narration of this history with telling us, And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast; which is implied, though not expressed, by the two other evangelists. For the Pharisees, it is plain enough from the Pharisee’s boast, Luk 18:12, that he fasted twice in the week, John also used his disciples to a severer discipline than Christ did (of which we shall afterward hear more.) It should seem that the Pharisees had a mind to make a division betwixt the followers of John and the followers of Christ, and set on John’s disciples to go and ask an account of this. Hypocrites are always hottest for ritual things, as things most fit to raise a division about. There was no precept of God for any fast, but once in a year, though indeed God left people a liberty to fast oftener, as their circumstances more fitted and called for the duty. The Pharisees had set up themselves a method, and would fain have imposed it on Christ’s disciples; especially considering John’s disciples complied with the practice of frequent fasts, and seemed to suggest as if Christ set up a new and more jovial religion. (As if religion lay only or principally in rituals, as to which God had set no rule). The papists are at this day the Pharisees’ true successors in these arts. Christ answereth them in two particulars:

1. He tells them that his disciples were not as yet under such a dispensation as called for fasting.

2. That his disciples were new converts, and to be brought on by degrees to the severer practices of external discipline and godliness. This is the sum of Mat 9:15-17. This he delivers in metaphorical expressions:

Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, then shall they fast. Your master John hath compared me to a bridegroom, Joh 3:29. These my disciples are the children of the bride chamber. It is as yet a festival time with them. Fasting is a duty fitted to a day of mourning and affliction. It is not yet a time of mourning for my disciples: yet do not envy them. There will shortly come a time when, as to my bodily presence, I shall be taken from them: then they shall mourn and fast. The second thing he saith he illustrates by two similitudes. First, (saith he), amongst men no discreet person will put in an old garment a new piece of cloth, for they will not agree together; the strength of the new cloth will bear no proportion to the strength of the old, which by wearing is made weak, so as if the garment comes to a stress the rent will be the greater. So as to wine, men do not use to put new wine into old bottles, that through much use are weakened, for fear of breaking the bottles and spilling the wines; but they use to put new wine into new bottles, to proportion the thing containing to the thing contained. My disciples are newly converted. Should I impose upon them the severer exercises of religion, it might discourage them, and be a temptation to them to go back; for, as Luke addeth, No man having drank old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old is better. Custom is a great tyrant, and men are not on the sudden brought off from their former practices, but by degrees. This is a portion of Scripture which much commendeth prudence to ministers, both teaching their people as they are able to bear, and also putting them upon duties with respect to their stature and proficiency in the ways of God; especially in such things as are but our free will offerings to God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Disciples of John — Their master was in prison, and their sorrowing hearts, influenced by the ascetic views of their master as well as by his calamitous circumstances, can hardly understand how Jesus is feasting with the publicans. They as little understand his benevolence as do the Pharisees; but their false view is from a different standpoint. The sternest Old Testament spirit was in John and his mission. Our Lord here shows them the gladder temper of the Gospel.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 14-17. Christ"s care for the freedom of his disciples from ceremonial bondage. He teaches that the standpoint of the Baptist was preparatory, (Mt 3) and was not intended to be a permanent resting-place.

Observe that of the three accounts St. Matthew"s points out the most clearly that the objection originated with the disciples of John the Baptist. Perhaps St. Matthew found these possessing special influence in the part for which his Gospel was primarily intended. So also St. John thought it desirable to recall the teaching of the Master, that while he himself was the Bridegroom, the Baptist was only subordinate. (Joh_3:29) On the survival of the teaching of John the Baptist, and the greater importance of its professed adherents during the apostolic age than is usually supposed, vide Bishop Lightfoot, "Colossians," p. 163, edit. 1875.

Then (tote). In this case the close chronological connexion with the preceding incident is confirmed by the parallel passages (especially Luke). Came (come, Revised Version) to him. They move forward among the crowd, and draw near to him (prosercontai autw). The disciples of John (vide supra), saying, Why (of. ver. 11) do we and the Pharisees fast? (cf. Mat_6:16, note, Schurer, II 2. p. 118) Oft (polla); Textus Receptus, and Westcott and Hort margin, with all the versions and the great mass of the authorities. Yet probably to be omitted, with Westcott and Host, on the evidence of the Vatican manuscript, and the original hand of the Sinaitic. It may have arisen from a gloss on the pukna of Luke. But thy disciples fast not. The feast given by St. Matthew was evidently at the time of some fast observed by the stricter Jews.

Vers. 14-17. (see also Mar_2:18-22 Luk_5:33-39) Human disfigurings of the Church"s order and discipline.

Observe

I THE FORESHADOWING FOUND HERE OF THAT LONG HISTORY OF HUMAN INTERFERENCES WITH THE UNWRITTEN BUT SIMPLE MANIFEST ORDER OF THE CHURCH"S LIFE AND PRACTICE AS GUIDED EVEN BY REASON.

II THE FORESHADOWING HEREIN OF HUMAN RENDINGS OF THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH IN MATTERS NOT OF DOCTRINE NOR, JUSTLY SPEAKING:, OF DISCIPLINE.

III THE FORESHADOWING OF HUMAN DISFIGURING ON A MOURNFULLY LARGE SCALE OF THE BEAUTY OF THE CHURCH"S FORM AND APPEARANCE BEFORE AN EVERCRITICAL AND SCEPTICAL WORLD. D.

Vers. 14-17. Consistency in diversity.

Three classes of persons made up what might be called the religious community of Palestine, viz. the Pharisees, the disciples of John, and the disciples of our Lord. The ground of the question here was why one of these should neglect what the others preached as a religious duty. The answer here teaches

I THAT THERE IS A MORAL FITNESS IN RELATION TO CIRCUMSTANCES.

1. Fasting might be proper to the disciple ofJohn.

(1) "John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Fasting, which is a sign of grief, is fitting to one who mourns for his sins. So John himself "came neither eating nor drinking". (Mat_11:18) His habit as a Nazarite was in keeping with his doctrine and dispensation.

(2) Rejoicing in an unpardoned penitent would be incongruous. But unpardoned, however penitent, he must be who remains a disciple of John as distinguished from the disciples of Jesus. The new piece on the old garment would look badly.

(3) John, as Grotius notes, was now in prison. This circumstance would give additional consistency to the fasting of his disciples. But the case was different with the disciples of Jesus, who had their Master with them.

2. Fasting might be proper to the Pharisee.

(1) The ostentatious fast would be consistent in the hypocritical Pharisee who disfigured his face that he might secure applause of men. (see Mat_6:16)

(2) But some of the Pharisees were probably sincere men. To such there would be a fitness in their fasting. For the spirit of the Pharisee was the spirit of the Law, i.e. the "spirit of bondage to fear." Who could consistently rejoice within the roar of the thunders and clang of the great trumpet of Sinai?

(3) Neither the ritual of Leviticus nor the traditions of the elders can deliver the Pharisee from the yoke of terror.

3. But fasting might be improper to the disciple of Jesus.

a. Christ is the Bridegroom of his Church. (cf. Ps 45 and 2Co_11:2 Eph_5:23, etc.; also Rev_19:17)

b. Individual disciples are the "sons of the bride-chamber," the chosen friends of the Bridegroom.

c. It would be unfitting in them to mourn while the Bridegroom was with them during the festivities of the marriage. These festivities usually lasted seven days. (see Jud_1:14:17) The Spirit of Jesus is the spirit of love. With love is joy and peace.

d. Jesus was not with the Pharisees or these disciples of John as the Bridegroom with the sons of the bride-chamber. For they were the sons of the bondwoman. (Gal_4:25, Gal_4:31)

e. These disciples are herein significantly rebuked for their fasting in the presence of Jesus by the use of a simile which John used when he came into the presence of Jesus. (see Joh_3:29) The sorrows of penitence in the presence of Jesus should be turned into the joys of salvation. These disciples of John had degenerated from the spirit of their master. Note and avoid tendencies to formality as tendencies to degeneration.

II THAT THE MORAL FITNESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES IS FATAL TO UNIFORMITY.

1. Obviously so, because circumstances are ever varying.

(1) Minor circumstances are infinitely various. Yet may these be generally ranged under two classes. (cf. Ecc_7:14 Jam_5:13) In the text they are distinguished as mourning and rejoicing, fasting and feasting.

(2) No man, therefore, should make himself the standard of religion for his fellows. Herein the disciples of John and the Pharisees erred. The new wine of the gospel could not be restrained in the old wine-skins of the Law. It must have the elastic wine-skins of new forms suitable to its expansive genius.

2. Christians have their seasons of mourning.

(1) Of the Bridegroom himself the only record of his fasting is that which took place when he was in the wilderness.

(2) In that experience Jesus personated the condition of his Church during his absence from her in heaven. She was destined to mourn in the wilderness, suffering from Satan fierce assaults of persecution and temptation. First from the Jews; then from the Romans; then from the apostasy; perhaps finally from the rising spirit of infidelity.

(3) Individual Christians also have their seasons of temptation. (cf. 1Co_4:11 2Co_6:5 2Co_11:27) In such seasons they have their voluntary fasts. (cf. Act_10:30 Act_13:2, 3 14:23 1Co_7:5)

3. When the Bridegroom returns mourning will end.

(1) Then will come the festivities of the Church"s wedding. (see Mat_25:10 Rev_19:7) The joys of the millennium will run into those of the new heavens and earth.

(2) Individual saints have their interludes of joy as well as of sorrow. Darkness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

(3) After the night of trial which ends in the sleep of death, comes the joy of the bright morning of the resurrection.

III THAT CONSISTENCY MUST BE SOUGHT IN DIVERSITY.

1. It is unnatural to seek it in uniformity.

(1) Uniformity is too often mistaken for unity. Things may be turned out of the same mould in infinite number, but neither is the conformity nor the number unity.

(2) There is in nature a unity which certainly consists not in uniformity. For no two blades of grass are exactly alike.

(3) The unity of nature rather lies in its diversity, for it is in the diversity of things that they become mutually useful. So it is in morals.

(4) Acts of uniformity can never give unity.

2. The unity of truth is in the spirit of love.

(1) The unity of nature is a spirit of harmony.

(2) So truth must be maintained amongst Christians in loving concession. The old piece must be sought for the old garment. Fresh skins must be sought for new wine.

(3) The duties of religion should not be made a subject of strife and contention amongst religious persons. The spirit must not be sacrificed to the letter.

(4) Note: "The quarrel with Christ was brought to the disciples (ver. 11); the quarrel with the disciples was brought to Christ (ver. 14). This is the way of sowing discord and killing love, to set people against ministers, ministers against people, and one friend against another" (Henry). J.A.M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then - While he was at table. Mark ii, 18; Luke v, 33.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A question regarding fasting:

v. 14. Then came to Him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not?

v. 15. And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

Silenced on one point, the Pharisees attack on another, aided, in this case, by some disciples of John the Baptist. They were all of them rigorous in their asceticism, keeping all the prescribed fasts, as well as many of their own choosing, with painful regularity. They resented the absence of this legal tendency in the circle of disciples about Jesus, even while they felt themselves superior to the Galilean fishermen, and asked for an explanation. Jesus enlightens them: Friends of the Bridegroom, that belong to the inner circle, to the intimates, could not possibly think of fasting and mourning, indulging in all manner of sorrowful performances, while the Bridegroom is yet with them. But when the Bridegroom is taken from them, when Jesus shall fulfill His destiny in His passion and death, there will be a great difference. Then, in those days, they will grieve, Joh 16:20 a. In the meantime, their whole life in His companionship was like a continual wedding-feast, with nothing but joy and happiness.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pharisees themselves had a contention with our Saviour in the foregoing verses; here they set on the disciples of John, to contend with him about fasting, alleging that the disciples of John fasted often, Christ’s disciples not at all.

Our Saviour owns it, that his disciples did not fast at present, for two reasons.

1. Because it was unsuitable to them. 2. Because it was intolerable for them.

It was unsuitable to them, because of Christ’s bodily presence to them; this made it a time of joy and feasting, not of mourning and fasting: whilst Christ the Bridegroom is with them, they must feast and rejoice; when removed from them, there will be cause enough to fast and mourn.

Christ is the bridegroom and his church the bride, which he has espoused and married to himself; and whilst his spouse did enjoy his bodily presence with her, it was a day of joy and rejoicing to her, and mourning and fasting was improper for her.

Again, this discipline of fasting was at present intolerable for the disciples; for they were raw, green, and tender, and could no more bear the severities of religion at present, than an old garment could bear a piece of new stiff cloth to be set into it, which will make the rent worse, if the garment comes to a stretch; nor no more than old bottles can keep new wine. Thus, says Christ, my disciples are young and green, tender and weak, newly converted, they cannot bear the severer exercises of religion presently; but when I am ascended into heaven, I will send down my Holy Spirit, which shall enable them to do all the duties which the gospel enjoins.

Hence we may gather, That young converts, till grown up to some consistency in grace, must not be put upon the severer exercises of religion; but handled with that tenderness and gentleness which becomes the mild and merciful dispensation of the gospel. Our Saviour here commends prudence to his ministers; that they put not their people upon duties beyond their strength, but consult their progress in Christianity, and the proficiency they have made in religion, and treat them accordingly.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. Disciples of John. Some who still held aloof from Christ, and really sympathized with the Pharisees (Luke 5:33). Why do we and the Pharisees fast often? The Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), and these disciples imitated them. They could not understand why he did not require similar austerities.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

The disciples of John the Baptist question the fact that Jesus' disciples do not fast.

do not fast

"continue to eat regularly"

Can wedding attendants be sorrowful while the bridegroom is still with them?

Jesus uses a question to answer John's disciples. They all knew that people do not mourn and fast at a wedding celebration. Jesus uses this proverb to show that his disciples do not mourn because he is still there with them. (See: Rhetorical Question and Proverbs)

the days will come when

This is a way of referring to some time in the future. AT: "the time will come when" or "someday"

the bridegroom will be taken away from them

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the bridegroom will not be able to be with them any longer" or "someone will take the bridegroom away from them" (See: Active or Passive)

will be taken away

Jesus is probably referring to his own death, but this should not be made explicit here in the translation. To maintain the imagery of a wedding, it is best to just state that the bridegroom will not be there any longer.

translationWords

disciple

John (the Baptist)

Pharisee

fast

bridegroom

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

14–17. A QUESTION ABOUT FASTING

Mar 2:18-22; Luk 5:33-39.

It is not quite clear whether this further incident took place at Levi’s feast. St Luke leads us to draw that inference.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14.] According to the detailed narrative of St. Mark (2:18) it was the disciples of John and of the Pharisees who asked this question. St. Luke continues the discourse as that of the former Pharisees and Scribes. This is one of those instances where the three accounts imply and confirm one another, and the hints incidentally dropped by one Evangelist form the prominent assertions of the other.

The fasting often of the disciples of John must not be understood as done in mourning for their master’s imprisonment, but as belonging to the asceticism which John, as a preacher of repentance, inculcated. On the fasts of the Pharisees, see Light-foot in loc.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(M) 14. Then come to Him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Thy disciples do not fast?] Mk. has: “And the disciples of John, and the Pharisees were fasting (i.e. were performing one of the stated fasts), and they come and say to Him, Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples do not fast?” The iteration of words and phrases here is characteristic of Mk. Mt. avoids by omitting clause a, inserting οἱ μαθηταὶ Ἰωάνου as the subject of προσέρχονται, and substituting ἡμεῖς for these words in the next clause, with οἱ Φαρισαῖοι for οἱ μαθηταὶ τῶν Φαρ. He substitutes for Mk.’s ἔρχονται his favourite compound (see on 4:3), but, against his custom, retains the historic present. For fasting among the Jews, see Schürer, II. ii. 118 ff.; Bousset, Rel. Jud. 157 f.

14. πολλά] Om. א* B. א b vel a * πυκνά, S1 “eagerly,” as in Lk. The omission in א B may be due to desire for absolute antithesis between fasting and not fasting, and to assimilation to Mk. Mt. either found the word, which is very characteristic of Mk., in his copy of that Gospel, or added it to weaken the impression that Christ condemned fasting absolutely.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.