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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_9:14-17
14Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."
Mat_9:14 "then the disciples of John came to Him" It is uncertain whether they were (1) truly interested, (2) truly confused, or (3) trying to trick Him. They, like the Pharisees, were uninvited guests, but were apparently present at the feast. There were many disciples of John the Baptist, as can be seen from Act_19:1 ff.
▣ "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast" In the Old Testament there was only one official fast day called Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, cf. Leviticus 16) held each year. However, the rabbis had made the second and fifth days of the week fast days also (cf. Luk_18:12), supposedly basing them on the day that Moses went up on Mt. Sinai and on the day that he came back down. Fasting had become a way to prove one's religious commitment. Jesus does not condemn the practice, but neither does He affirm it as required. See hyperlink at Mat_6:16.
There is a Greek manuscript problem in this verse connected with the term " often," found in NKJV and NRSV, apparently from the parallel in Luk_5:33. The Markan parallel Mat_2:18 just has "fast." The UBS4 Committee put the other term "much" in brackets because they were uncertain whether it was original with Matthew or added later by a copyist from Luke.
Mat_9:15 The grammar of this question expects a " no" answer.
▣ "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast" Jesus assumed that His disciples would fast after He was crucified. This is the first time that the crucifixion was implied. The verb apairo (" taken away"), used in this phrase, has violent connotations (cf. Mar_2:20; Luk_5:35). Jesus' analogy of "the bridegroom," had Messianic connotations. See Special Topic: Fasting at Mat_6:16.
Mat_9:16-17 There has been much discussion about how to apply this truth. It seems to emphasize the need to be flexible in one's faith. However, one must be careful as to the nature and extent of this flexibility. It is in reality a condemnation of rabbinical Judaism's literalistic interpretation of the Oral Tradition. Jesus' message was radically new and different from the Jewish sects of His day! God help us, sometimes we are more committed to our traditions and legalisms than we are to a dynamic, obedient, daily relationship with God (cf. Isa_6:9-10; Isa_29:13). This parable is paralleled in Mar_2:19-20 and Luk_5:33-39. Something new has come (i.e., the gospel) and it has changed everything!