I have entitled our message this morning, “Navigating the Ebb and Flow.” The expression “ebb and flow” is an idiom used to describe periods of highs and lows, and growth and decline, just like the rising and falling of the tides. It is essentially the idea that life is not always constant, but rather it has regular periods of ups and downs. Based on this understanding of ebb and flow, I could have also entitled our message, “Managing the Ups and Downs of Life,” or even simply “Dealing with Change.” As a preview to our passage, I will go ahead and tell you that Jesus addresses “change in leadership” and “change in tradition.”
Listen, as I share a portion of what Solomon said at the beginning of Ecclesiastes chapter three: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die . . . a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance . . . a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a, 3b-4, 6). Solomon was communicating how life is constantly changing whether we want it to or not. Some change is disheartening, and other change is joyous and cause for celebration.
In our very first verse, which we will re-read in a moment, the disciples of John approached Jesus and asked Him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14). This question revealed a much deeper concern than fasting, as it had to do with some difficult life changes felt by both John’s disciples and the Pharisees. The disciples of John were dealing with their leader having been imprisoned; and the Pharisees were horrified over some recent challenges to Law and tradition.(1) But Jesus shared some words to help them understand how to navigate these changes; and it is my hope that His words will help us with the changes that we face.
The Friends of the Bridegroom (vv. 14-15)
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 friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
These verses address a change in leadership. In verse 14, when the disciples of John approached Jesus and asked Him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” this did not mean that Jesus’ disciples “never” fasted; but rather, they fasted less frequently than those of John. They also did not fast for the same reasons. The Pharisees differed in their reasons for sure, as many of their fasts were superstitious. For example, they fasted to obtain the interpretation of a dream, or to avert the evil outcome depicted in a dream. They also fasted frequently to obtain the things they wanted.(2) Unlike the Pharisees, John’s disciples had pure intentions. In contrast to the disciples of Jesus, however, their fasting simply differed in frequency and purpose.
“There is no evidence of a clash between John and Jesus, although it is explicit that John was at least puzzled over the ministry of [Christ]; and for some time, there were those who followed John and not Jesus (Acts 19:1-7). Jesus held John in high esteem, but [He] differed from him.”(3) It is important to note that a difference does not equate to sin. Perhaps God is doing a new work in another church or with another believer than what He is choosing to do with us. “Jesus fasted on occasion and expected that His followers would [do the same], but for Him fasting was governed not by religious customs or calendar but by the needs of the occasion. This He made clear in the analogy of the wedding guests,”(4) which we see in verse 15.
Jesus began by asking, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” A more literal translation would be “the children of the bride-chamber.”(5) Jesus was probably counting on them to recall how John the Baptist had referred to himself as a friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29). “These persons were the companions of the bridegroom, [his closest friends], who accompanied him to the house of his father-in-law when he went to bring the bride to his own home.”(6) “The couple did not go away for a honeymoon; they stayed at home for [their] honeymoon. For a week after the wedding, open house was kept. The bride and the groom were treated as . . . king and queen. And during that week, their closest friends shared all the joy and all the festivities with them.”(7)
“They [did] not fast during the joyous time [that] the bridegroom [was] with them. Wedding participants and guests were freed from religious obligations, including fasting, during the seven days of the wedding celebrations.”(8) During this time “there came into the lives of poor and simple people a joy, a rejoicing, a festivity, [and] a plenty that might come only once in a lifetime. So, Jesus compares Himself to the bridegroom and His disciples to the bridegroom’s closest friends.”(9) As long as Jesus is among them, their only concern is celebration. They have no time for mourning and fasting, as they have more pressing matters at hand, such as sharing the gospel.
Jesus went on to say in verse 15, “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” “Jesus alluded to His own death in referring to the days when the bridegroom is taken away.”(10) The words of Jesus tell us “that to be with Jesus is a thing of joy . . . but [His words] also tell us that no joy lasts forever. For John’s disciples, the time of sorrow had come, for John was already in prison. For Jesus’ disciples, that time of sorrow would most certainly come [very soon]. It is one of the great [certainties] of life that the dearest joy must come to an end.”(11) As I said earlier, their question revealed a much deeper concern than fasting, as it had to do with the confusion and sorrow of their leader being thrown into prison.
Jesus was telling John’s disciples that John had his purpose, and Jesus has His. In John 3:28-29, John the Baptist declared his own purpose like this: “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled.” John was sent before, or ahead, of Jesus to “prepare the way of the LORD,” according to Matthew 3:3. But, his ministry was coming to an end, as he would be martyred (Mark 6:21-29); but John took joy in knowing he had completed his life’s purpose.
Jesus was helping John’s disciples cope with their loss; and part of dealing with loss is accepting the fact that life changes. Nothing stays the same. But the ending of one thing, is the beginning of another. Death leads to new life. In John 12:23-24, Jesus told His disciples, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” When a grain of wheat falls to the ground, it cannot grow unless it is covered over by the soil; and in being covered over, it symbolizes death and burial. But in being covered over, it can then sprout, grow, blossom, produce fruit and spread seed for a greater yield.
John served to prepare the way; and as he departs, He will make way for something new – new life and new ministry found in Jesus. And as Jesus one day departs, He will make way for something new – fresh wind from the Holy Spirit and fresh power demonstrated by the New Testament church. If we are to allow for a new and powerful move of God, then we must not see change as something devastating or even sinful. It is okay to mourn and fast over our loss; as the friends of the bridegroom mourned when Jesus laid down his life in the cross. But there comes a point when we must rise from our sackcloth and ashes and embrace the future.
The Unshrunk Cloth and Wineskins (vv. 16-17)
16 “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
These verses address a change in tradition. First, we see the parable of the unshrunk cloth. If you have ever bought a cheap t-shirt or an inexpensive pair of jeans, then you can identify with this parable. After the first wash, you have a belly shirt or you are unable to button your jeans. This is because the fabric was not prewashed and preshrunk at the factory. To paraphrase what Jesus said, “No one . . . takes a piece of new and unshrunk cloth to patch an old garment. If he does, on the first occasion the garment becomes wet, the new patch shrinks, and as it shrinks, it tears the cloth apart, and the [hole] in the garment gapes wider than ever [before]” (v. 16).(12)
The late Scottish Bible commentator William Barclay both explains and applies the parable of the unshrunk cloth like this: “The Jews were passionately attached to things as they were. The Law was to them God’s last and final word; to add one word to it, or to subtract one word from it, was a deadly sin. It was the avowed object of the Scribes and Pharisees ‘to build a fence around the Law.’ To them a new idea was not so much a mistake as a sin. That spirit is by no means dead. Very often in a church, if a new method or any change is suggested, the objection is promptly raised, ‘We never did [it] that [way] before’.”(13)
“What Jesus is saying is that there comes a time when patching is folly . . . There are forms of church government, there are forms of church service, there are forms of words which express our beliefs, which we so often try to adjust and to tinker with, to bring them up to date; we try to patch them. No one would willingly, or recklessly or callously abandon that which has stood the test of time and of the years, that in which former generations have put their trust; but . . . there comes a time when patches are useless, and when a man and a church must accept the adventure of the new, or to withdraw into the backwater, where it worships, not God, but its own past.”(14)
Next, we see the parable of the wineskins. “Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (v. 17). These were “wineskins used as bottles, as is true in Palestine [today]; goatskins with the rough part [on the] inside. Our word ‘bottle’ originally carried the true meaning, being a bottle of leather. In Spanish bota means a leather bottle . . . In Spain, wine is still brought to market in pigskins.”(15)
Jesus spoke of putting new wine into old skins. So, what is the literal meaning of the phrase “new wine?” Well, some very conservative pastors will tell you that it was just grape juice, but that does not make sense with the description here. The New Bible Dictionary tells us, “The term ‘new wine’ does not indicate wine which has not fermented; for in fact, the process of fermentation sets in very rapidly . . . It represents, rather, wine made from the first drippings of the juice before the winepress was trodden; as such, it would be particularly potent.”(16) What is being described here is fermented wine.
Have you ever watched a scene in a movie where someone opens a bottle of wine; or even champagne? It will make a loud pop, and it might even shoot the cork across the room. Fermented wine is under pressure. When Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins,” He was saying that the wineskins needed to be strong to hold the pressure of the new wine. If the wineskins were old, then they would be too weak and explode! New wine, simply, must go into new skins.
Through this parable Jesus was telling His disciples something about His own life and ministry. Jesus is the new wine, and the traditional religion of ancient Israel was the old wineskins. The form of devotion to God in the Old Testament relied on the keeping of the Law for righteousness; it was a works-based salvation. But the Lord saw that mankind could not uphold the Law, and that no one could work his or her way into heaven. The world was in desperate need of salvation. So, God sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world to die for our sins; and through Jesus we are made righteous. But it was hard for people to let go of their former ideas to embrace this new concept.
The Pharisees were arguing the old ways of Judaism and a works-based salvation, over Jesus’ new ideas. Jesus came to bring what the apostle Paul described as grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Because of Christ’s work of atonement on the cross, we do not have to go through rituals to be saved. All we must do is confess our sins, believe in Jesus Christ, and have faith that we are saved through Him; through Christ alone. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast,” and Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
So, let us shift gears for a moment and see how William Barclay applied this passage to tradition within the church. He said, “Within the church, resentment of the new is chronic, and the attempt to pour new things into old molds is almost universal. We attempt to pour the activities of a modern congregation into an ancient church building which was never meant for them . . . We read God’s Word to twentieth-century men and women in Elizabethan English, and seek to present the needs of the twentieth-century man and woman to God in prayer language that is four hundred years old. It may be that we would do well to remember that when any living thing stops growing, it starts dying.”(17)
Time of Reflection
Allow me to close by sharing what we have learned from this passage in navigating the ups and downs of life and in dealing with inevitable change. Consider first the question posed by the disciples of John and their real underlying concern, which was their leader being imprisoned. As John’s disciples would lose their leader to martyrdom, and as Christ’s disciples would lose Him as He willingly laid down His life on the cross; we too will at some point suffer loss and change. This can happen personally or as a body of believers; as a church. But out of change can spring forth new life, new ministry, fresh wind, and fresh power.
Now, let us consider the two parables, but in much greater detail than the question posed by John’s disciples. “The parables of the patch and the new wine apply not only to fasting, but to the whole relationship between Jesus and Judaism. [Jesus] had not come to destroy, but to fulfil (Matthew 5:17); and this meant respect for what had gone before Him, but also freedom for the creative work which was His to do. What He had come to do was dynamic and revolutionary, and could not be contained in old forms like fasting and [strict adherence to the Law].”(18) “The point is clear. The new that Jesus brings is incompatible with the old. He has not come to patch up an old system that does not match the revolutionary rule of God.”(19)
“Furthermore, Jesus refused to pour the new wine of the life He offered into the old wineskins of established religion, as illustrated by the fasting which the disciples of John and the Pharisees tried to impose upon Him. To pour new wine into old, brittle, skins would break the old skins.”(20) “The illustration of the cloth reminds us that [Jesus] came to bring spiritual wholeness; He did not come to ‘patch us up’ and then let us fall apart. The image of the wineskins teaches that He gives spiritual fullness. Jewish religion was a worn-out wineskin that would burst if filled with the new wine of the gospel. Jesus did not come to renovate Moses or even mix Law and grace. He came with new life!”(21)
Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Our Lord and Savior, and our God and Father, never changes. He was God of the past, but also of today and tomorrow. His wine is the same formula. A new skin does not alter His nature. But each dispensation requires a fresh outpouring with new explosive power. Isaiah said He is the God who does new things (Isaiah 43:19); and in Revelation 21:5, the Lord said, “Behold, I make all things new!” He is also the God of new beginnings; for Paul declared, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you need the Lord to do a new work in your heart, then I encourage you to confess Jesus Christ today.
NOTES
(1) A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1930), p. 73.
(2) Adam Clarke, “Matthew – Acts,” Clarke’s Commentary, vol. 5 (New York: Abingdon), p. 110.
(3) Frank Stagg, “Matthew,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1969), pp. 129-130.
(4) Ibid., pp. 129-130.
(5) Clarke, p. 110.
(6) Ibid., p. 110.
(7) William Barclay, “The Gospel of Matthew,” The Daily Study Bible, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), p. 343.
(8) Stagg, p. 130.
(9) Barclay, p. 343.
(10) Stagg, p. 130.
(11) Barclay, pp. 343-344.
(12) Ibid., p. 345.
(13) Ibid., p. 345.
(14) Ibid., pp. 345-346.
(15) Robertson, p. 73.
(16) The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
(17) Barclay, pp. 346-347.
(18) Stagg, p. 130.
(19) David E. Garland, “Mark,” The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), p. 105.
(20) Stagg, p. 130.
(21) Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, Il: Victor Books, 1989), p. 35.
